Myth #1: It’s cheaper to buy a new printer than fix the one you have.

/>Before you head off to that big box office supply store to pick up another “cheap” printer, consider this:

• In 2010 alone 193,000 tons of discarded hardcopy devices were trashed.
• For every new printer you buy, you end up with more “orphaned” supplies from your old printer. When Jeff is working with customers to help them better manage their costs, he often sees supply closets chock full of ink and toner that can no longer be used. That’s ink… and money…down the drain.
• With our PrintSmart^TM program, you’ll work with us to identify and fix older printers that still have life in them – not just toss them out.

Myth #2: The more vendors the merrier.

Trust us, we know just how much fun printer vendors can be (we hang around them a lot ourselves). But you might want to keep in mind that more vendors also mean more skus, a myriad of drivers, countless brands of supplies, and hordes of repair people you deal with, too. Simplify, simplify.

Myth #3: You can believe everything you read on ink and toner boxes.

If you’re using the expected yield rate that appears on your toner packaging to determine cost-per-page, you might be kidding yourself. You see, manufacturers use a standard letter with 5% fill as the basis to determine yield rates. Given that most documents are somewhere between 8% and 10%, the actual yield rate is likely 60% of the number given… which is just one more of the many reasons to consider a managed print program like PrintSmart^TM: with that, there’s no complicated math to do — you know exactly how much you will pay every month.

Myth #4: Solid ink printers mean solid gold savings.

You hear a lot about how affordable and efficient solid ink printers are these days. But what is often ignored and equally important (and even more so to many of us Pacific Northwesterners) is the size of their carbon footprint. Think about it. It takes a lot of power to turn a solid into a liquid, right? Solid ink printers have to be on 24X7. Check out HP’s handy Carbon Footprint Calculator to learn more.

Myth #5: Just call IT — they can fix it.

While it is true that the average IT guy or gal has been known to walk on water and wrestle alligators, very few have been trained to fixed printers. Really, they should be spending their time enhancing applications and IT processes that grow business and satisfy customers. Sadly, though, an estimated 20 percent of all calls to IT help desks are printer related. Just think: if a managed print team helps you take care of printers, your IT can take care of business.

Myth #6: Having your own printer makes you cool.

It’s a cultural thing, really. Many of us have grown accustomed to having our own printer nearby… plus stashing all those extra cartridges and paper somewhere close. But you may be very pleasantly surprised to find out how easy (and financially savvy) it is to share. And many printers these days, including the entire line of HP MFPs, come with features and tools that can secure your documents. So whether you’re in healthcare, government, finance, education, or business, you can save money and keep your sensitive documents to yourself.

Myth #7: Green printing? Impossible.

We’ve learned how to do it – and we can help you get there. There are many tools available to help you manage energy costs as well as your paper and supplies. Not only do ENERGY STAR®-rated devices save energy, they can save you a chunk of change as well: for example, an HP ENERGY STAR®-rated All-in-One printer can save about $220 dollars in electricity bills over its lifetime. HP’s Instant-on Technology reduces warm up time while Auto-On, Auto-Off technology senses when you need to print and when you don’t. Duplexing and color controls can also help organizations reduce their footprint and costs.

Myth #8: Printing consultants are for the big guys.

The fact is that small businesses really can’t afford NOT to consult with a managed print professional. Every penny counts. PrintSmart^TM specialists make it their business to save yours.

/>Bust the myths: take a hard look at your printing and expose the problems that are costing you money and time that’s better spent growing your business. We can help. Call Jeff for further information on any of these myths or others you may have heard. 206.282.1200.

The post What You Don’t Know Will Cost You appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

Kirsten Bray, Part Gumshoe, Part Guide
When PrintSmart is the house, Kirsten Bray is on the case. Although a newcomer to Copiers Northwest, Bray is a 14-year veteran of the imaging and printing industry. (Which is to say, Kirsten knows her stuff and then some— including plenty of ways she can help you deal with perilous processes before they deal with you.) “It’s actually the common business processes you should worry about: processing purchase orders or handling new-hire paperwork–stuff you do every day, all day. When you’ve got a problem with a routine process, you can count on somebody throwing technology at it.” She knows that acquiring hardware simply to fix problems gets pricey.

A better way, Kirsten says, is to “find the right solution for your organization by looking closely at people, processes, hardware, and software. It’s typically the processes, not the people, at the core of the problem. After a good, hard look, we can usually rework a flow by leveraging technologies you already have.” Next stop: software and applications. These resources are typically underutilized in many organizations because no one knows that they are there. Kirsten believes that by identifying them and their place in the workflow, you can streamline with little to no additional investment.

