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As the volume of information flowing through the enterprise increases approximately 50% a year1, there’s no doubt controlling the costs of managing business critical documents is an increasingly formidable challenge.
Yet one of the findings in a recent IDC survey of C-level and IT management showed that many of these executives assumed that their existing document management costs and consequences were insignificant. They didn’t realize how much money their organizations were actually spending beyond the highly visible costs of paper, toner, and hardcopy-device hardware.2
Fragmented cost ownership and the distribution and management of various components in the document life cycle across different departments obscured the huge costs, which could be as much as 11% in manufacturing to 15% in healthcare as a percentage of revenue, according to previous IDC research.3
The total management costs over the full lifecycle of business critical documents can be considered in two categories: those that are directly measurable, ‘hard costs’ (e.g. hardware, consumables), and inefficiencies that are less visible and are only measured indirectly (e.g. wasted time spent looking for information).
Though difficult to quantify, it is clear the cost associated with iWorkers’ inefficient access to business information at the right time, in the right form, is far more significant than hardware and consumables.
In addition to cost savings, other business benefits would result from streamlining inefficient business critical document processes.
Companies deploying Managed Print Services (MPS) and Managed Document Services (MDS) are leveraging service providers’ knowledge of processes, experienced staff, and investment in leading-edge technology to achieve impressive results:
- 48% to 55% savings in reduced ink and toner consumption, fewer repairs, and reduction in hardware costs4
- 18% to 27% savings through using less paper, reducing IT headcount, streamlining document workflows, and external print procurement5
- 7% to 14% savings from fewer help desk calls, improved paper document storage, and reduced environmental impact6
The savings achieved in directly measureable hard costs, combined with the efficiencies from streamlining document workflows are the kinds of results today’s C-level executives want to show their stakeholders. Companies deploying MPS are experiencing average savings of 25%, and even more in some industries.7 In a broad, cross industry survey of European companies (458 respondents), they estimated that optimizing their existing processes could add 5% in profitability to their bottom line.8
Using services like Ricoh MDS, organizations can better control costs throughout the document lifecycle, avoiding more capital-intensive investments, and evolving static infrastructure to more responsive solutions. Controlled costs through more efficient processes can free resources and time to devote to increasing competitiveness and revenue generating initiatives.
1 IDC, The Digital Universe Decade – Are You Ready? – May 2010, Sponsored by ECM.
2 IDC Whitepaper sponsored by Ricoh, Managed Print and Document Services for Controlling Today’s – and Tomorrow’s – Information Costs, January 2011.
3 IDC Whitepaper sponsored by Ricoh, Managed Print and Document Services for Controlling Today’s – and Tomorrow’s – Information Costs, January 2011.
4 IDC Whitepaper sponsored by Ricoh, Managed Print and Document Services for Controlling Today’s – and Tomorrow’s – Information Costs, January 2011.
5 IDC Whitepaper sponsored by Ricoh, Managed Print and Document Services for Controlling Today’s – and Tomorrow’s – Information Costs, January 2011.
6 IDC Whitepaper sponsored by Ricoh, Managed Print and Document Services for Controlling Today’s – and Tomorrow’s – Information Costs, January 2011.
7 IDC Whitepaper sponsored by Ricoh, Managed Print and Document Services for Controlling Today’s – and Tomorrow’s – Information Costs, January 2011.
8 Ricoh Process Efficiency Index, June 2011, conducted by Coleman Parkes Research
