Research commissioned by Kyocera Mita, one of the world’s leading document imaging companies, has revealed that the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a printer fleet for a typical Australian mid-market business is between $151,000 and $287,000 over three years.
The study, conducted by local industry analyst firm Longhaus, also identified that the typical print fleet for a mid-sized Australian business consists of 32% A4 desktop single function devices, 30% A4 free standing multifunction devices and 22% A4 desktop multifunction devices. The most typical printer brands include HP, Canon, Kyocera Mita, Fuji Xerox and Lexmark.
“The reality is that the Australian mid-market spends between 8-9% of its annual ICT budget on the acquisition of print devices, and a further 6% on ongoing operational costs for a typical print fleet. Totaling around 15% of the total ICT budget, this places print devices on par with telecommunications expenses as a single, identifiable expense.” said David Finn, Managing Director, Kyocera Mita Australia and New Zealand.
“Disturbingly, most businesses are missing out on opportunities to cut print costs by as much as 35%, simply because they are unaware of their real printing costs and therefore aren’t optimising their printer fleets. It’s a case of not being able to manage what you can’t measure.”
The widespread lack of understanding of the true printer TCO is attributed to increased print output volumes, coupled with diminished management visibility and cost controls. When asked whether they could estimate the number of pages their organisation prints in a given period, less than 25% of research respondents answered in the affirmative.
Another management approach gaining popularity in the Australian market is Managed Print Services (MPS), with 39% of mid-market organisations using an external service provider to manage their printer fleet.
