Economic Woes - Can Managed Print Services Save the World? - Get Your Cape, We Got Work to Do.

DOTC, 2010

The recovery is losing steam, fast By Neil Irwin

Another day, another lousy piece of economic data. The 27.2 percent fall in existing home sales in July was far below analysts' official expectations (though in line with some of the whisper numbers that close watchers of housing data were expecting)...MORE 

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UK's Printing Practices Are Worst In Europe

In the note of international-ism, here's a little article slamming the United Kingdom's printing practices.

Before we all start painting rooftops and all, it should be noted that the research supporting this less then "green", black mark, was conducted by Ricoh.

Could this be an applicaiton of the classic, "create the problem, then solve the problem" approach?

You be the judge.


November 30, 2009
By Sophie Curtis

The UK is the worst country in Europe for sustainable printing, with companies wasting up to five percent of their turnover in printout, according to research by Ricoh.

The UK's adoption of sustainable document strategies is the worst in Europe, according to new research by printing specialist Ricoh, suggesting that British enterprises are unaware of the potential to use green practices to cut costs.
Ricoh's Document Governance Index – which assigns a numerical value to environmental aspects of document governance such as recycling, setting targets, auditing and employee behaviours – placed the UK in seventh place out of seven, scoring only 38.5 out of a possible 100.

France came top the league with 43.5 percent, followed by Italy (42.7 percent) and Germany (41.7 percent). However, none of the countries surveyed scored more than 50 percent of the total, suggesting that there is still significant room for improvement in sustainable printing strategies across Europe.

According to the report, most European organisations are failing to centralise their document governance, with only 33 percent of companies claiming to have implemented a fully developed strategy to deal with paper and energy wastage. This means that many companies are overlooking tactical actions they can take, not only to improve sustainability but to reduce costs as well.

Paper wastage is one of the highest costs to businesses, with the total spend on document management in Europe currently exceeding 14 billion euros per year – up to five percent of annual turnover. Despite this, 32 percent of business leaders allow employees to do what they like with regard to duplex printing (printing on both sides of the paper) and 19 percent are either still in the planning stages or have no plans to implement a duplex printing policy. Only 18 percent have implemented a such a policy company-wide.

One of the main obstacles for companies attempting to develop a green printing strategy is a lack of awareness among employees. The report found that almost half (47 percent) of European business leaders are unfamiliar with their company's recycling policy and 40 percent with their toner recycling policy.

“Despite sustainability being an important fixture on the business agenda, and documents making up an essential part of day-to-day business operations, there remains a lack of awareness of the role that document governance can play in driving both environmental and business efficiencies,” said Tom Wagland, manager of Ricoh's Environmental Management Group. “Businesses need to act now by taking some simple steps to improve the way they are managing and controlling their document workflows.”

One of the ways that Ricoh proposes to combat this problem is with its Pay Per Page Green consultancy service, which it claims can limit the environmental impact of its products by shifting the emphasis to the cost of output, and charging a fixed fee, agreed up front.

“We take a cradle-to-cradle approach to sustainable innovation; offering products and services that contribute to environmental preservation from design to recycling,” said Shun Sato, vice president of Ricoh Europe in a statement in February.

Efforts to sell green printing strategies generally rely on having fewer printers, under tighter central control, with some sort of "pull-printing" service so users can't get their output without a security token, reducing the dangers of a shared output tray. “We must constantly be rethinking current practices in the light of new technologies and sustainability issues,” Lexmark's director of sustainable affairs Béatrice Marneffe told eWEEK Europe in June.

Although printer manufacturers' motives are arguably mixed, since they profit from extra output, they say customer demand is helping the sustainable approach: “It's not in our interest for customers to print less, but it is our business to make a profit from what the customers want,” Graham Long, vice president of Samsung’s European printing operation, told eWEEK Europe in July.

Earlier this year, HP launched a similar service to that of Ricoh, which it says will cut enterprise printing costs by over 15 percent, and reduce carbon footprints, if companies sign up to a total print service managed by HP.

Why Your Customer Should Re-Write Your Lease Agreement: It's About Them, Not You.

One More Dead Cow, in the Summer of No Sacred Cows - with another List of 22 at the end of the article.

Read on...
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For two decades, I have been helping prospects and clients understand, digest and work around lease agreements.

Cutting my teeth back in the 80's on technology leasing with IBM and Compaq.

I got the gist when working for CINTAS , reviewing uniform service contracts with my prospects.

At CINTAS, I was witness to the most one sided, legal extortion schemes. My competitors, usually, small time, local "linen" service company contracts were stunning.

Evergreen clauses that would never end. Price increases that where arbitrary and whimsical.

