(Weymouth, MA) - Producing and distributing documents involves many processes which include a combination of tangible, "hard" costs (printing, shipping, storing materials, etc.) and other less tangible, "soft" costs (composition, design, editing, project management, etc.). Companies of all sizes need to understand all these related costs to manage their businesses effectively. InfoTrends' study,

The True Cost of Business Communications, compares and examines the costs associated with outsourcing and doing the work internally as well as provides key considerations to what the outsourcing print should be.

InfoTrends has found that non-print costs are typically higher than actual print costs in environments where older methods are used for producing, purchasing, creating, and managing printed documents. However, the ratio of print costs to non-print costs varies dramatically depending on the quantity that is being printed. InfoTrends recommends that companies conduct a thorough analysis of internal work processes that are involved for the most common documents that get produced. They should then quantify the internal and external expenses to create, produce, and distribute these documents on an annual basis.

"Companies should determine the level of savings that could be achieved by outsourcing to the right service provider," says Steve Adoniou, Director of InfoTrends' Consulting Group. "They should consider one who not only could save money on printing and related services through operational efficiency gains, but could also provide services beyond printing to reduce the costs of non-print related activities by delivering improved and consistent product quality, quicker turnaround times, and enhanced performance to service level agreements (SLAs)."

Regardless of whether someone is printing just one or over a thousand pieces of a certain document, the costs associated with non-print activities and services is significant. With this in mind, print buyers and document owners need to be aware of the magnitude of these non-print expenses when choosing service providers.

The True Cost of Business Communications explores these options and provides a detailed breakdown of both print and non-print costs.

This report is available immediately for purchase. For more information, please visit our online store or contact Stephanie Tose at +1 781 616 2103 or [email protected].