Inefficient printing use is costing UK firms

The inefficient use of documents and printers is costing UK businesses a lot more through printer supplies, such as Paper and ink, print specialist Hewlett-Packard (HP) has claimed.

The office equipment manufacturer said that a large number of employees will print a file then fax or rescan and email the same Paper document, without realising how time consuming and expensive this long-winded process is.

According to Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of HP’s imaging and printing group, firms are converting Paper to information and vice versa up to 11 times without adding any value to it.

It is estimated that most companies typically spend between one and three per cent of business revenue on office supplies such as printer cartridges, but Mr Joshi explained that inefficient printing and poor document managing was costing companies far more.

He explained that reducing the number of individual desktop printers and introducing shared printers for workgroups can reduce the costs of printer supplies such as ink-jet cartridges by as much as 70 per cent and Paper costs by 67 per cent.

HP offers a wide range of products for use both in the office and at home. Beyond printers and HP printer cartridges, it also manufactures desktop PCs and workstations, laptop computers, handhelds and calculators as well as other office products.