A monthly newsletter about document management, digital print technology and printing.

Spending Too Much On Print? Receive a FREE Print Cost Reduction Plan

January 2010

education_wheel

The real cost of print management for most companies is commonly invisible. Our experts can help you take control and reduce print costs up to 30% per year.

According to research from IT consultants Gartner Inc., up to 3% of your annual revenue is spent on print activities.

Effectively managing this activity can save up to 30% annually on your print services. Why?

  • Print is a typically uncontrolled budget item, largely off the radar of high level accounting or operations management.
  • Given the complexities of print fleet management, most print networks are inefficient. Multi-function printers are rare, printers are not replaced until they malfunction, and a wide range of printer brands increase IT administration and ink/paper costs.
  • The real cost of print is hidden. Color printing, single-side printing, the steep support costs of using multiple manufacturers, and the high energy costs of older printers all work silently against a company’s bottom line.

How do you take control? Let our experts conduct a no-cost print infrastructure analysis to see how much you can save.

Click here for more information, or contact us by filling out this information request.

October/November 2009

November 2009

The past 30 days have seen the introduction or update of three of our technology products, the addition of a new sister company in Shanghai, China, and the acquisition of a BIM technology services company by our corporate parent, ARC.

To get more details, click on the links below:

Finally, we’re not the only ones moving and shaking these days. For those of you keeping track of the digital printing market, Canon announced their intention to purchase Océ in the near future, and Océ appears to be embracing the offer. We’ll let you know more about the deal as we learn about it ourselves.

Adding It Up With An Upgrade of AbacusPCR

November 2009

Our print tracking software, AbacusPCR, has been in use since 2007, and has an installed base of more than 20,000 users in hundreds of locations around the United States, Canada and China. Like most reputable software, however, it’s always getting better.

Abacus keeps track of printing activity on a network. When a computer user sends a file to a printer on their own network, or to a printer on a WAN, Abacus asks the sender to assign a billing or job code to the print job. The codes are stored and used to enhance cost recovery when billing jobs, among a host of other tracking functions.

The new release of the software enhances user experience through user interface improvements, upgrades to administrative tools, and close integration with imaging equipment from industry leading manufacturers Océ, KIP and others.
Jon Styrlund is the product manager for Abacus and he told us, “The upgrade is seamless from a user perspective. Most of the enhancements improve specific functions without disturbing the workflow of our clients. Instead of having to navigate screens or learn new procedures, most people will simply find it easier to set preferences, configure devices, or edit usage data.”

By way of an example, Jon told us that several of our larger customers who often manage and print hundreds of thousands of documents during a month can now utilize improved grouping, project searching and updating tools within the Abacus Manager, saving a lot of time and reducing costly data entry errors.

If you are a user of reprographic imaging equipment from Océ and KIP, you can now track walk-up printing and copying from a touch-screen device on Océ Plotwave 300’s, TDS450 & TDS700’s, and the full line of KIP IPS devices including the KIP3100 multi-function system, KIP5000, KIP7000 and KIP9000. Billing data from the on-board interface is automatically integrated with tracking information from other devices on the user’s network, and consolidated accounting reports can be generated quickly and easily.

Everyone’s watching costs today, and Abacus can help. If you’re interested to see how it stacks up against other products, or would like to see how you could integrate it into your existing workflow and machines, contact your sales rep, call our product manager Jon Styrlund at 925-949-5100, or visit www.abacuspcr.com.

MetaPrint Abacus™ Embraced By Users, Third Party Suppliers

June 2009

abacus-flyer-grabLooking for an integrated cost recovery application and print tracking software that can help you eliminate waste and better track your printing costs?  Look no further.

With more than 20,000 users in hundreds of locations across the country, MetaPrint Abacus™ has been acknowledged as a state-of-the-art print cost recovery and print tracking software since it was brought to market in 2007. Until recently, Abacus was a proprietary application available only to designated licensees – but the software is being made available to end-users and third-party suppliers who have been snapping it up in record numbers.

If you’re looking for a tool that is fast, unobtrusive, and that could be customized to fit into your print environment, try Abacus – in the past 12 months, more than 10,000 new users have done just that and the feedback has been fantastic.

To learn more, click here and we’ll be in touch shortly.