And closing statements that go like, "... just sign, don't question, or you will be sleeping with the fishes - ifyouknowwhatImean, andIthinkthatyoudo..."

The companies I sold for implemented decent agreements. So it was always one of my selling approaches to review competitors agreements and compare to mine - line by line, before signing.

That's how it all started.

Fast forward to present day, and it's like Deja Vu all over again. Just last week, I sat down with a prospect to review their existing lease.

We had a very nice discussion, we used lots of nice words talking around the subject when I straight out told him,

"...dude, you're screwed for the next 28 months. How the hell did you let this happen and what are you going to do to insure it doesn't happen again?"

The same old argument, same result.

"It's Standard For The Industry"

Dozens of times, the poor fellow across the desk from me says, "the copier rep said it was standard leasing procedure...standard for the industry...we all do it..."

Wow, that must have made you feel "special" - as in short-bus special. Did you say, "thank you sir, may I have another?"

Speaking of standard, I pull out lease agreement after lease agreement, guiding my prospect through the labyrinth of "guarantees", automatic renewals, termination and lease end responsibilities, shipping, property tax, processing fees, lease payment dates; on and on and on.

The subject changes to Capital Expenses vs. Operational, 60 Month vs. 36 Month, FMV vs Dollar out and combined lease/service agreements.

Pretty standard stuff.

And then we open up to the philosophical -

"...What, precisely is an equipment lease, anyway?" I ask.

Glazed eyes, a moment of awkward silence and then, "well, to me, it is a way for me to use equipment and not pay for the whole thing all at once..." he responds. Of course, I nearly fall out of my chair - I think he may just get this, there is hope.

Specifically, a lease agreement is a means by which a company (or person) gets to utilize leased items, paying an agreed, recurring amount over a predetermined, agreed period of time.

The benefits can be many, but the primary reason is to use equipment without a huge cash outlay.

The cost of this luxury - a "fee" similar to interest. This "fee" as I call it, is incorporated into each payment. For a lessee, that's lease jargon for "customer", to determine this amount, simply multiply the number of payments by the monthly amount and compare this figure to today's purchase price.

The difference is what you are paying for the ability to utilize equipment, over time.

There are a great many details involved with leasing and lease agreements - I won't go into all of them now - for some clients, just knowing the above can mind-shattering.

So once we agree that the basic function of a lease is for people to use equipment over time without purchasing the gear I ask,

"...should a lease be used as a customer retention device? Or should the quality of the relationship determine the future?"

- again, blank stare and crickets. Just when I think his head is going to explode like in Scanners,

"No Greg, it shouldn't. A lease is not a customer retention technique"

I think he's got it!

Anything more then payment amount and length of term(other than the "if you don't pay us, we will come get you, clause) is marketicture.

Our conversation dwindles to the mundane. I promise to keep in touch with him, he promises to negotiate "very vigorously" over his bloated service agreement and we part ways.

He on his 28 month journey of pain - which will be punctuated by him finding out there is a HUGE amount due at the end of the lease in the form of shipping charges - charges that can magically disappear when he re-ups for another 60 months.

Me, I get to go find someone else to help.
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For those about to get into a lease - take heed, there are many things you can do to maximize your position as a lessee.

Of course I have a list.

A list of 22 steps/insights you can review and ignore before jumping into your next 62 month sentence.

Here are three:

1. Prior to your very first meeting with a prospective copier vendor, request he bring a copy of his lease agreement and service agreement to LEAVE BEHIND for your review.

This will set the tone for the rest of your relationship.

If you get ANY resistance at all, if he doesn't bring the document or let you keep it or uses phrases like, "...it's our corporate/legal policy not to release this information until executing a lease..." or "...I can let you read it, but I need to take it back with me..." or the best ever "...it's standard in our industry..." tell him you don't want to do business with him.

2. Have him explain the benefits of leasing vs purchase.

This will be revealing even though you already know why you want to lease. Most copier newbies don't really know why, they have just read the GE Capital or IKON Financial "Why Leasing is Good" memo.

3. Then ask if he recommends a 48 or 60 month lease and why.

He should come back by saying he never recommends anything over 36 months.

Want the complete, DeathOfTheCopier list?

Hit me up with an email, use that Contact Me button thingie on the left - and I will send the list to you directly.

Want to Learn More?

Managed Print Services Appointment - Another Ticked Off Konica/Minolta Client:Leasing and "Integrity"

de lage landen: Copier Lease Gone Bad - in a city called "Homer"

Leasing Your MFP Fleet -

Bad Experiences with Leasing - Toshiba, IKON, Canon, Saxon

Can Managed Print Services Rise to a Presidential Level: Will the "O" Implement "behavioral modification" software? Hide the toothpicks.

