November 3rd, 2009
MFPs Continue to Lead the Way in the Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market
The good folks at International Data Corporation (IDC) continue to feed the Doc’s insatiable habit for info on what’s going on in the document world. This time the massive data machine from Framingham has a report out on what sort of printers are selling best. Seems not as many of any kind are selling these past few months, but the trends are, nonetheless, fascinating.
A key bright spot in the overall hardcopy peripherals market worldwide continues to be the color laser multifunction peripheral (MFP) market. This segment had another solid showing in a challenging economic environment with unit shipments declining just 6% year over year in the second quarter of 2009 (2Q09).
As color continues to penetrate the overall hardcopy market, the MFP market is weathering the current economic downturn better than its single function counterparts, as products continue to make the transition towards multifunction.
Overall, the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market declined 21% year over year in 2Q09 to 24.1 million units. Shipment value declined 23.2% over the same time period to $11.6 billion.
In the current economic environment, vendors are focusing on offering cost cutting and/or productivity enhancements to customer’s existing document infrastructure as well as driving managed print services.
- The inkjet market continues to be the dominant technology segment with 16.6 million units shipped in 2Q09. The color inkjet MFP segment showed the second highest growth rate among all technology segments behind color laser MFPs with 13% year-over-year growth.
- The monochrome laser market remains the largest technology segment in terms of value at $4.2 billion and has the largest potential regarding MFP opportunity. This segment has the lowest rate of MFP penetration of all major non-impact segments.
- Color laser penetration continues to increase, driven up by the market performance of the global color laser MFP market. Although, it had a negative growth rate this quarter, this segment continues to outperform the overall hardcopy peripherals market.
So how’s this compare to your own buying patterns? The Doc bets you’re going more and more toward color multi-function, too.
You can read the full press release here.
October 29th, 2009
What to Look for in Managed Print Services
I often get stopped while in line at Starbuck’s and asked, “Doc, just what features should I look for in a Managed Print Service.” Depending on how many people are in front of me, my answer is usually pretty consistent.
First, make sure that the company you’re dealing with has a proven management process. While each situation is unique, you have to apply some standard management practices to the problem or you’ll never learn anything. Steps in this process usually include some sort of evaluation or assessment phase, then a design and recommendation process, followed by a deployment or implementation phase. And of course, if you want ongoing results, you should be looking for a long-term management role.
But even more important, what are your goals for a Managed Print Service?
Obvious is an overall reduction in cost, but how is that defined? If all you look at is something like the number of sheets of paper printed, you’ll be missing a big part of the picture. Look for a partner that talks about total cost of ownership throughout the cycle of document production.
And what about security?
A huge part of the value of MPS may be in the security that a good system brings to your company and employees.
Does the system use file encryption, secure identification, and proper backup?
You should be able, fairly quickly, to get good metrics for things like device-to-user ratios and minimum-distance-to-device figures as well as remote monitoring and management.
And of course, we know you care about sustainability, so how does the system or supplier line up with your overall green initiatives? Can you measure the success so you can report it back to customers and shareholders?
Now can I get back to my coffee?
October 28th, 2009
More on the Definition of Green Media
I try to avoid controversy unless, of course, I’m the cause of it. But the Doc knows a good fight when he sees it, and there’s an ongoing battle these days between the proponents of print and those who favor digital media.
The latest round from the print side comes in the form of an entertaining article by Richard Romano on the Print CEO Website. Among many other points worth reading, Richard concludes that:
“First of all, we need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that pixels are somehow pure and and holy and that that paper is the spawn of Satan. (Although some mills do have a grade they refer to as Satan Uncoated, used for printing really evil documents like insurance forms and Ayn Rand novels.) Let’s be clear about this: electronic media do have a carbon cost. In fact, earlier this year, a Harvard physicist made headlines when he managed to calculate the “carbon cost” of a Google search.”
“The BBC, among others, reported: US physicist Alex Wissner-Gross claims that a typical Google search on a desktop computer produces about 7g CO2.
“Furthermore: The Harvard academic argues that these carbon emissions stem from the electricity used by the computer terminal and by the power consumed by the large data centers operated by Google around the world.”
“Oh, and a 2007 Gartner Group report warned about the “carbon cost” of all the servers that comprise companies’ intranets and the Internet in general: The intense power requirements needed to run and cool data centers now account for almost a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions from information and communications technology.”
