‘Smarter printing could save UK businesses up to 2,100 million annually’ finds study

A new survey undertaken by independent economics consultancy, Centre for Economics and Business Research (cebr), on behalf of OKI Printing Solutions, has found that smarter printing could save the public and private sectors across the UK between 900 million and 2,100 million per year on printing costs.
 
The report, ‘Smarter print management – controlling costs and environmental impacts in the United Kingdom’, estimates that 360 million could be saved by moving expensive outsourced printing in-house while savings of between 500 million and 1,760 million could come from more efficient management of existing in-house printing tasks.
 
The study finds that the UK spends around 5,800 million per year on outsourced printing and 14,300 million per year on in-house printing, resulting in an annual bill for UK business of around 20,100 million. ‘This is larger in size than the entire UK accountancy sector,’ said Phil Scrase, UK managing director & vice president, Western Region, OKI Printing Solutions. ‘It is clear that trimming costs in this area could have a huge impact on business efficiency.
 
‘There is a real opportunity here for smart printing, or better printing techniques, to make a significant contribution to improved productivity and competitive edge. In responding to this, OKI Printing Solutions has both the technology and knowledge to help organizations manage their in-house printing more cost-effectively.’
 
cebr forecasts that a shift to more efficient printing practices could boost GDP by up to 2,840 million and net exports by 220 million as more efficient UK companies compete more effectively across the world. It expects economic change of this kind to lead to an investment boost of up to 810 million.
 
The wider environmental consequences of this increase in efficiency are substantial, says the report. If companies adopted the most efficient printing processes, resource usage could be reduced by the equivalent of up to 170,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, which equates to 599,000 barrels of oil equivalent per year or taking around 46,000 cars off the UK’s roads
 
Click here for more stories about OKI Printing Solutions on L&L.com.