Greig Ross Associates - Print Cost and Waste Management

Welcome to the November edition of PrintCut

Helping organisations to significantly reduce their print costs, consumption and waste.

By the tail......

Printing has been described as the last great hidden business cost and in these challenging times "re-arranaging the deckchairs on the Titanic" is not an option.

From capital to consumables via utilities there are opportunities to make immediate and significant savings with a little specialist help.

The larger the organisation the greater the savings and impact on the bottom line,

Where to begin?

In this months first article, “Can you afford to do nothing? we present the mouth-watering results that have been obtained and the approach that was taken to allow a Local Authority to undertake a Print Audit.

In our second feature this month Document Management research article, we demonstrate the lateral approach that growing organisations can take in providing solutions to print, document and workflow management and why in many respects they are the different sides of the same coin.

‘Green Corner’ is where we invite organisations specialising in helping to improve our printing green credentials to give some useful tips and ideas. This month we thank Paul Green for his tip on saving paper during faxing

PrintCut from Greig Ross Associates providing the latest case studies and best practice.

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“Can you afford to do nothing?

If one of our recent Clients chose this route they would be throwing away £170k per year, every year.

Headline Print Audit Results (per annum)

Projected Cost Savings = £170K (33% of total costs)
Number of pages printed = 14.2 Million
Number of users = 2600
Number of printers = 1300
Ratio Printers/Users = 1:2 (Industry Target is 1:12)
Number of Printer Models = 270 (Industry target is single figures)

Overwhelmed by offers too good to be true and perhaps thinking that it is going to be a hassle and will probably end up costing money, is a situation that many organisations find themselves in. So inevitably they do nothing and continue to incurr costs which are very easily identified and removed with the right action says associate Dik McFarlane.

So why bother with an Independent Print Audit as a first step to reducing your print & copying costs? Here is a real example showing how Greig Ross Associates implemented a Print Audit and identified how an English Local Authority could achieve significant savings by implementing some simple actions. These results are typical of other audits.

What the Print Audit clearly identified is that the Local Authority, in line with almost all organisations, had lost management focus on how printing and copying was implemented, resulting in an unauthorised escalation in the number of printers, models and associated costs.

Click here to get the full story

Document Management - Real Benefits

Sometimes it pays to consider electronic alternatives to paper and document production, such as document management. One of our associates, Stuart Oliver, has recently engaged with a leading Scottish accountancy firm to implement a document management solution.

The firms success and growth through acquisition has created a number of challenges which include no centralised filing system and files stored accros the group in a number of servers. The lack of a single storage area, for all client data resulting in duplication. Most importantly the mix of media between paper and electronic files causes confusion and difficult working processes.

The document management solution will deliver major benefits, reducing costs and improving efficiency. There will only ever be one folder per client. Within this all documents such as client correspondence, accounts backups, tax returns, companies house returns will be stored. The system will considerably reduce the amount of paper produced and held in filing cabinets.

Access will be controlled and it will not be possible to either accidentally delete files or overwrite existing data. This means that no data is ever lost and also that previous versions may be returned to in future.

Click here for further information this and other Case Studies from Greig Ross Associates.

Greig Ross Associates Limited, 1 Trainers Brae, North Berwick, By Edinburgh, EH39 4NR

enquiries@graltd.co.uk

T: 0044 8456 444 945 F: 0044 8456 444 943