Don’t neglect document management and output for improving your organizations carbon footprint
Sun Microsystems acknowledges on their website the growing need for environmental leadership among all IT companies. Leadership means championing responsible product design and instituting environmentally friendly practices for sustainable business operations. Many technology companies are demonstrating leadership by prioritizing their internal operations. They are implementing programs to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste and protect the environment. Document management, printing and related processes are an obvious area for organizations to reduce their environmental impact.
Gartner’s article “Predicts 2008: Smart Print Management Underpins Operational Success”, clearly articulates the opportunity that document management and output provides operations to improve their carbon footprint as well as reduce cost.
Gartner stated that according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the long-term costs of paper use (copying, printing, and mailing, storing and disposing) can amount to 10 times the original purchase price of the technology and consumables.
Printing and its related processes from hardware and supply manufacture to product disposal and business process have a large environmental impact.
So what can you do to improve your operations in this area?
- Actively manage your enterprise printing and/or engage a Service Provider to do this
- Manage and reduce printing and paper usage
- Implement printer/copier provider that supports environmentally sound products and services
- Improve document processes by digitizing paper-based information and optimizing workflow
- Measure the environmental benefits of your actions
Have you started on this journey?
I am afraid I still advocate salespeople and marketers use hard copy (as well as digital) for important customer documents. It still has superior cut through. I think the offsetting opportunity lies in reducing the waste of multiple internal drafts. Paper needs to be seen as more of a special medium for the special reader rather than a throwaway transient state.