Print Audit – Beware

In the current economic climate many companies are searching for methods to quickly and easily reduce cost whilst gaining and improving controls. This is where the print audit comes in. Print and document production has been proven as an area where this can be achieved and there are many success stories with impressive results that we can share to prove this.

Unfortunately though, our industry is littered with people offering 20 – 40% savings and generally offering the world to grab the attention of the customer, but who then fail to deliver the promised improvements and results. This process typically starts with a print audit.

While print audits can be extremely useful, companies should beware of the partner they choose to conduct it. It is clear that many customers can identify that there are improvements to be made and the ‘free – consulting’ print audit element seems to be the logical progression. Experience shows that typically the salesperson is keen to get this stage completed quickly to progress to a sale. Industry standards and untrained consultants are used, incomplete data compiled, and only clearly visible costs are investigated. The end result can be an implied cost saving that has no substance which cannot be managed against and unfortunately fails to deliver the promised improvements.

At Xeretec we work in a different way. Firstly we keep track of what we deliver for our clients and present this in a format of a saving per employee per year. To put this into context, our most recent projects have delivered an average cost saving of £136 per employee per annum in the area of print / document related costs.

The print audit consulting processes, the people and tools we use provide the most thorough, fact based understanding of the clients current situation. We go beyond the basic visible elements and dig deep to find the true costs of printing – this considers people, process and technology costs. We seek to avoid any ‘industry standards’, we don’t cut corners and we prefer to be more thorough in the consulting process. This allows us to present a factual current state that is used to work with the client to identify the correct end point and a strategy surrounding how to achieve the desired objectives / goals within agreed timescales.

Any approach / solution that is agreed has the implementation thoroughly planned and executed professionally to ensure results are delivered quickly. The fact based approach allows us to provide ongoing management and improvement throughout any agreement life. We view our relationship with our clients as partnership based, long term and have a proven track record of delivery throughout the agreement life.

The opportunity to improve print and document related costs are real and the deliverables can be significant. The selection of partner that will allow you and help you ensure the results are obtained is the critical aspect. At Xeretec, our approach is refreshing, different and delivers factual business results. We invest in partnership with our customers and deliver the results.

I am more than happy to personally speak to any customer who is engaged or wanting to explore a project of this nature. We have built a proven reputation and I will enjoy taking you to one of our many existing customer sites to really see the differences that we provide.