| What
is 'Intelligent Office Printing'? |
| Intelligent Office Printing (IOP)
is an efficient output management solution for the office environment.
The intelligent routing of print jobs to the most cost effective,
or appropriate output device forms the core of the solution. |
| |
| How
can companies achieve cost savings with IOP? |
| Least Cost Routing |
| On the basis of individually defined
business rules, Intelligent Office Printing allocates print
jobs to the most cost effective device, in line with the finishing
requirements (e.g. colour, duplex/simplex etc.). These rules
avoid, for example, the printing of a black/white document on
an expensive colour printer. The cost savings potential of the
intelligent routing of documents is significant. |
| |
| Selective Printing |
 |
Through business rules the printing of certain
types of documents, for example emails, can be restricted and
company print policies such as the printing of documents on
both sides of a page to reduce costs can be enforced. |
|
Ensuring that output costs are charged directly
to the units that create them leads to user's higher cost awareness.
Organisations can potentially save up to 10% of their total
output costs by simply making costs transparent to users. |
| |
| Optimisation of the printer fleet |
| The integrated Accounting, Planning
& Optimisation (APO) system continually delivers comprehensive
operational data for all output processes and systems, e.g.
on the utilisation of the existing output devices. Printer fleets
can be adjusted and optimised based on the information from
these reports. |
| |
| Minimised administration effort |
| Administration effort can be reduced
considerably because: |
|
Print jobs are automatically forwarded to an
alternative output device in the case of a printer problem.
This leads to less help desk calls and a consistent flow of work. |
|
IOP's standard service interface and zone concept
reduce the effort for the integration of new users and systems considerably. |
 |
| How
quickly can an average IOP solution amortise? |
| An IOP project typically amortises
within one year. The return on investment depends on the existing
cost savings potential, which is determined by factors such
as the size of the company (number of employees and printers),
or the quality of the present printer management. |
| |
| How
do users benefit from IOP? |
| Intelligent Office Printing provides
users with secure and reliable printing through: |
|
Easier flow of work. Users can simply define
the details of a print job (e.g. colour, one-sided, stitched,
etc.) and are then informed where they can collect their job.
IOP selects the most economic output device, checks its availability
and forwards the print job to an alternative device if there
is a printer problem. |
|
Roaming Printing allows mobile workers quick
and secure access to the printer network of a particular company
location - without the help of the support department - simply
at a mouse-click. |
|
Secure printing offers the possibility to control
the printing of confidential information. For example, the user
would have to enter a PIN code to print a sensitive print job. |
|
On Call Printing allows users to collect print
jobs and release them at their convenience. Print jobs are held
by the system and released at the same time by the user at a
later point. |
|
| How
do Admin & Support teams benefit from IOP? |
| With Intelligent Office Printing,
companies can save time and money in administration. The central
overview of all output systems and the automation of administration
processes leads to the quick and secure execution of day-to-day
activities. A Single Point of Control and Administration enables
the easy and quick identification and resolution of faults.
