Hasta La Ideas

According to the Wall Street Journal article “Xerox Tries to Go Beyond Copiers” (subscription required), Xerox is pushing consulting services that show clients how they can save money by eliminating unnecessary machines and cutting down on paper use. From the article:

For decades, Xerox and others built their businesses by pushing companies to buy more office machines and supplying pricey ink and toner. But increasingly these vendors are now advising big customers to reduce their number of machines and find ways to cut printing costs.

[continuing …]

Xerox, Hewlett-Packard Co. and others say they are seeing strong demand for consulting services that show companies how to eliminate desktop printers and force workers to share multifunction devices that copy, print and fax. The vendors say such moves can reduce printing costs up to 30%.

According to research by Xerox, companies spend between 3 and 4 percent of their revenues on producing documents. With the downturn in the economy and the increased profile of being “green,” companies are very interested in becoming more paper savvy. More from the article:

The services push comes as office copiers, fax machines and printers have merged into multifunction devices that are linked to corporate computer networks. Although these devices often cost $10,000 to $20,000, vendors install them when they manage a company’s printing because compared with desktop devices, they are more efficient, break down less and can use cheaper supplies.

Last month, Procter & Gamble Co. agreed to turn over to Xerox its vast fleet of printers and copiers in a multi-year contract valued at more than $100 million. Filippo Passerini, P&G’s chief information officer, says the decision is expected to cut paper usage 40% and costs 20% to 25%. He declined to disclose dollar figures.

Unclutterer is all for a paperless workplace. We have written about this subject in the past and we’ve offered tips on cutting down on your personal paper output.

Could your office survive without paper?