In house printing can boost SME efficiency |
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| Finance | |
| Written by Graham Lowes, marketing director, OKI Printing Solutions | |
| Friday, 05 March 2010 | |
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Move your printing in-house! A recent survey by the centre for economics and business research (cebr) revealed that £360 million could be saved in the UK every year by moving expensive outsourced printing in‐house, with between £500 million and £1,760 million potentially coming from more efficient management of existing in‐house printing tasks. SMEs often benefit most from high-quality in-house printing solutions due to their focus on efficient business operations. Print vendors can support this focus by delivering a combination of free in-the-box software utilities and cost-effective A4 and A3 printing. By giving SMEs the flexibility to bring their printing in-house, this approach enables them to drive efficiencies by eliminating wastage. Companies print more than they need when they outsource jobs, usually in order to get the most cost-effective deal available. The excess, typically 20% of the total print job, is often wasted. The ability to print on-demand using an in-house device and to customise each job depending on the size, shape and texture of the paper required, also helps SMEs manage usage more efficiently, by facilitating ‘right first time’ printing and reducing the size of each print run. In addition, many SMEs are unaware that there are additional measures they can take to reduce waste. Simply by using double-sided printing, for example, they can at a stroke cut paper use by up to 50 per cent. Creativity and Flexibility The benefits SMEs achieve through high-quality in-house printing solutions go far beyond straightforward reductions in wastage. These organisations can also support the drive for efficiency referenced in the cebr report by becoming more creative in developing corporate materials. Business cards, letterheads, compliment slips and invoices can be given a consistent ‘look and feel’, reinforcing the company brand, while sales and marketing collateral can be adapted and enhanced for greater impact. Vendors can deliver additional functionality by supplying, and allowing users to print on, different types of paper, including specialist pre-creased, waterproof and tearproof. In this context, flexibility is key but it also needs to be allied to high-performance levels. Effective in-house printing is all about presentation quality. Ideally, businesses should look for printers that give them truly professional results without incurring the expense of outsourcing the work to a litho print house. SMEs need to ensure that their chosen printers can both create high-impact marketing materials and output them rapidly to meet tight deadlines. Time-to-first-print, print speed and processor performance metrics are all key in keeping wait times low. Paper tray and consumables capacities also impact on productivity as higher capacities reduce user interventions and overall downtime. Potential Rewards Printing is a core function of any SME office today. Yet many businesses fail to realise what they could achieve by bringing printing in-house and taking back control of their portfolio of company materials. This enables them to manage usage more efficiently, be more creative and flexible and to produce higher-quality results, ultimately leading to enhanced business agility and greater competitive edge. Comments (0)
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