MALVERN, Pa.--Jan. 10, 2005-- IKON Office Solutions, the world's largest independent channel for document management systems and services, today launched the IKON Document Efficiency Analyzer(SM)(IDEA). The easy-to-use tool, available on IKON's website at www.ikon.com/IDEA, provides organizations with free, personalized insight into the true costs of their documents. IDEA will be demonstrated during a January 12, 2005 web seminar titled "Calculated Investment - Understanding the 'I' in ROI," which will feature experts from IKON, InfoTrends/CAP Ventures and All Associates Group. "Many companies do not have a comprehensive understanding of the hidden costs that impact their total document lifecycles," said Michael Kohlsdorf, Senior Vice President of IKON Enterprise Services. "IDEA is designed to provide an objective look at an organization's document costs and enable more informed decision-making that reduces waste and enhances overall effectiveness and efficiency." Recognizing that document management costs vary from one industry to another, IKON collaborated with ALL Associates Group to create this powerful online predictive modeling tool. IDEA produces a personalized estimate of the volumes and costs of office output devices, supplies, paper, maintenance and power. IDEA users only need to input basic information such as annual revenue, primary industry and number of employees to generate an overview of their total document costs as well as the scale and areas of potential savings. IDEA is powered by ALL Associates Group's Enterprise Document Assessment Methodology (EDAM). Now in its eighth edition, EDAM is an internationally recognized expert system for modeling complex document environments. The system generates reasoned estimates based on employment and industry-type characteristics and more than 1,000 document activities and cost chains that make up today's overall office document systems. EDAM's metrics draw from extensive databases compiled since 1997 from such sources as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Economic Census on business distribution, and the North American Industry Classification System. The IKON Document Efficiency Analyzer uses this data to create document cost estimates based on industry type, company size, and economics, in addition to the interacting components that make up the whole document system. With pressures for businesses to increase their return on investment, customers using the IDEA tool will gain rapid insight into their document investments. Uncovering and understanding these costs is the first step in building an effective strategy for generating greater return on investments or, in many cases, reducing the investments required. IKON offers complete Document Strategy Assessment services to provide more complete findings and recommendations for building an effective document strategy - whether focused on document output or the entire document lifecycle. "For most organizations, the vast amount of money and time spent per year on document management is relatively unknown," said Don Dixon, Principal Analyst, Gartner Research. "Predictive tools provide a quick snapshot of document related output and cost information, laying the foundation for organizations to institute a cost-saving document management solution." "As an independent solutions provider, IKON is uniquely positioned to offer an objective look at total solution cost savings," Kohlsdorf explained. "IKON is committed to providing its customers with best-in-class products, services, and information. Our collaboration with ALL Associates Group is another way in which we bring quality information and objective insights to our customers." Customers can take advantage of these insights and related best practices for achieving increased return on investment by participating in the "Calculated Investment - Understanding the 'I' in ROI" web seminar being held at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 12, 2005. The session will include in-depth discussions of industry trends and technologies impacting user interaction with documents, how scientific methodology can be used to uncover savings opportunities to expand ROI, and available document management solutions, as well as a demonstration of the IKON Document Efficiency Analyzer. For additional information or to register for the event, please visit http://seminar.ikon2.com/press011205.