According to Billy Bell, MD at BOS, the need for a local dedicated, professional consultant covering the printing, copying and peripherals markets has grown considerably over the last few years.

Companies do not normally formalise and manage effective document output strategies, he says. This is mainly due to the non-strategic nature of the disciplines involved and the inability to commit or recruit skilled and experienced resources.

Also, document output is not considered to be an essential to core business activity, and this can lead to reactive strategies, with the initial hardware investments being reviewed, on average, every three to five years, he says.

Bell adds that independent research has shown that the cost of document output investments can equal as much as three per cent of annual turnover.

Experience with medium and large organisations has shown that significant savings and cost containment can be achieved through competent management of the output infrastructure, he says.

The BOS management service offers companies the peace of mind of knowing that the output environment is being effectively managed, costs are being contained, strategies are kept current, their suppliers are professionally managed and staff are more productive.

This sort of effective management is achieved through comprehensive analysis and monthly reporting, conducted by BOS, says Bell.

Without effective management, technological advancements and changes within the working environment could render the company strategy redundant within a year.

Another service offered by the company is the creation and formulation of an appropriate document output strategy.

Bell says that most modern organisations live with redundant document output strategies that applied to 1990-1995 technologies.

These outdated strategies lead to unnecessary costs, disproportionately high resource commitments, impaired user productivity and under-or over-utilised assets to name but a few of the consequences. Although it is often the case that organisations find it difficult to conceive, implement and manage an effective output transition, they would soon realise the benefits inherent to an appropriate document output strategy.

Companies wanting to simplify their historically inefficient infrastructures should study the strategies employed, review installed equipment, conduct a volume and capacity analysis, quantify and verify the cost structure and identify the workgroup environment and application situation.

Not all companies have the capacity or time to conduct research as in-depth as this, which is why the BOS solution is needed, says Bell.

The solution formulation puts the client objectives first and is built from the ground up. BOS methodology is designed to create a competitive environment to ensure that companies receive the latest, most appropriate technologies at benchmark prices.