Jun 19, 2007
ROI Study on HP Output Management Solutions
Output management is a commonly neglected aspect of an ERP system. But when critical documents are not delivered on time, business processes and overall ERP system effectiveness can suffer dramatically. An effective output management system helps insure that critical information and documents are delivered efficiently, reliably, and according to business policies.
Alinean, Inc. recently prepared a white paper examining the economic justification for implementing an HP Output Management solution. Alinean, Inc. is an ROI tools pioneer with well over a decade of experience in the practical development and application of ROI and TCO methodologies and models to optimize IT investment decision making.
Click here to download the white paper.
The results revealed that HP Output Server’s centralized management of output delivery significantly reduced the business exposure to printing exceptions (lost or delayed document delivery) and greatly improved the efficiency of managing output processes and printing devices.
Over a three year period, the HP Output Management solutions averaged $8,290,000 in cumulative benefits from an overall investment of $1,683,538 -- yielding an average ROI of 392%.
Please see the white paper for a more in-depth discussion of the study parameters and results. www.hp.com/united-states/outputmanagement/white_papers.html
The Study
The white paper surveyed four HP Output Management customers from the manufacturing industry—three running SAP and the fourth running Oracle’s applications suite. On average, they represent the infrastructure and operational costs of a manufacturing company with $5 billion in annual revenue and 34,000 employees.
Participants reported numerous and quantifiable benefits from implementing the HP Output Management solution. The following are some examples:
Benefit: Improved Reliability in Output Delivery
Shipping and invoicing document exceptions can result in several negative outcomes, including lost productivity, fines from customers, lost sales, and delayed revenues. Because HP Output Server monitors the end-to-end output job process, it immediately recognizes when there is a problem with delivery and initiates corrective action, such as rerouting the output to an alternative destination. It also notifies technicians so they can quickly get problem devices back on-line.
By implementing HP Output Server, the study participants were able to reduce the number of printing exceptions by nearly 70% and reduce the delay caused by the remaining exceptions by 50%, resulting in an 85% reduction in the overall cost of printing exceptions.
Benefit: Reduced Document Handling Requirements
One participant was manually processing almost a fourth of their total document output—expended labor was equivalent to nearly thirteen full-time employees. Manual processing includes tasks like bursting reports, shipping, faxing, and filing.
With the HP Output Management solution, the company easily automated several critical processes. They also used HP Web Delivery to generate on-line reports. Using the module’s built-in security features, they were able to control access to the reports based on business rules.
They ultimately reduced the number of documents requiring manual processing and distribution by two-thirds, saving both document handling costs and shipping charges.
Benefit: End-to-End Business Process Improvements
The HP Output Management solution helped one participant complete their end-to-end ERP integration with external suppliers and customers to truly achieve a just-in-time manufacturing system.
Prior to the HP implementation, purchase orders and invoices were generated using custom scripts to merge ERP output with supplier and customer information. The documents were then manually faxed.
The HP solution enabled the companies to automatically merge the output and electronically fax and email the documents. This automation accelerated the delivery of purchase orders and invoices by an entire day, which reduced inventory and shortened the order-to-cash cycle.
Benefit: IT Productivity Improvements
Typically, little attention is paid to ERP output management until print volumes swamp spool space or paper jams and toner outages hang up printers. Then IT organizations are forced to react, often in an ad-hoc fashion.
Study participants reported that HP Output Server’s centralized management, output job tracking, and device monitoring led to:
- Reductions of 34% in administrative activities (such as performance and availability management)
- Reductions of 25% in printing-related helpdesk calls
- Reductions of 20% in helpdesk response times
- Reductions of 18% in service costs (because of better problem diagnosis and fewer unnecessary repair calls)
- Reductions of 10% in printer and print server service and support contract costs
Benefit: Increased On-Line Output Distribution
All study participants were able to shift a portion of their printing to electronic document delivery (via email and the web) using HP Output Server, HP Output Distributor, and HP Web Delivery.
They originally routed 95% of their output to a printer. After implementing the HP Output Management solution, they were able to shift over 18% to electronic formats, constraining printing volume growth and reducing printing-related expenditures (i.e. equipment, paper, and toner).
Click here to download the ROI white paper for a more in-depth discussion of the assumptions and results.
Learn more about HP Output Management solutions at: http://www.hp.com/go/outputmanagement