Read the entire article here. You go Richard. Print isn’t dead!
October 26th, 2009
Which is Greener: Paper or Digital? The Answer May Surprise You
Even though my brain is infused with a little too many toner particles, the Doc assumes that anything we can do to reduce paper consumption is good for the planet. But what about the significant impact of digital waste?
For a fascinating read, take a look at this interview with Don Carli, the Doc’s good friend and Executive Vice President of SustainCommWorld LLC and Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Sustainable Communication. Here’s a few highlights from Don:
“Other than pushing the ‘cool’ factor, one of the main selling points being made by marketers of eReaders is that they are greener than print. It is little surprise that the common view held by consumers who don’t know the backstory is that going digital means going green and saving trees. Many are in for a rude awakening. When subjected to ‘cradle-to-cradle’ life cycle analysis, eReading is not nearly as green as many naively assume it is.”
“There is no question that print media could do a better job of managing the sustainability of its supply chains and waste streams, but it’s a misguided notion to assume that digital media is categorically greener. Computers, eReaders, and cell phones don’t grow on trees and their spiraling requirement for energy is unsustainable.”
“Making a computer typically requires the mining and refining of dozens of minerals and metals including gold, silver, and palladium as well as extensive use of plastics and hydrocarbon solvents. To function, digital devices require a constant flow of electrons that predominately come from the combustion of coal, and at the end of their all-too-short useful lives electronics have become the single largest stream of toxic waste created by man. Until recently, there was little, if any, voluntary disclosure of the lifecycle ‘backstory’ of digital media.”
“Sadly, print has come to be seen as a wasteful, inefficient and environmentally destructive medium, despite the fact that much of print media is based on comparatively benign and renewable materials. In addition, print has incredible potential to be a far more sustainable medium than it is today… and a truly digital medium as well. Despite its importance to business, government and society, print has been cast in the role of a dark old devil in decline. Digital media has been cast as the bright young savior on the rise.”
“Ironically the future of digital media and eBook readers is likely to be based on flexible polymer electronics manufactured using printing presses rather than silicon semiconductor fabrication technologies. In fact, the next generation of eReaders will most likely be digital AND be printed.”
There is a lot more from Don that the Doc guarantees will stimulate your neural economy.
October 21st, 2009
How Digital Document Storage Can Help Reduce Costs
The Doc doesn’t do drugs, but sometimes I still seek a mind-blowing experience. That’s when I call on my friends at Ricoh, who can always turn me on to an unbelievable statistic about office life. Did you know, for example, that the average office worker spends up to half of their workday searching for information? Now that’s a mind blower, and there’s a free white paper to back it up.
According to the folks at Ricoh, lost documents create ripples of inefficiency throughout any organization. They can be especially devastating for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), which are more vulnerable to workflow disruptions. In these environments, document storage solutions that provide fast, accurate storage and easy management can significantly boost productivity, improve security, and reduce operating expenses.
Traditional methods of storing paper have become even more inefficient, expensive, and unreliable by way of comparison to today’s digital technology. Digital document imaging - the process of converting paper documents into electronic files - serves as the catalyst for today’s innovative electronic document storage systems. Now, companies can effectively store hardcopy files electronically. Digital document imaging technology captures these documents at their source, enabling organizations to reduce the manual touch points that frequently result in lost or misplaced documents.
Electronic document storage solutions enable organizations to archive, access, and retrieve documents more quickly and efficiently. They also minimize risk by protecting sensitive documents against unauthorized use. In general, today’s electronic storage systems are less expensive, more secure, easier to use, and more reliable than traditional paper storage methods. Even though more businesses are trending toward digital storage systems, it is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. Companies can implement scanning, storage, and paper-to-digital technology into existing processes at any time, for a gradual, cost-effective transition to digital records.
This white paper examines current document storage methods and explores affordable alternatives that can help SMBs as well as departments within larger organizations store critical documents more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Doc wants you to have more time for real work, not searching for files. So check this one out!
October 20th, 2009
Take Steps Now to Safeguard Print Devices and Printed Data
I’ve talked before about security, which is one of the BIG issues with document management and managed print services. The Doc’s current prescription: download this white paper from CDW entitled “Surprising Security Threat: Take Steps Now to Safeguard Print Devices and Printed Data.”
