HP today introduced new Managed Print Services offerings that help enterprise customers look beyond printing devices to navigate the current explosion of information and content while reducing costs and improving productivity.

In a typical enterprise printing environment, industry experts estimate that for every dollar spent on hard costs, another $9 is spent managing the printed documents over their life cycles.(1) Considering that global enterprise companies will spend more than $172 billion on printing this year,(2) the costs associated with managing this information can be staggering.

HP has introduced two offerings to help enterprises cut printing costs:

- HP Printing Payback Guarantee – If qualified enterprise customers do not reach their projected savings goals within 12 months of implementation of HP Managed Print Services (MPS), HP will make up the difference.(3)

- HP Page Plan – Bundled solutions managed by the customer provide a scalable, flexible way to take greater control of an enterprise's departmental imaging and printing environment.

With these offerings, HP is taking aim at the $18.7 billion MPS(4) market, which is growing at a compound annual growth rate of four percent in a tough economy.(5) The company also is seeking to accelerate its growth – currently twice the rate of the MPS market(5) – by offering outsourced alternatives that demonstrate measurable results.

"In today's tough economic times, companies want a partner who understands their business and is willing to share the risks," said Bruce Dahlgren, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales and Services, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "It may seem counterintuitive that a printing company like HP wants to help customers print more efficiently but that's exactly our focus and intent – to help our customers print more responsibly and intelligently."

The new offerings enable businesses to accelerate printing cost savings by optimizing their infrastructures, managing their printing environments and improving workflows.

"The economic recession presents a golden opportunity to manage office printing," said Ken Weilerstein, vice president research, Print Markets, Gartner Inc. "Organizations that fail to rein in their office printing risk seeing costs spiral higher. Even recently optimized printer fleets may slip out of alignment with the organization's true needs as the economy reduces the workforce and results in changes to roles and processes."

HP Printing Payback Guarantee for enterprise customers

For enterprise customers looking to operate more efficiently and cut costs, the HP Printing Payback Guarantee is a risk-free way to save. For new, qualified MPS customers, HP will complete a detailed assessment of a company's imaging and printing environment and calculate an overall printing cost savings. One year after a customer's implementation, HP will complete a second assessment and if customers haven't saved the projected costs, HP will make up the difference.(3)

Additionally, as part of the presales assessment, HP is offering tools and services from its recently announced Eco Solutions printing practice to help customers save paper and printer energy usage to reduce costs and environmental impact. Through its MPS offerings and multifunction printers, HP has helped companies save up to 30 percent in overall printing costs; one company estimates it saved more than 75 percent in printing energy usage.(6)

To support the Printing Payback Guarantee, HP has launched the next wave of its Hit Print campaign. Graphically rich print and banner ads as well as a micro site, www.hp.com/guarantee, debut today and highlight the cost and printer energy usage savings that enterprises can experience with HP while touting the company's payback guarantee.

Gain control of printing environments with HP Page Plan

For customers looking to gain greater control of their imaging and printing environments but who are not ready for a full-scale MPS engagement, HP has introduced HP Page Plan.

HP Page Plan is managed by the customer, providing a scalable, flexible offering that helps each customer better manage its environment while taking advantage of HP's new plug-and-play solutions. These solutions, planned to be available in September, include HP Access Control Secure Pull Printing with PIN Authentication and HP Access Control Job Accounting. Both make it easy for customers to improve the security of their printing environments and reduce pages printed in a smaller setting.

HP customers and managed print services

HP MPS can generate multiple benefits in a customer's printing environment. AIB, Ireland's leading financial institution, has been engaged in a new approach to printing by managing its printing environment through HP MPS.

"The HP MPS solution has allowed AIB to deliver improved service quality, reduced cost and mitigated risk, in line with AIB Operational Excellence Agenda. The results were achieved through the introduction of fewer devices, using the latest HP technology, through the use of duplex printing, auto deletion, and linking staff ID cards to initiate and track print jobs," said Harry Troute, head of managed services, AIB. "An AIB in-house developed Management Information System (MIS) uses data from the HP MPS solution to deliver up to date cost and usage information via the intranet."

More information on HP's expanded imaging and printing offerings is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/HPMPSAcceleration2009 and on Twitter through the HP_IPG handle and #HPMPS hashtag.