Whether helping clients to clear the air, or to clear their over-provisioned, messy printing networks and workflows, Kirsten Bray is all about the flow. And also about enjoying life with her husband and son… and planning that special trip to Italy in June.

Jeff Rathbun, the Man with the Mathematical Mind
Jeff Rathbun is no stranger to choosing change for the better. An electrical engineer by trade, he began his career designing naval radar systems. But when Jeff discovered Seattle and Copiers Northwest some 18 years ago, he knew he was home. After managing the firm’s sales force for years, Rathbun discovered a passion for business process optimization and has never looked back. “Most broken business processes involve paper. Collaborating with clients to find new ways to work inevitably helps them better utilize their existing printing assets and reduce their carbon footprint. That’s the piece that keeps me going, the sustainability.”

But Jeff’s enthusiasm and mission don’t end there. “I want my clients to understand the total cost of printing. It is so much more than the price of the hardware or the supplies.” He helps clients look at the cost of ownership across a printer’s lifetime, not just the acquisition or ink and toner costs.

Make no mistake; this is a guy who lives to fix things. Whether it is common misconceptions, inefficient business processes, or the old house he is lovingly restoring — you can count on Jeff Rathbun to get the job done. Stay tuned for our next blog, when you’ll hear more wisdom from Jeff about the myths of printing costs.

The post Putting the Special in Specialists appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

marketplace. How serious? Of the more than 4,000 business leaders who participated in a

recent global survey^[i] on the subject:

• 28% consider sustainability a permanent and core strategic consideration.
• 31% see a direct link between business sustainability initiatives and profit.
• 67% believe that sustainability is key to competitiveness.

This unprecedented level of support from the top is a clear indication that sustainability is

nearing the tipping point in many organizations. But it takes commitment and advocacy to

nudge things in the right direction. Sure, big initiatives make headlines. But taking a hands-on,

systemic approach to reducing waste and inefficiency makes a big difference day in and day out.

Here are three ways to roll up your sleeves and get started.

Get Real  

You can’t sustain what you don’t know. These are just some of the things you’ll need to know to

determine the true environmental impact and costs of your organization’s printing practices:

• Per-page print costs (paper + print cartridges ÷ number of pages)
• User/printer ratio
• Energy costs (% of total operational costs)
• Printer/user ratio
• Device counts/capabilities/locations (be sure to note eco qualifications and features)
• Level of environmental awareness/concern among users

Get Creative

Once you have established a baseline of current operations, you can turn that information into an action plan using HP’s free online Carbon Footprint Calculator. Just enter the data you collected to explore the potential impact of a wide variety of technologies and strategies, for example:

• Consolidating to fewer more efficient printers such as HP LaserJet devices with Instant-on Technology, which can deliver up to 50% in energy savings over competitive laser products.[ii]
• Default double-sided printing, which can reduce paper consumption by as much as 50%.

Get Busy

Sustainability is not an event; it is a long-term business strategy.  It takes ongoing dedication and energy to keep office printing as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. Establishing and maintaining guidelines relating to the following dynamic areas can make it much easier to stay on track:

• Purchasing recycled paper
• Recycling paper, toner and equipment
• Setting limits on personal printing
• Printing from the web or mobile devices

Get a hand

Sustainability is everybody’s job. Give us a call at 866.692.0700 today to talk about your

The post Get Serious About the Sustainability appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

According to the experts, office printing in the typical enterprise now accounts for nearly 6% of operational expenditures.[1] Outrageous? You bet. Motivating?  Not so much. Turns out that in the typical enterprise, the cost of office printing, like the weather, tends to generate a great deal more anxiety than action. Fortunately, there are a host of powerful, affordable and easy to use fleet-management tools designed to reduce office printing costs while at the same time increase productivity and accountability. Here is a brief overview of just three of the many that deliver results–rain or shine.

HP Universal Print Driver for Windows (UPD)

Remember the days of “That new printer down the hall means we’ll have to download the new drivers”?  Available as a free download, HP UPD provides one driver for virtually all HP PCL 5 and Postscript general office color laser printers, as well as most black-and-white laser printers manufactured since 1997. In addition, UPD automatically supports new HP LaserJet printers and multifunction printers, which eliminates the need to deploy new drivers every time you upgrade or add to your printing environment.

