Printer Sprawl

Printer sprawl happens when printers are acquired and installed piecemeal based on a current/tactical printing need. After a few years of printer sprawl, many different devices are on a network, each with their own drivers and unique consumables.

Some IT groups play printer whack-a-mole (unplugging devices as they pop-up), some simply make users happy by supporting the new devices and some IT groups are using (or are considering) Managed Print Services to help reduce printer sprawl.

But tackling the hardware is only part of the process - you need software as well to manage printing processes and improve document-based information delivery processes.

That's where AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software, plays a vital role: giving IT personnel both metrics-collection tools as well as print management tools to reduce print resource use, justify printer allocation and reduce IT help desk calls.

If you are currently considering Managed Print Services, we encourage you to contact us as print environment Consultants. We will help you identify ways to right-size your printer fleet while improving your printing processes. Since we do not sell printers or copiers, we are focused on identifying wasteful printing processes and employing our paper saving software to reduce waste.

CT/CBIA Sustainability Show in Hartford

This Wednesday, June 9th, we are exhibiting AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software at the Connecticut Business & Industry (CBIA) Sustainability Conference being held at the Marriott Hartford Downtown. The Conference hours are 8:30-11:30 am on Wednesday.

CBIA’s 2010 Sustainability Conference

June 9, 2010 • 8:30–11:30 a.m.
Hartford Marriott Downtown Hotel, 200 Columbus Blvd., Hartford, CT

CBIA’s 2010 Sustainability Conference will showcase what companies from a variety of industries are doing internally and externally at the Green Business 2.0 level.

The half-day program will feature a presentation by Michael Ellis on current trends and predictions for the future. Ellis is a senior associate at GreenOrder, a national strategy and management consulting firm that helps companies gain competitive advantage through environmental innovation.

The Emerald Isle

Imagine flying over the country of Ireland and seeing it covered by office paper – the WHOLE Emerald Isle covered in white paper. Or looking down on the state of Florida and seeing over half of it covered by paper. That’s how much office paper is used every year (check my conservative math below). In two years we’ll have all of Florida covered…in ten years Texas, or France.

That’s a lot of paper.

AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software, reduces the amount of paper your office consumes. You can make a difference by contacting us to learn more about saving paper by printing intelligently in your office. We’ve got experience saving paper and lots of ideas that can help any office save paper.

And if saving the Emerald Isle from a blanket of paper isn’t motivating you, we can save you a lot of money, too. Either way we’ll get you green.


*The Math:
IDC's 2009 Printer and MFP Forecasts estimated that the number of printed pages was 1.5 trillion pages in 2008…so let’s go ahead and cut that estimate down since we’re at 2010 and we’re not at the same employment levels, let’s assume 1.4 trillion sheets are consumed per year. Let’s be conservative and figure 8.5 inches by 11 inches is the size, giving us .65 square feet per sheet.
1.4 trillion, times .65 feet, converted to square miles is about 32,600 square miles. Ireland is about 32,500 square miles.

Source: http://advice.cio.com/steve_saito/reaching_the_paper_mountain_tipping_point

Will and Clout

"Ideas matter in New York. I am certain that more conversations in New York are about ideas than anywhere else. Not just vague theories, but ideas that New Yorkers have the will, and the clout, to do something about." Sir David Frost

We found this quote while developing marketing materials for an upcoming event (we're going to be talking to New York State CIOs/officials in Saratoga, NY, May 13). But certainly the concept applies well beyond New York: ideas matter, but you need the will and the clout to turn ideas into action.

Right now it's time for people to find the will and use their clout to cut costs and reduce waste no matter where they are. Certainly New York does not have a monopoly on turning good ideas into beneficial actions.

So if you've got the will and the clout to do something about reducing costs, talk to us about AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software. Tell someone in government or at your business about the potential to save money with Paper Saving Software. Find the will, use your clout and find a way to make a difference. We have proven products, not vague theories, that are already helping commercial and government organizations throughout the world cut costs and reduce waste.

Make it Earth Year with Paper Saving Software

A one-day event like Earth Day is a great way to highlight an important subject, but I think most success in life comes from managing processes, not from a single event. Merely making an effort one day a year isn’t going to meaningfully impact too much (it’s a good start!), but changing behavior every day is going to make real differences. And changing behavior takes commitment and time. And it can be hard work.

However, with an application such as AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software, the payoff over a year is quite significant in terms of cost savings and resource-use reduction (we see 30%+ savings in most of our successes). Much more than simply asking people to “think before you print”, AXIAR Green evidences waste and delivers a powerful set of tools to manage print processes without having to retrain users.

So how do we get the Paper Saving process started? Plan your work and work your plan:

-Pick a local group/department who is interested in reducing waste (act locally)
-Identify printing processes, devices and users with our assistance
-Track and quantify current printing volumes using AXIAR Green’s metrics collection tools
-Determine which processes can be modified with Paper Saving Software without negatively impacting your core business processes
-Implement Paper Saving Software features incrementally with user feedback encouraged
-Use AXIAR Green reporting tools monthly to graphically illustrate both cost and paper saving
-Expand Paper Saving Software use to new processes (think globally)
-Reduce paper use, device count and lost productivity/employee time tracking print jobs with AXIAR Green

AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software, positively impacts printing processes every day, all year long. It not only raises awareness of printing waste by tracking use, but also delivers tools to reduce use. It is part of a process through which your organization can save money and demonstrate to stakeholders that you are committed to sustainable business practices.

Paper Saving Roll Call

As we are finishing off a great first quarter 2010 here at LBM Systems, I wanted to highlight a few fiscally responsible and environmentally accountable customers who are saving money and reducing resource waste with our software. We call it our "Paper Saving Roll Call":

- Orange County Department of Education (California)
- WESCO Distribution (Pennsylvania)
- Daiwa Securities (New York)
- Fidelity National Financial (Florida)
- Fisher Nut Company (California)
- TaylorMade-Adidas Golf (California)
- Luminex (Texas)
- United States Social Security Administration - Disability Determination Services (Washington DC)

Please feel free to contact me any time for detailed paper saving references. The question to you is: why isn't your company or government saving money and reducing resource use with AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software?

Good Governments Save Paper

We expect our government to provide services and support to our communities for the lowest reasonable cost. Although there doesn’t seem to be a lot of positive news about government efficiency, I’ve got a something to note: many of our government customers are saving taxpayers lots of money with LBM’s Paper Saving Software.

At one department alone, our Paper Saving Software is saving the taxpayers of Ohio over $40k per year by automatically creating and distributing online batch reports that were previously printed. We’re saving Federal taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars per year at our dozens of Social Security Administration sites using our software to intelligently route and track print output to eliminate reprints and ensure print delivery, which eliminates lost print jobs.

We’ve got a lot of really smart and really conscientious government workers and managers using our Paper Saving Software to cut costs while maintaining services.

But I will admit I still think our government can do better: NOT ENOUGH of our government networks are using Paper Saving Software to save taxpayers lots of money. So the next time you see a government representative asking you, the taxpayers, for ideas on how to reduce costs, tell them to look at www.PaperSavingSoftware.com and join their colleagues in saving money without sacrificing services.