The paper is available through Bitpipe, where it’s free after a brief registration. You’ll learn that:
“Shared access, made possible by networking, lets IT replace and consolidate single-user desktop printers with a smaller number of workgroup or departmental devices. These products typically offer far better cost-per-page, higher page-per-minute speeds, reduced service costs and better print quality.”
“Shared printers also make it easier and more affordable for companies to offer color, both document-quality and graphic quality, larger paper capacity (which can accommodate larger print jobs), and document-finishing options like folding, collating, stapling, and binding.”
“But shared network printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) also open the door to security threats that many IT departments haven’t properly addressed. Read this paper to learn how you can evaluate printer requirements and risks and help find solutions that match your business needs.”
And remember, if you print this white paper out, keep it securely hidden in that bottom drawer under the take-out menus.
October 18th, 2009
Best Practices in Managed Print Services
I’ve come across a good overview of Managed Print Services by Darlene Sheldon, writing at imagesourcemag.com. Doc’s always on the lookout for these primers, since this is still a relatively new field.
According to Darlene:
“Corporations recognize that they need to address out of control costs associated with network printing. How do they get there? Many are looking to solve it by outsourcing their managed print services.”
Her best practices for Managed Print Services include:
1. Develop a Print Strategy
For any corporation who wishes to reduce costs by managing their printing, a document and print strategy is essential. Best practices conclude that fleet assessment and strategy development should be hardware vendor independent.2. Establish a Baseline
The baseline assessment is used as the kick-off point for developing the corporate print strategy. During baseline assessment, best practices incorporate all costs into the picture, not just consumables - the largest cost being human resources. If the dealer already has a printer fleet management tool which contains a database of device inventory, printing activity and printer events, his revenue can be increased by offering assessment services. In addition, the dealer can prepare a competitive managed print services proposal based upon the inventory and understanding of his client’s printing history. A greater knowledge of the printer fleet than both his client and competitor is a significant strategic advantage.3. Treat Printers as an Asset
Best practices recognize that the printer fleet is a corporate asset, and thus, should be managed like any other IT asset. Printer asset management looks at a device through its lifecycle and the fleet from the enterprise perspective. A printer life encompasses purchase decisions, printer financials, maintenance, supplies management, and retirement. The enterprise perspective looks at the fleet inventory using corporate metrics, comparisons and trends, making decisions from a global, rather than, unit or commodity basis.
There are five more best practices, plus a mess (in a good way) of other useful information, including how to measure, monitor, and manage your print services. Thanks Darlene!
October 16th, 2009
Enterprise Rights Management: Implementation Imperatives & Business Readiness
I need to point out that all the controls in the world won’t do much good for your content if it isn’t clear who owns what and which rights you have to use the content in your enterprise. That’s where ERM (Enterprise Rights Management) comes into play.
Thanks to the Doc’s buddies at The Gilbane Group, you can now have free access to a terrific white paper on the subject by content gurus Bill Rosenblatt, David Guenette, and Bill Trippe. Here’s what Gilbane has to say about the paper:
Gilbane Group’s new report presents the most comprehensive publicly available research on the ERM market ever undertaken. ERM: Business Imperatives and Implementation Readiness is backed by qualitative and quantitative research on general awareness of ERM, the current state of ERM deployments or plans to deploy (or decisions to avoid the technology), and target applications. According to study data:
- Protecting confidential information from leaking outside the organization is the primary motivation driving ERM adoption.
- ERM is becoming important for supporting information usage regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley (accounting) and HIPAA (healthcare).
- Apart from regulatory compliance, client/customer communications and financial processes are other types of business processes involving confidential information that are the most prevalent for ERM implementations.
- 55% of ERM implementations are integrated with content management solutions (including knowledge management and groupware/collaboration)
Gilbane Group’s study methodology included a survey of over 200 senior IT, security, and content management professionals across a range of vertical industries, conducted in cooperation with the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The research also draws on in-depth case studies on ERM deployments at six multinational companies; the case studies are included in the report. The 67 page report is available at no charge, though you will have to register for the site, which the Doc highly recommends.
Simply go here for this and other highly helpful free reports.