According to an InfoTrends’ strategic assessment,[2] these productivity enhancements are common following HP UPD deployment:

IT departments report:

• 75% decrease in staffing required to integrate printers
• 50% reduction in working hours per month installing, certifying, maintaining and deploying print drivers
• 50-75% drop in administrator time

Help Desks report:

• 40-50% decrease in time spent resolving printer problems
• 5% drop in monthly call ticket volume

HP Web Jetadmin

HP Web Jetadmin is a simple print and imaging peripheral management software tool which can be used to optimize device utilization, control color costs and streamline supplies management by enabling remote configuration, monitoring and troubleshooting of a wide variety of HP and non-HP network printers and other print infrastructure components. With HP Web Jetadmin, you can benefit from:

• Having more information at your fingertips to track printers and network peripherals, redeploying them to where they are needed most, from anywhere on the network.
• Instant alerts that tell you when a printer needs attention. This means less printing downtime for your users.
• Productivity improvements through automatic locating and configuring of new print devices.
• Enhanced network bandwidth allocation by scheduling tasks during off-peak periods.
• Less time spent on diagnosing and solving printer issues.
• Lower printing cost by controlling – and thus minimizing–unnecessary printing.

HP Web Jetadmin is available free for download and installation at https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/hp-web-jetadmin-software/27905.

HP Color Access Controls

While the days of people printing their holiday cards on the department printer may be over (or are they?), color usage in organizations can be a huge, uncontrolled expense.   Used to report and restrict color usage as well as to monitor and coordinate supply management, HP color access control features can be accessed through software tools, print servers and via settings on individual HP printers and copiers.

These features also make it possible to allocate color capability to specific departments, workgroups or users. Just the kind of control it takes to significantly reduce operational costs associated with color printing.

How Copiers Northwest Can Help

These tools and other fleet-management strategies can help you address the costs of printing. Count on Copiers Northwest to provide the information and technology it takes to manage your fleet today. Give us a call at 866.692.0700 to talk about the right solutions for your organization’s specific needs.

The post The Zen of Fleet Management-Part Three appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

Forget about Bigfoot: today many organizations in the Pacific Northwest are encountering an even scarier phenomenon: hidden printing costs. How much scarier? According to the information technology analysts at Quocirca, a whopping 50% of all printing costs are hidden.[1] As a result of significant research on the topic, HP points to the following as the most likely sources of these mysterious expenses:

•  Device proliferation

Best practices suggest that device consolidation should be considered whenever your user-to-device ratio falls below 10:1.

•  Underutilization

InfoTrends’ research indicates that in many organizations, the utilization rates of equipment are half of the industry average.[2]

•  Help Desk calls

An estimated 20 percent of all calls to IT help desks are printer related.[3]

•  Energy consumption

According to Federal Energy Management Program data, the lifetime energy cost for a base model, 17-page-per-minute, networked laser printer is $110.07.[4]

Not to worry.  As we’ve discussed, fleet management combines the strategic business insight and innovative technologies it takes to put an end to these common and costly inefficiencies. Better still, fleet management highlights the choices, habits and ideas that make these problems so persistent and difficult to control. Give us a call at 866.692.0700 today to talk about to get started.

In our next blog we’ll look at some specific fleet management tools and how they get the job done.  For those who want to read ahead, you’ll find more information about fleet management tools on our website at www.copiersnw.com Or call us at 866.692.0700 today to talk about your specific office printing challenges and how Copiers Northwest can help.

The post The Zen of Fleet Management-Part Two appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

Throughout the next several blogs, we will be focusing on the practice of fleet management. Equal parts strategic business insight and innovative technology, fleet management helps organizations take off their denial glasses and look office printing reality dead in the eye. Fleet management goes beyond giving organizations peace of mind — it enables them to reduce costs and enhance everyone’s productivity by:

• Consolidating aging and underutilized devices to reduce costs and energy consumption.
• Putting the right devices in the right places.
• Automating digital workflows to simplify and speed up business processes.

Just how much peace of mind are we talking about? According to the industry gurus at Gartner:

• Organizations that manage their printer, copier and fax fleets can save between 10% and 30% of their print costs.[1]

That makes fleet management a path worth seeking, especially when you consider that in a typical enterprise:

• Printing costs now represent nearly 6% of operational expenditures.[2]
• For every dollar spent on the hard costs of printing, another $9 is spent managing the printed documents over their lifecycles.[3]

Do the math. When technology powerhouse HP put fleet management to work in its own office printing environments, it added up to millions of dollars in savings. Here are some highlights of what HP and fleet management achieved.

Source: HP data

The post The Zen of Fleet Management-Part One appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

HP Creative Studio for Business

HP provides free access to a wealth of free resources to help you design and create effective marketing materials, including:

• Easy-to-use templates (including identity and presentation kits, website, blog, posters and more)
• Royalty-free image library
• Convenient online classes (including how to align marketing materials to your goals and marketing writing tips)
• Timely, easy-to-read articles (on topics such as the art of branding, as well as online and direct marketing strategy) https://www.hp.com/us-en/home.html

HP ebook: Nine Steps to Marketing Success

HP makes this beautifully illustrated ebook available as a free download.

