Deploy Technology to reduce cost and improve business process

How to deploy technology to streamline processes in order to reduce costs and improve business process

The economic challenges that Maryland businesses faced over the past several years have had a lasting impact in many different ways, but surprisingly, not all of them are bad. One positive outcome is that companies have learned to do more with less in order to reduce costs and boost profitability.

There are several methods of doing this. The most basic—and sometimes the most difficult—is to streamline existing business processes. Simply because something has always been done a particular way does not necessarily mean that it’s the best way of doing it. Companies that are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the bottom line have found that reinvention, reconfiguration and re-engineering can go a long way towards increased profitability. There are of course limits to how far this can take a business, but streamlining existing business processes and practices is a great place to start.

The hardest part about this approach is that sometimes it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees. Helping companies to reinvent themselves has long been the province of management consultants who consider this service their stock in trade, and charge dearly for it. On the other hand, Innovative Copy Products who partners with Office Equipment Manufactures and Solution providers, has a advantage of working on solutions for many different organizations, and offer similar services as a part of a solution bundle, delivering you the customer significant value—and saving a tremendous amount of money—in the process.
 
As companies seek to accomplish a process re-engineering project, they often come up against challenges that can’t be resolved through simple changes to workflow. When this occurs, they turn to Innovative Copy Products,  to create entirely new solutions and processes that ultimately reduce costs, improve efficiency, and ultimately, increase profits. Unlike simple re-engineering however, there’s a paradox when it comes to using technology to boost the bottom line—you have to spend money to make money.

In order to meet these requirements, companies are demanding much more than simple equipment transactions. Instead of deciding on a single piece of equipment and buying it, businesses today want end-to-end, comprehensive solutions that solve many different business needs and problems at the same time. Innovative Copy Products has been capitalizing on this need by offering bundled packages that combine diverse technologies with a broad range of professional expertise that are all brought together into a high value problem solving offering.

Technology is rarely cheap and it tends to get even more expensive the more complicated it gets. This is especially true for technology that is used for very specialized applications in particular industries. Whenever technology is deployed, the cost of the equipment—including not just the cost of acquisition but also delivery and installation as well as ongoing consumable supplies, service and support—must be carefully weighed against the cost savings in terms of operational efficiency that the solution will deliver.

Innovative Copy Products needs to be very sensitive to this fact. Because specialized, bundled technology solutions can become very expensive, the more value-adds that can be incorporated into the solution the more cost effective it becomes. This leads us back to the idea of providing expert services as a part of the solution development and delivery process.

For example, Innovative Copy Products might partner with a telephony company as well as a network integration company to offer a managed services solution that ties all of the customer’s copiers, printers, and scanners into the network. This is an end-to-end approach that starts with us and all of the other participating providers combining their professional expertise to develop an appropriate solution based on the needs of the business

Highly capable financing partners are also important because many small- and mid-sized businesses are still feeling the effects of the recession. When sales are flat and credit is still tight, business tend to hold both cash and credit lines in reserve for major business emergencies. Acquiring equipment requires not only creative financing by a creative financing partner, but also requires an approach that delivers maximum value for every dollar spent.
This type of solution does several things. First, there are tremendous economies of scale that enable the customer to maximize the value received from every solution dollar committed. Second, there is significant value to be gained from the combined expertise of Innovative Copy Products who thrives on delivering a solution. Third, a managed services solution of this type is multi-dimensional. Instead of addressing and solving one isolated business problem, it has a much broader impact in several different areas of the organization. But most importantly, a well designed and properly delivered bundled solution saves the customer money.

If you need more information on how Innovative Copy can help streamline your business and do more with less contact Innovative Copy Products 410-766-0200 (Glen Burnie, MD 21061)

Innovative Copy Products is an authorized Canon and Canon ADVANCE sales, service and solutions dealer, located in Glen Burnie, Maryland

Decisions... Decisions Office Equipment Lease vs. Purchase......

Your decision whether to lease or to buy office equipment should involve much more than simply crunching numbers

When presented with the option of whether to lease or purchase a piece of office equipment many customers turn to their accountants who in turn apply a fairly standard lease/purchase analysis to the transaction. This approach takes all of the financial variables involved in an equipment lease and crunches them in relation to the variables included in a purchase option, where the buyer plans to finance the equipment using a bank loan.

For example, the factors needed to evaluate a lease would include any upfront payments or security deposits, the monthly payment, the residual value at the end of the lease, the term of the lease, as well as a discount rate that reflects the present value of money. The purchase analysis would typically include the down payment, the resale value of the equipment at the end of the note, the term, and the interest rate.

This type of analysis is intended to provide clear financial justification for the lease or purchase decision. The standard logic is that by reducing the decision into purely financial terms, the correct decision becomes self-evident. When the calculation is complete and reduced down to one number, the theory is that the lowest number—for either leasing or buying—represents the logical choice in order to acquire the equipment.

The problem with this approach however is that if a customer applies this basic accounting approach to the lease vs. buy decision, they will not be able to take advantage of many of the benefits that apply to leasing. These benefits are real and deliver significant value, even if they are not completely quantifiable in terms of a formal financial analysis.

One set of variables that should always be included in a typical lease vs. purchase analysis are the tax benefits that are realized by a customer in an office equipment lease. Even though tax benefits tend to change—at least to a degree—from year to year, at least for tax year 2013 "see section 179" those benefits are significant.

Beyond the purely financial approach to the lease vs. buy decision, it’s important to assess all of the benefits that accrue to a business when equipment is leased. From our perspective "the equipment vendor" it is important to understand and convey these benefits to customers who are considering the leasing option. 

One of the biggest benefits of leasing is convenience in the form of simplified bookkeeping and asset management. A lease is extremely convenient because everything necessary to bring the equipment online can be rolled into the contract. Consumables, service, support and maintenance, installation and training, and any other up front or ongoing expenses can typically be included in the lease program. The customer can budget for one comprehensive, fixed monthly payment instead of worrying about unexpected charges throughout the usable life of the equipment. This makes the cost of ownership both predictable and manageable instead of becoming random and out of control.

Another valuable advantage of a lease is the ability to take advantage of equipment updates and upgrades. If the manufacturer comes out with a new line of equipment that includes enhanced features and benefits, it’s a very straightforward process to upgrade a lease in order to acquire the upgraded equipment. On the other hand, owning equipment makes it far more difficult to upgrade since it must be traded in or sold, often well below it’s book value, not to mention the “hassle factor” of trying to sell used equipment. In our approved leases "the equipment refresh provision" allows us to update the equipment without the lease going full term

When evaluated from all angles, a leasing option is almost always the best approach for acquiring new—and in some cases even used— office equipment, software as well as related office equipment supplies and services. You the customer gets tremendous flexibility in terms of payment structure, technology refresh, and end-to-end support throughout the equipment life-cycle.

If you need more information on leasing your next Copier, Printer, Scanners or other office work-flow solutions contact Innovative Copy Products 410-766-0200 (Glen Burnie, MD 21061)

Innovative Copy Products is an authorized Canon and Canon ADVANCE sales, service and solutions dealer, located in Glen Burnie, Maryland