As offices review their office printing costs, one significant area almost entirely overlooked is the cost of having A3 devices. The perception is that the A3 document is as necessary to our office printing needs as power-steering is to our cars. The reality, as evidenced by NewField IT's review of more than 70,000 devices supporting over 200,000 users, is that A3 output in the office is remarkably low – less than 2.5% of total page volumes on average.
The A3 Document:
Perception versus RealityAs offices review their office printing business sectors. The statistics on A3 costs, one significant area almost entirely capability as opposed to A3 usage has overlooked is the cost of having A3 been surprising. In terms of capability, a devices. The perception is that the A3 typical administrative building with 1,700 document is as necessary to our office staff will have 72 printers capable of printing needs as power-steering is to printing A3 documents (20% of the printer our cars. The reality, as evidenced by fleet) and 56 copiers/multifunctional NewField IT's review of more than 50,000 devices (MFD) with such functionality devices supporting over 105,000 users, is (89% of the fleet). The percentage of A3 that A3 output in the office is remarkably capable devices varies within different low - less than 2.5% of total page volumes business sectors, the financial services on average. sector being the highest with an average of 26%.Yet, because of the perception, companies are spending more than TWICE Six different organisations, identified only as much as they needed to on printers by industry sector, are shown below. These and nearly THREE times as much on organisations represent 3,839 devices and copiers to provide A3 capability to staff over 10,000 office based employees.- extrapolating this across NewField IT's survey base shows an organisation of 1,700 staff and 390 output devices is spending £70,000 more than it needs to on output hardware. By understanding the true A3 requirements in the office companies could significantly reduce their annual capital purchases for output hardware without affecting office productivity. Figure1: A3 capable printers as a % of all printersThis Research Paper explains why A3 output is not as prevalent in the office Despite the level of capability, analysis as many people believe. There are of the paper volumes and page counts several reason why the perception of shows that just 2.35% of the total page A3 usage is so much higher than the volume is on A3 paper. Given that the reality, but discovering general user average office based worker produces requirements and actual A3 usage is not 8,636 pages a year, just 202 pages are A3, as complicated as some might believe. which is less than a page a day - hardly This paper concludes by providing several an essential accessory!suggestions on how any Procurement or IT Manager can challenge the accepted While A3 usage in the office as a whole view. is low, there are significant variations between departmental functions. A good example is the Finance department, the a3 myth where A3 output is required for large spreadsheets. Another area is Human resources. A3 output in these areas can NewField IT has audited more than be as much as 15% of annual page output. 50,000 devices covering over 105,000 Since these departments have high usage, staff both in the UK and overseas in the the actual usage in other parts of the last two years and across a variety of organisation is even lower. Our analysis
2of individual machines shows that many advantage some copier companies started A3 capable devices go months without offering A3 as 'standard' and soon all producing a single A3 page. copiers over 35ppm became A3 capable. While the A3 page volumes, particularly The variation in A3 usage also applies to copying, seemed important this sales line business sectors. The financial services was very successful. Yet the decline of A3 sector creates the highest number of volumes has gone unnoticed and many of documents - page volumes are on average the copier vendors still maintain that A3 11,550 per user per year - more than 34% is necessary for any copier/MFD over 35 higher than the overall average. A3 page pages per minute.volumes as a percentage of total output are 0.96%, despite more than 25% of all User perceptions are starting to change devices being A3 capable. though. Recent user interviews by NewField IT discovered that when asked what additional output options users most The question then is why do office based staff believe they need access to A3 output? needed, stapling and duplex printing was much higher than A3 output. Figure 2below is a summary of Web Interviews The reason is partly historical. A3 conducted by NewField IT on over 1,000 page volume used to be important but office based staff in the last year.has been in decline for several years. Ne... [download for more]