In it   you’ll find a wealth of check lists, worksheets, tips and tricks to help you  master challenges such as:

•   Finding   your marketing focus
•   Optimizing   your web activities for search engines
•   Creating   word of mouth through new media tools like blogs, wikis, optimized landing pages

Here are just some of the many types of marketing materials you can create with an HP printer:

• Business cards with logos or photos
• Letterhead or stationery
• Double-sided booklets and brochures
• Company-branded clothing with do-it-yourself HP Iron-on Transfers

How Copiers Northwest can help

At Copiers Northwest we speak fluent DIY Marketing lingo. Please check out the Copiers Northwest website for additional resources, tips and advice. Or better yet, give us a call today at 866.692.0700 to talk about how we can help you align your marketing budget and goals.

The post DIY In-house Marketing the Easy Way appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

• Email marketing gets seriously social.[1]
• Mobile marketing goes global and goes home.[2]
• “Always on” consumers insist on niche messaging “all ways.”[3]

Change is the new normal in today’s rapidly evolving marketing landscape. If you are still relying on an outside vendor such as a print shop to create traditional marketing collateral, you may be needlessly squandering resources that could be better spent helping you thrive in a chaotic environment. Here’s a quick comparison between print shop marketing and in-house marketing and how your most valuable assets (money, time, image) can be affected:

Cost

• Print shop: Not only will you pay higher prices, but these initial costs may also sway you to order more than you really need. This can lead to stacks of outdated materials.
• In-house: By creating and printing only what you need, you can save money and materials.

Flexibility

• Print shop: When it comes time to reprint, fix errors, or update content, many print shops charge for changes in addition to printing.
• In-house: With fewer hardcopies on hand, you avoid making hundreds of flyers obsolete due to changes in staff or business offerings. Plus, you’ll always have business cards or brochures available for a last-minute client meeting.

 Control

• Print shop:  Many print shops charge steep prices for designing a brochure or flyer that you may not even like.
• In-house: You remain in control of the messaging, quality and effectiveness of your collateral.

In our next blog we’ll take a closer look at how Copiers Northwest’s partner in technology, HP, can help. HP has the technology and a vast portfolio of free creative resources you need to reflect the unique style of your business while reducing costs, increasing flexibility and retaining control. Can’t wait to get started? Give us a call today at 866.692.0700 to discuss how in-house marketing can make a difference in your organization. And to see a comprehensive listing of 2012 marketing predictions, click here.

The post Making the Case for In-house Marketing appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

• Looking for a way to store and access documents at your business more efficiently? Check out the benefits of having a document management system.
• Managed print services can be extremely beneficial for companies interested in staying on the cutting edge of technology while saving money.
• Is your business always behind on the latest technology? Consider renting your computers instead of buying them to stay up-to-date.
• Ever wonder how laser printers actually work? Check out this neat video from the Science Channel to learn about the amazing technology found in laser printers.
• There are several benefits that come with managed print services. To learn about individual perks and money-saving advantages, check out this article from Small Business Computing.

The post Here Are Some Additional Links from Around the Web That Relate to Copier Northwest’s Recent Blog Topics appeared first on Copiers Northwest.

• Managed print services. Managed print services allow your business to have access to printers, copiers, and other document-sharing technology that is managed and maintained by a vendor. Not only does the vendor provide professional copier and printer services, but they also work with your company to provide improved managed print services. Your company can continue to become more and more efficient. This means that printers, copiers, and other managed print technology are updated as your company expands.
• Maintenance and Tech Support. In addition to providing the actual printers and copiers, managed print service companies also offer extensive maintenance and tech support services for all of their products. This means your business will never suffer from broken printers or copiers—repair services are done promptly and correctly so you can get back to work. It also means that you’ll never have to worry about replacement printers or copiers because your managed print services provider covers all equipment.
• Document management system. Document management systems allow your company to save and access important documents from computers throughout your network or remotely. This makes access to printers, copiers, and other print services in your businesses much easier. Your information is stored securely and is managed by your trusted vendor, though your employees maintain exclusive rights over all information stored.

To learn more about the advantages of managed print services and document management, contact Copiers Northwest. Our locally owned business has been serving businesses with high-quality managed printing services for over 25 years. For details, visit Copiers Northwest online or call (866) 692-0700.

The post Examining the Various Types of Printing Solutions Available to Businesses appeared first on Copiers Northwest.