Printer-less offices a possibility

November 2, 2012

As printers see increasingly less relevance in the office, one business website speculates on the possibility that we will start to see their complete abandonment.

As the concept of “printer fleet optimisation”, as coined by Canon Assistant General Manager Jeremy Plint to describe cutting back under-used devices, becomes increasingly relevant, Sylvia Pennington of Business Week, the Sunday Morning Herald, speculates in the premise that the printer-less office may come to fruition soon.

Noting that “where once there was a printer on every other desk, a growing number of organisations are now making do with one or two per division or floor”, companies that embark on printer fleet optimisation can expect to see a reduction of printer-to-staff ratio from four-to-one to 20-to-one and a 30 percent reduction on total printing speed, according to Plint.

Gartner Analyst Lam Lai-ling also stated that print devices are also often the first considered when reductions are made: “Companies are becoming more mindful of fleet management and trying to get control over printing costs and they’re trying to reduce the number of printers especially personal printers.”

As awareness of printing costs increases, Lam claims companies are beginning to approach it as a “painless” means of cutting costs.

The concept of the paperless office has been floated around for a long time, and in some instances has proven fruitful as in the Boris Berezovsky v Roman Abramovich case which by virtue of utilising cloud computing technology managed to save five million pages.

Industry figure Nathan Dube speculated on the concept of the paperless office in early 2012, noting that it was “a myth for the simple fact that human beings truly have an intense and emotional attachment to the printed page”.

Categories : Around the Industry

Tags : Business