Fleet Management of Office Equipment

Thursday, 14 August 2008 14:06

More and more businesses are choosing to manage their office equipment as a fleet, with all the business machines being controlled as a company whole, rather than each department being responsible for its own equipment. This approach is only possible because of recent improvements and advances in office technology and can save money as well as making the company's photocopiers and printers more manageable.

When offices manage their printers, photocopiers and fax machines as a fleet, rather than each individual department finding equipment that meets its own needs, the needs of the company as a whole can be taken into account and the devices can be optimised to provide cost savings and improve efficiency. The networking of printers and photocopiers has had a big part to play in fleet management as it has meant that all the devices in the business can be connected, which is especially important when wanting to take advantage of the benefits that document management systems can bring. Improved security also has a part to play in operating these devices as a fleet. In the past, when sensitive documents needed to be printed out it was necessary to have individual desktop printers to protect the documents from being intercepted. However, improved security has meant that it is possible to set up logins on multifunctional devices so that employees have to go up to the device and enter a password before their document is printed out.

Having each department responsible for finding and running their own printers and photocopiers can cause several problems. The first problem is that it makes keeping track of printing costs for the whole business difficult. When departments are leasing equipment from different companies, it could mean that separate billings are received at different times and there are several points of contact when it comes to servicing the devices. When all the devices are managed as a fleet, all the costs and decisions can be managed centrally by one person so it is much easier to see where the most expenditure is coming from and which machines are not efficient. It is becoming more common for large businesses to hire one person as an office equipment fleet manager who is in control of all the business machines. Software such as e-maintenance allows the notification of any devices that need servicing or their toner topping up, which can make the running of these machines much more efficient. Having an office equipment fleet manager means that everyone knows who to contact if any of the machines are not working, these people are often in charge of training the employees to make sure that everyone knows how to use the devices and all their functions efficiently.

Often large businesses manage their printing by having many desktop printers and a photocopier room which has several devices, often with employees hired to manage the company's photocopying. Now that many businesses are opting for multifunctional devices rather than separate printers and photocopiers, this strategy of managing printing and photocopying is no longer viable in many cases. Treating the office equipment as a fleet consolidates the devices so that only the most efficient devices are used and many of the individual desktop printers can be replaced by all-in-one devices which are often substantially less expensive to run than several separate devices.