With today’s high cost of doing business, the ongoing, but still substantial, cost of printing is often overlooked. It’s easy to de-prioritize this cost component for another day. And let’s face it, tell your VP of Procurement that you are looking to upgrade to the latest and greatest CRM tool or other high-tech solution to help make your business that much more attractive.
But the truth is that this way of thinking is costing you more than you think. Because there are so many items that include a company’s total printing spend, the true cost is generally not known in either procurement or marketing departments. In fact, it often happens that printing spending is spread across multiple departments, neither of whom is aware of what the other is doing, and no method of managing total spending.
Due to this fragmented purchasing environment, it is rare for a company to know the global dollar figure. Subsequently, this significant ongoing cost is never marked to be addressed. Printing costs actually represent between 1 and 3% of a company’s total revenue, a much higher expense than most business owners and CEOs would like to think about (Print and Copy Management: Consolidation Strategies to Achieve Best Practices, IDC View (IDC # AP22313M)).
But there are even more costs associated with a company’s total printing spend that go unrecognized. Non-printing costs are typically higher than printing costs, up to six times higher (Infotrends CAP Ventures). These costs include all the elements that surround a typical one-time or even recurring print job. From purchase order authorization to e-mailing proofs to all associated parties and billing, a single print job, especially a low-quantity one, can take on a life of its own and incur significantly smoother dollar costs. how hard.
So how do you reduce these costs, much less increase productivity? The simple answer is to find an effective print management company that provides three things:
1. A strategic network of printers to meet all your printing needs.
2. A print production procurement system that provides your various departments with a method to initiate a job and track proofs, in an online portal.
3. An online ordering method for stored collateral, print-on-demand, and electronic marketing media, allowing all of its users easy access to marketing materials and operational documents.
This print outsourcing model can work well for small businesses, as well as Fortune 100 companies, with the technology provided to manage your printing tailored to your business needs. Smaller businesses with less activity won’t need AZ procurement through the web-enabled billing solutions that a large business needs, but they can greatly benefit from a simple online procurement and ordering system.
Another benefit of using a print management company is ensuring consistency of your brand in all of your printed communications. Think about the marketing time and dollars that go into promoting and maintaining your brand. Choosing an effective print management partner will lower costs, streamline procedures, and ensure you don’t put your most valuable asset, your brand, at risk.