Print.IT Reseller - issue 78

65% of working professionals believe the environmental and social impact of businesses will become more important following COVID-19, according to research 1 commissioned by Epson. Shaping a more sustainable future with heat-free printing technology same if not more user advantages than solutions that don’t offer the same sustainability benefits. At Epson, we’re reversing the traditional perception people have around sustainability by revealing that sustainable technology is no longer an alternative to low cost or high productivity but is in fact a cause to both these benefits. We are making sustainability more synonymous with profitability. Let me explain how. Epson have been leading the industry shift from laser printing to business inkjet printing for over two decades now. While inkjet was once upon a time deemed a more industrial solution not fit for the office, we’ve drastically changed that mindset as far as cost and productivity go, but we’ve also demonstrated significant sustainability benefits of inkjet over laser printing that in the last couple of years have really proven as a sales incentive for an increasingly growing audience of eco-minded customers. This can be said as much with an Epson WorkForce printer in businesses as an EcoTank printer in homes. While many businesses focus their sustainability initiatives on offsetting, Epson’s biggest sustainability initiative is its products. Epson manufactures inkjet printers that use up to 95% less energy than a laser printer, are up to 3.5 times faster and require up to 98% less user intervention 3 . Epson’s inkjet printers have far fewer components than a laser printer, making them significantly less susceptible to specialist intervention, and use large bags of ink that enable users to print up to 84,000 pages without any supply changes, meaning less waste in time and in consumables. So how is this used as a sales incentive? Let’s put this into context. One of our partners, Office Odyssey, installed 575 mono Epson printers with the retailer EG (Euro Garages) Group and their site network across the UK. Here’s why. Over a five- year period, Office Odyssey explained that by replacing their laser printer fleet with Epson inkjet, EG Group could save around 50 tonnes/49,355kg in CO2 emissions – which equates to 816 tree seedlings grown for 10 years – based on reduced energy alone, 179,400 kWh in energy, 16,600 consumables, and 15% in printing costs 4 . They explained that employee time would be saved thanks to a quicker FPOT (first page out time) because the inkjet printer doesn’t need to heat up like an oven before printing its first page, and the need for product servicing would be minimised thanks to inkjet’s low intervention and ease of use. But does sustainable hardware alone offer the best value for costs and productivity for the end-user? The answer is not always, which is why the strongest vehicle for delivering sustainability in print is a managed print service (MPS). Print365 not only offers the end-user complete control over their print budget along with automatic ink delivery and printer maintenance, but it cuts their energy consumption, waste and intervention by placing them with a business inkjet printer. I’d say this proposition is steering businesses in the right direction, but of course Epson isn’t selling these products or services direct, but is constantly working to find opportunities across different sectors and working with the channel to close them. The same research also reveals that 31% of professionals believe that a company’s environmental and social credentials is a key factor when seeking employment. While this offers some positive reassurance into life beyond the pandemic and that sustainability is increasingly seen as both a business motive and an employer incentive, what actual choices are available to eco minded decision makers in bringing their business in the direction of positive change, without compromising on cost or productivity? Epson’s Head of Sales for Business, Richard Wells, explains the role taken by Epson in presenting an easy path towards sustainability for its partners and their end-users. While many see CSR (corporate social responsibility) and sustainability purely as obligatory tick boxes, it’s reassuring to see that collective change this year, albeit forced and financially crippling, can demonstrate visual improvements on the environment that offer proof points to what the ‘tick boxes’ are all about. However, sustainability is still seen as a compromise, something more expensive, slower to run, harder to use. 82% of IT service professionals believe that sustainable technology costs more than non-sustainable technology 2 , yet despite this and despite the pandemic, 82% of businesses are working environmental considerations into COVID-19 business recovery plans 1 . This tells us that many are willing to make compromises in order to operate more sustainably, and for those that aren’t willing to make that compromise, can we really blame them? To make sustainability more practical for eco and non-eco-minded businesses alike, we must commercialise sustainability. This means offering sustainable solutions that minimise energy consumption, waste, and the requirement for specialist intervention, and represent a low carbon footprint in the shipping and manufacturing process, yet are cost efficient and embody the PRINTITRESELLER.UK 5 BUSINESS BRIEFING 1 Research commissioned by Epson, conducted by B2B international Ltd to 4000 working professionals across EMEA 2 Research commissioned by Epson, conducted by Vital Research to 500 IT service professionals in the UK 3 https://www.epson.co.uk/advantage-inkjet 3 https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas- equivalencies-calculator 4 https://www.epson.co.uk/insights/casestudy/ eg-group-saves-50-tonnes-in-co2-emissions- on- printer-upgrade-with-epson Richard Wells For more information about Epson’s heat-free printing technology, visit: www.epson . co.uk/heat-free- technology