October 15th, 2009
A Realistic Transition Toward the "Paperless" Medical Practice
I was playing Twister with a nimble young friend from Ricoh the other day when I pulled a muscle trying to get to red. I told her how much I hate going to the doctor because of all the paperwork you have to fill out. “Well then,” she said, “Give this to your doc, Doc.” And she handed me a new white paper from Ricoh on how medical practices can move to digital record keeping.
The paper concludes, among many other things, that:
In many medical offices, paper-related inefficiencies can sidetrack medical professionals, delay reimbursement and even compromise care. More efficient management of paper documents would not only streamline workflow and reduce operating costs; it could improve the patient experience as well.
In the ideal paperless world, healthcare professionals would be able to practice in an environment that enables these benefits:
- A better patient experience. Patients primarily spend their visit with caregivers, and less time with intake, waiting for physicians who are behind schedule, or dealing with follow-up issues because of poor documentation. Errors and delays related to prescriptions, physician orders, patient records, and reimbursement are reduced.
- Higher quality of care. Providers meet a high standard of patient care. Complete and accurate patient files decrease opportunities for mistakes, omissions, or duplicated treatments. Physicians can securely access files from home, the hospital or other offices, promoting greater continuity of care.
- Enhanced medical staff productivity. Physicians and other medical staff now spend more of their time providing face-to-face care because office workflow is less disrupted due to missing, misfiled, and incomplete files. They can see more patients, spend more time with patients, or devote saved time to other productive activities.
- Improved office efficiency. Healthcare organizations are able to eliminate duplication of effort and administrative delays. Less administrative staff time and space are devoted to records management, and less manual data entry reduces the risk of errors.
And we all know the Doc is in favor of improved medical care and a reduction of paper consumption.
October 13th, 2009
Multilingual Product Content: Transforming Traditional Practices into Global Content Value Chains
As the speaker of many languages, Los Doc knows how important it is these days to have a global content strategy. So do our friends at the Gilbane Group.
“Decades of processes and practices have grown up around the creation, management, and delivery of technical content that enables customers to derive value from the products and services they buy,” says Gilbane. “As the manufacturing age gives way to the information age, as ‘global’ becomes an adjective that describes more and more businesses, and as the basis for competitive advantage shifts away from manufactured products, established content practices are undergoing profound and fundamental changes to support the new global order of business.”
In spring 2009, the Gilbane Group conducted in-depth, qualitative research on the state of global product content practices and progress towards transforming traditional practices into Global Content Value Chains (GCVC). This is the first study to focus on end-to-end globalization of product content from two perspectives: from that of the content management professional and that of the language professional.
This free study extends the work that Gilbane published in 2008 in their report entitled “Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperative: Why Companies Need to Optimize Their Global Content Value Chains.” Observations and conclusions from that work are referenced throughout. Readers will find it useful to download Multilingual Communications 2008, available for free from Gilbane, as background to this new report.
The 80 page report is available at no charge (after registering) by visiting the Gilbane Website.
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Doc's Biography
ZDNet and TechRepublic introduce Doc (The DocuMentor), sponsored by RICOH. Doc will educate you about Document Management.
Doc was born to a Russian ballerina and a German engineer, who some believe was running covert operations for shadowy corporate interests. At MIT, Doc made a name for himself by transforming a large printer into a robot that hunts and eats Roombas.
Professionally, he’s reportedly seen the insides of more brands, versions, and generations of printer and printer-related hardware than almost anyone. Doc’s mastery of document management leaves no stone unturned; and he has vast knowledge regarding sustainability, security, regulatory compliance, networking, and IT services.
Related Links
- New White paper: Managed Print Services and Beyond: How You Can Cut Costs and Go Green While Increasing Employee Productivity
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Recent Entries
- MFPs Continue to Lead the Way in the Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market
- What to Look for in Managed Print Services
- More on the Definition of Green Media
- Which is Greener: Paper or Digital? The Answer May Surprise You
- How Digital Document Storage Can Help Reduce Costs
Top Rated
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- How Digital Document Storage Can Help Reduce Costs+4 votes
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- More on the Definition of Green Media+3 votes
- How You Can Cut Costs and Go Green While Increasing Employee Productivity+3 votes
- Is Full-Color the New Standard for Office Documents?+2 votes
- Best Practices in Managed Print Services+2 votes
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- Which is Greener: Paper or Digital? The Answer May Surprise You Anything we can do to reduce paper consumption is good. But what about the impact of digital waste?
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