Cost savings keep Managed Print Services adoption on track through recession

UXBRIDGE Research results announced today reveal that managed print services (MPS) remain popular in large and medium-sized enterprises despite the recession. Over 90 per cent of respondents state that they will continue with original plans to deploy MPS in their organisations. The MPS end-user survey, co-sponsored by Xerox and undertaken by research and analysis company Quocirca, shows that 70 per cent of organisations saw management of their print infrastructure as a strategic imperative. Cost savings are the key driver for MPS adoption. 25 per cent of respondents say that MPS is delivering cost savings above expectations, and a further 60 per cent say they were satisfied with the savings achieved.

The survey was undertaken across the UK, Germany, France and the US in 200 organisations across five vertical industry sectors: financial services; pharmaceutical; public sector; retail; and telecoms and IT. The questionnaire was designed to capture both non-MPS and MPS users with a quota defined for a 50 per cent split between MPS and potential MPS users.

Whilst cost saving is the main MPS attraction, document security is still of concern with over 50 per cent of respondents raising document security as a barrier to MPS adoption. "This could be due to the lack of awareness of the capabilities that MPS offers to improve the security of document processes," said Louella Fernandes Principal Analyst at Quocirca. "It may also be due to the perception that remote monitoring poses security risks. However, remote monitoring itself does not cause security vulnerabilities. So this suggests that there is a lack of understanding on how an MPS operates and how a secure environment can be maintained."

Commenting on the results, Shaun Pantling, director and general manager of Xerox Global Services, Europe said: "The economic downturn doesn't seem to have had a major impact on corporate MPS plans, which we believe is a direct result of MPS clearly delivering on promises to bring cost savings. Unmanaged print environments expose organisations to both spiralling print costs and a higher security risk, so it is unsurprising that these are the most pressing concerns. Most large organisations are worried about the security of confidential or sensitive information, particularly where there are multiple shared devices. These are exactly the concerns that Xerox addresses with a range of smart scanning and secure printing solutions."

Further findings include:

• Organisations with over 5,000 employees are more likely to view printing as strategic
• The finance and government sectors place a higher strategic importance on managing their print infrastructures than other industries
• Cost reduction is the most pressing concern for all organisations across all regions. Document security comes second but there are strong regional variations with this being a particular issue in France and Germany
• Cost savings expectations are typically between 10-40 per cent but vary by vertical sector and organisational size
• Cost saving expectations are significantly higher in Germany than in other countries
• German organisations also place the highest importance on secure printing solutions suggesting that they may be further along the maturity curve for MPS than other countries
• The ability to guarantee cost savings was rated the most important capability with approximately 50 per cent of respondents rating this as very important. Consolidated billing (#2) and proactive supplies management (#3) were also rated highly. Multivendor management came in at #6 with nearly 80 per cent rating it as either important or very important
• The financial sector demonstrates much higher print costs, with 65 per cent of respondents believing printing to account for more than 10 per cent of their budget. With its higher reliance on printed output, controlling print costs is vital for this sector
• Cost issues are seen as key challenges particularly for government and finance, while document security is the highest concern amongst pharmaceutical respondents
• Over 90 per cent of organisations who have outsourced to an MPS channel provider are satisfied with the level of service they are receiving
• Satisfaction levels are much higher for those using either a fully outsourced or out-tasked approach to MPS compared to a basic MPS model
• Those using fully outsourced MPS, experience a much lower proportion of IT support calls relating to print.

For a copy of the full research report, please contact: Sonia Panchal, Xerox Europe, T: +44 (0) 1895 842 877 email: sonia.panchal @xerox.com



About Xerox and MPS

Using MPS best practise Xerox has delivered real measurable benefits to customers across Europe and globally:

• A global IT firm saved over $7m per annually after Xerox standardised processes for printer management
• Sun Microsystems were processing 3,000 printer related invoices per quarter but today send out one itemised invoice per country, per quarter, enabling significant cost savings and improving business efficiencies
• The service desk at a global telecommunications company was burdened with 850 calls per month. Xerox helped reduce the volume of calls by 40 per cent by managing their printer fleet for them
• QinetiQ cut energy use by 44 per cent and greenhouse gases by 44 per cent after putting in place a sustainable and secure print solution from Xerox

About Xerox Europe

Xerox Europe, the European operations of Xerox Corporation, markets a comprehensive range of Xerox products, solutions and services, as well as associated supplies and software. Its offerings are focused on three main areas: offices from small to large, production print and graphic arts environments, and services that include consulting, systems design and management, and document outsourcing.

Xerox Europe also has manufacturing and logistics operations in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands, and a research and development facility (Xerox Research Centre Europe) in Grenoble, France. For more information visit, www.xerox.com

Xerox is a trademark of Xerox Corporation. All non-Xerox brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Prices, features, specifications, capabilities, appearance and availability of Xerox products and services are subject to change without notice.

About the Survey:

Undertaken amongst IT Directors, CIOs, IT management and decision makers/influencers evenly spread across the US, UK, Germany and France, The research was held amongst organisations 50 per cent of which had 1,000-5,000 employees and the remaining 50 per cent more than 5,000 employees. Organisations were interviewed in June 2009 and covered a number of industry sectors including: retail; telecoms; financial services; public sector; and pharmaceutical industries. Printer and copy devices refer to all personal and networked printers or copiers (lasers, inkjets, group printers, copiers and multifunction devices).

For the purposes of this research, Quocirca regards MPS as being the use of an external organisation to assess how an organisation's printer, copier and multi-function assets can be most optimally provided, followed by the external organisation providing ongoing monitoring, maintenance and management of the assets via an agreed service contract. The definition does not include just purchasing or leasing of print and copier assets from an external on a cost-per-page or other basis - it had to include a degree of up-front assessment and fleet optimisation.

Xerox Media Contacts:

Sonia Panchal, Xerox Europe, T: +44 (0) 1895 842 877, sonia.panchal @xerox.com

Claire Jones, Grayling, T: +44 (0)020 7592 7923 email: claire.jones@grayling.com

Xerox and the sphere of connectivity design are trademarks of Xerox Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Prices, features, specifications, capabilities, appearance and availability of Xerox products and services are subject to change without notice.

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