The private sector is losing jobs every, single day. Here in the US, we lost some 550,000 jobs last month - this is considered good news because we didn't lose 600,000+ jobs.

And as much as I think most Public Sector minions couldn't hold a position in the "real world", they do enjoy the comfort of never needing to worry about losing their job.

Additionally, from my experience, most forms of government bureaucracy are stellar examples of waste - waste of intelligence, waste of manpower, wasteful processes, waste of tax dollars.

In a recently released report from Lexmark International Inc. and a survey conducted by Alexandria, Va., marketing firm O'Keeffe & Co. it is revealed that the government is wasting millions of dollars in useless printing. (no way!)

The study, which is based on a survey of 380 federal employees, found that the U.S. government spends nearly $1.3 billion annually on printing.

Of that, about one third, $440 million, nearly $1 million a day, is wasted on useless pages.

"It makes way too much sense," said David Williams, vice president of policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington-based think tank.

"We see a culture of bureaucracy. When given a choice, even with these huge technological advantages, you don't see the government taking advantage of this. Private industry and business has taken advantage, but this government hasn't," Mr. Williams added.

What is more interesting is the dollar amount wasted, $440 million, is more than four times the amount President Obama recently asked agency managers collectively to eliminate from their administrative budgets.

On average, federal employees print 30 pages of paper every work day and respondents say that they discarded about 35 percent of the pages the day they printed them.

Ninety-two percent of respondents acknowledged they did not need all the material that they printed, and more than two-thirds said they could print less if they tried.

"Printing at work is made very easy, so I tend to print without thinking about it," one respondent said.

Lexmark recommends that federal agencies have a comprehensive printing policy in place, including how to better use digital documents.

"Agencies need to look at how to deploy and manage technology, not just from the perspective of putting a printer out there to be used, but around really understanding it as a service to your employees," said Brian Henderson,Lexmark's federal information solutions director. "How is printing strategically going to enable your mission?"

All is not lost, as 10 percent of survey respondents report a working under formal printing policies, and 20 percent said that their agencies had restrictions on color printing.(LOL)

Additionally, the Homeland Security Department expects to save more than $40,000 in part by printing fewer copies of the fiscal 2010 budget- posting online.(LOL, 40k savings?)

The Agriculture Department is developing a Web-based utility billing system that could save more than $670,000 annually.

"President Obama has called for fiscal responsibility, and identifying and eliminating unnecessary printing is a simple first step," said Marty Canning, a Lexmark vice president.

"Clear, standardized, and enforced agency printing policies, as well as increased reliance on secure digital records, will help change the employee printing habits that have become so ingrained in the government 'corporate culture' and enable agencies to decrease their carbon footprint," Mr. Canning added.


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All well and good.

But if I were Lexmark, I would stay clear of the Obama Public Sector Gravity Well - else, Mr. Canning could find himself working for Olivetti or in line with the ex-CEO of GM.

Articles, sources:

Federal workers throw out millions of pages a day.

Report recommends crackdown on excessive printing.

Olivetti

Wednesday Morning Federal Newsstand

Survey: US government could save millions on printing

The Lexmark report


Click to email me.

Managed Print Services and the Economy

MPS and the economic landscape - what can it all mean?

Even with the financial woes of the 70s, 80s and 90s as a comparison, all indications are that this little "blip" on the financial radar is closer to an E.L.E. than any other time.

"Unemployment surged by 603,000 in October to 10.1 million, the highest level in 25 years, according to a survey of households. In the past six months, unemployment has leaped by 2.45 million, the largest increase since 1975.

"A stumbling economy seems to have been kicked down the stairs," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. "This is what a deep recession looks like."

Two issues:

What can this mean for output devices and office equipment sales?

And

What does this mean for the burgeoning Managed Print Services segment?

Not good for the first issue and better for the second.

It's simple really, with the "commoditization" of hardware and the reduction in margins, aren't we looking for the ultimate angle?

The "angle" is lowering costs? Lowering the costs for your customers right now is the most important issue.

Think about it, if you are reducing your clients' costs associated with printing, on a fleet of machines for a good number of employees - the savings your plan, your idea, your "solution"(gag) brings to the table may be enough to save one persons job - and there by helping to feed that person's kid or mom, or grandmother. Letting that one person go to Wal*Mart, or In-n-Out to spend money. And those Wal*Mart and In-n-Out employees get paid because your end user, and thousands of others, went their job.

You think sales people don't do anything?

You think your "job" isn't important?

You think we need more "change"?

When we sell, we change something, we always have - hopefully for the better.

Go Change Something.