Benefits include: |
|
Minimised effort in administration and support
for more efficient use of resources |
|
Reduced administration and maintenance costs |
|
Quick adjustments of the output infrastructure
to current needs |
|
Easy integration of new users and systems thanks
to the standard service interface and automated administration processes |
|
Minimised risk when implementing system changes
due to reduced manual activities |
|
Easy faults management |
| |
| What
type of information about the output infrastructure does IOP deliver? |
| IOP is equipped with an integrated
accounting system that delivers operational data from all of
the print jobs in the network. This information allows the overall
print costs to be calculated and assigned to the appropriate
organisational units. Accounting data includes: |
|
Number and kind (colour, duplex, etc.) of print
jobs and the selected output device |
|
Capacity utilisation of output devices |
|
Output costs of each organisational unit (device,
employee, department, cost centre, etc.) |
|
Changes in printing behaviour and volume |
| For more sophisticated reports information
from third systems (e.g. information from SAP® HR) can be
integrated or the collected data can be placed at the disposal
of other OLAP-tools. |
|
| What
are 'business rules'? |
| Intelligent Office Printing is based
on business rules which control the optimal allocation of print
jobs to the most cost effective, or appropriate device. These
rules enable the secure implementation of company policies and
can be defined individually for individual employees, employee
groups or entire company locations. They may stipulate what
kind of documents and print jobs can be printed in what way,
on which output device and with what level of priority they
have to be executed. |
| |
| Furthermore business rules may restrict
(e.g. to duplex) or even reject the printing of particular documents
and print jobs in line with organisational policies. If printer
problems occur, they automatically re-route the print job to
an alternative output device. |
| |
| What
is an 'output device'? |
| Apart from classic print devices,
the term 'output device' comprises all possible output channels
such as multifunctional devices, copiers, scanners, fax and
modern electronic channels like email or Web. IOP is not restricted
to paper, and can integrate with any of the output devices named above. |
|
| What
does IOP do if a printer can't complete a job? |
| IOP will always select the most cost
effective, or appropriate printer for a particular print job
unless instructed to do otherwise. If the chosen device is not
able to print for some reason, the print job is forwarded to
an alternative printer. The user is informed by either a "pop
up" window, an email or sms message, where they can collect
their print job. |
| |
| Is
outsourcing a prerequisite for an IOP project? |
| No, Intelligent Office Printing will
lead to significant cost savings and better output services
either with, or without, outsourcing. Outsourcing projects,
such as the optimisation of your printer fleet, are fully supported
by IOP. However, the replacement of the output infrastructure
is not a condition for the realisation of an IOP project. As
Intelligent Office Printing is manufacturer independent, it
can be integrated into an existing heterogeneous output environment
without any problems. |
| |
| Is
it possible to integrate any printer irrespective of its manufacturer,
age or operation mode? |
| Yes, IOP is manufacturer independent
and can therefore be integrated easily into the existing printer
infrastructure. The consolidation of the output environment
on a single manufacturer's platform is either not necessary
or can be achieved during the optimisation process. |
|
| Does
IOP only support printers attached to the network (TCP/IP printers)? |
| No, locally installed printers can
also integrate with IOP and accounting data is collected for
these devices. |
| |
| What
happens if your print requirements change? |
|
With IOP, operational data (number of pages per
device or user, colour versus black/white, etc.) is continually
collected. Changes in printer utilisation are detected automatically,
enabling quick adjustments to be made to meet current demand. |
|
New employees can be integrated quickly and easily
into the output infrastructure and a specific zone |
|
The reorganisation of groups of employees can
be quickly and efficiently met through modifications in the
configuration of zones. |
|
Business rules which control the optimal allocation
of print jobs can be changed at any time in order to meet changed demand. |
| |
| What
is a 'zone'? |
| A zone comprises a specific number
of output devices which are at the disposal of a defined group
of users. A useful criterion for the establishment of zones
are geographic units: countries, company locations, floors,
departments or working fields. Each employee is registered in
a particular zone and IOP allocates their print jobs according
to the business rules that relate to their zone. |
|
| Why
are users & output devices assigned to zones? |
| The establishment of zones facilitates
the intelligent routing of print jobs. Each user is assigned
to a specific zone and the number and kind of output devices
is adjusted to the demands of the users within this zone. At
the same time the zone concept ensures that the distance of
users from their output device does not exceed a defined norm. |
| |
| What
is 'On Call Printing'? |
| On Call Printing allows users to
collect print jobs and release them at their convenience. Print
jobs are held by the system and released at the same time by
the user at a later point. |
| |
| What
is meant by 'Roaming Printing'? |
| This function allows mobile workers
quick and secure access to the printer network of a particular
company location - without the help of the support department
- allowing them to connect, simply with a mouse-click, to their
corresponding zone. |
| |
| What
is 'Secure Printing'? |
| Secure Printing offers users great
discretion when printing documents with highly confidential
information. Sensitive print jobs are held by the solution until
the user releases the job, e.g. through entering a PIN-code
at the printer. |
| |
| What
is a 'standard service interface'? |
| The standard service interface enables
the easy integration of new devices and users. All employees
use, independent of the type or manufacturer of a device, one
interface for the cost-optimised printing of documents. |
|
