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Going Green – the Eco-Smart Way: Fuji Xerox

1 July 2009

A green office is no longer just an indication of an organisation’s responsibility to the environment, and it is not just the IT department’s problem. The business case for a green office, in terms of reduced costs, improved efficiency and greater security controls is easy to see.

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The office is predicted to be an even bigger energy guzzler in the future, consuming up to 20% of any country’s energy. So the office can no longer remove itself from environmental concerns. There is now a great urgency to reduce the power consumption of IT devices as well as lessen the environmental burden.

The Evolution of the office
IT infrastructure has progressively developed in recent years with the rapid expansion of IT budgets within companies. Now, most employees are provided with their own PC. There are also increasing numbers of servers and output devices (printers, faxes and copiers). Individuals can create, edit and reuse documents on a PC and freely distribute them over the network, resulting in higher productivity in the office.

Whilst development of sophisticated IT infrastructure has increased efficiency, it has also created new problems. For instance, an increase in output devices may compromise the quality of security as employees have additional avenues to siphon off information.

More printers and copiers means more energy and paper are used. Since paper is not phased out despite the technological advances, organisations now have to deal with the hassle of managing overlapping paper and electronic data. And finally, the consequence of having more machines is that more maintenance is eventually required.

These issues may sound like trivial low level ‘administrative’ problems. Yet if ignored, there is a high possibility that they may escalate to ‘management level issues’ such as having to deal with data leakage, higher operating cost for the organisation and greater impact to the environment.

Today’s green office
Many organisations looking to go green have approached green consultancies for expert advice or adopted green programs such as Fuji Xerox’s Green Office Solution. The Green Office Solution, for instance, helps solve problems occurring in the office due to the progress of IT development and changes in business operations by optimising document management. This includes managing data-related and document-related devices.

Together with our ecofriendly products and ecosmart approaches, Fuji Xerox’s Green Office Solution focuses on 3 main areas: Optimisation of Output, IT Devices and Document Management and Print-On-Demand.

Optimisation of Output
With output optimisation, you can optimise the number of output devices in the office as well as the use of paper.

Optimise output devices With efficient output device allocation, unnecessary equipment is reduced. This lowers the energy consumption and provides better device management saving both time and money.

Manage usage authentication By using IC cards authentication on output devices, different levels of user permission settings can be customised. This would not only manage usage but also prevents information leaks.

Prevent Uncollected Print-Outs IC card authentication is needed at networked MFD before printing is processed. The print job can be viewed on the device panel before print release. Users can also decide when to print the documents securely. Paper wastage is reduced as errors and unnecessary print jobs can be cancelled before they are processed and printed by the selected MFD.

Reduce Paper Usage With N-UP and duplex printing, you can reduce paper resulting in further cost reduction. Less paper will also reduce paper-centric document management issues.

Digital Imaging and Archiving Converting hardcopy documents into softcopies helps to streamline paperwork so that they can be captured and stored securely on a centralised server. These archives can be printed on demand from a server or distributed via FTP, SMB and email – all without a PC. Delivery costs are thus reduced and workforce collaboration is enhanced as printing from remote offices is now possible. With document handling software, you can now view documents electronically just like paper with editing, processing and document search functions.

Optimisation of IT Devices and Document Management
By using enterprise document management solutions, you can reduce the need to deploy multiple servers. With Fuji Xerox Docushare, file servers from various departments, or from offices in various locations, may be combined into one depository. Users will be able to store and retrieve documents, and collaborate with their teammates anywhere and anytime. It also leads to more efficient workflow and enhances information sharing. By consolidating the servers, power consumption is reduced as less servers, backup devices and other related network devices are required.

Optimisation of Print-on-demand
With optimisation of Print on-demand, the Green Office Solution provides customers with the ability to generate on-demand documents, such as brochures, product information, promotional pamphlets and more. Thus, we cut down the need to transport printed documents to various office locations, the storage space required to store them and reduce wastage of discarding outdated documents.

Creating the Greener Office
Document-related activities account for approximately 70 per cent of total IT power consumption. The Green Office Solution can help reduce up to 80 per cent of power consumption, resulting in reduced carbon dioxide emissions and operating costs.

Fuji Xerox’s Green Office Solution allows you to better allocate and optimise output devices, while reducing total cost, office space, paper usage, power consumption, and most importantly CO2 emission. Businesses can significantly gain massive savings in time, money, manpower as well as strengthen security, streamline workflow and reduce environmental impact.

So why just go green, when you can go green the ecosmart way with Fuji Xerox.