When contemplating the option of outsourcing your organisation’s document outputs, one immediately tends to think of benefits such as streamlining the document output process whilst simultaneously saving employees valuable time. “However, the benefits of outsourcing the management of your document outputs do not stop here as this decision can be a strategic driver in making first-line cost reduction and long-term cost containment a reality,” Peter Fraser, Director of Embedit told SmartProcurement in a recent interview.
In order to successfully outsource a commodity such as document outputs, it is advisable to go through a tried and tested process with a reputable company. This process would typically consist of the following steps when choosing an outsourcing partner:
- The outsourcing company should visit your organisation and establish the exact needs of all employees, desk by desk.
- A full-on audit of the capacity, cost and equipment inventory of your entire estate should be conducted.
- You should be given a detailed ‘output report’, device by device.
- The outsourcing company should make a proposal to meet your entire organisation’s needs by using or replacing your existing machines:
- At a lower cost than is presently the case, and
- Present you with a single invoice on a monthly basis.”
“The described process is the modern trend in document management as this commodity group is usually a non-core and non-strategic function across organisations. This fact allows for an ideal scenario for outsourcing a ‘maverick spend’ cost centre to a professional company that will take full responsibility for managing all your copiers, faxes, printers and scanners”, Fraser said.
For instance, by installing multi-functional devices at your hotspots – strategically placed for optimum benefit of the most users – you can dramatically reduce the necessary capacity on your network(s) by some 20%. This will, in turn, reduce the monthly maintenance costs as the number of units are reduced and, as a bonus, also reduce the amount of cabling and plug points required.
“These devices are highly sophisticated and will enable the service provider to give you detailed reports of the consumption of each user. Specific ID’s and security measures are also imbedded to monitor compliance and to let you know, in advance, when to replace the ink”, Fraser concluded.
If this sounds like the solution to your document output management strategy send an e-mail to sales@embedit.co.za, or call 076 400 8100, and you will be referred to a reputable service provider that can deal with your organisation’s unique output requirements.
Peter Fraser can be contacted on the details below:
Telephone: +27 11 258 8667
Cell: +27 79 499 7815
Email: peter@embedit.co.za
