Call to reduce businesses' printing

Businesses could cut costs and increase productivity by looking at different ways of printing, according to the president of Xerox North American global services.

John Kelly outlined possible ways to cut printing costs in a keynote speech at Everything Channel's annual Print & Imaging Summit, in Los Angeles.

He said that money could easily saved by controlling unnecessary printing of documents or by cutting back on printing devices. He also suggested that outsourcing printing to third-party providers could save time and money.

"We have overequipped offices," he said. "You can go from an average of two employees per [printing] device to up to 20 people per device with optimisation."

In order to improve productivity, Mr Kelly said businesses needed to use workflow management techniques and a streamlined printing infrastructure.

Technology also has its part to play in increasing productivity, according to Mr Kelly. He said that instead of printing something to move it to the next stage in a workflow chain, it would be easier to move it electronically.

"You want to use technology to move the documents, not people," he said.

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