A cost-per-page contract relies heavily on understanding precise fleet and usage levels. A rough estimate is not sufficient; the customer must understand exactly what's paid, per page, for output. The best way to contract for guaranteed savings on any project is to establish an accurate Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which enables both parties to contract for meaningful, guaranteed savings and measure savings against that baseline.
Building an effective TCO picture requires a thorough assessment in all but the smallest offices, using specialised tools. Most popular Web-based tools only offer estimates based on an approximate number of devices and industry averages for cost per page and can't deliver assessments specific to a particular organisation's document needs, equipment or output.
Most often, managers in mid-sized operations will be unsure of the exact number or type of output devices in operation, associated costs, or the true output volume of those devices' print, fax and copy operations. A quick assessment based on their rough estimate will likely significantly miss the mark.
What's needed is a thorough study to establish the true baseline, performed jointly by the client and Document Express. In that way, both can establish and agree upon a guaranteed savings level based on TCO. This way, the customer knows the savings are real, delivering genuine bottom-line benefit to the organisation, and the service provider has clearly defined and achievable goals.
That assessment must be done jointly by the client and Document Express, since it allows establishment and joint agreement of a guaranteed savings level against TCO.
It can take several weeks to conduct a thorough and accurate assessment. Document Express will need to identify all assets, how many users share each asset and determine which capabilities are needed and/or used.
The Document Express team will work with IT and finance departments to quantify all costs, including the cost of acquisition, true total costs of consumables, and charges for break-fix and management, including the associated cost burden from the IT department.