IDC whitepaper finds European SMBs see green printing as important.
Dutch news website Baaz reports that an IDC whitepaper sponsored by OKI Systems, ‘SMB Buying Considerations for Smarter Business Printing’, which was written in October 2012, found that the environment is seen as an important factor for European SMBs when printing, with 46 percent of respondents indicating that power consumption when printing is a concern and that a reduction in energy consumption is high on their agenda.
Also ranked highly as environmental concerns for SMBs are hardware and consumable recycling programmes, use of recycled paper and the need to reduce packaging.
In addition, many SMBs now list printers having green features as top priority when purchasing hardware, with 61 percent of respondents stating that using devices with duplex printing and low power consumption is already part of their green IT policy; along with recycling used cartridges and ensuring that employees behave in an environmentally-friendly way.
While there is still pressure to cut costs during the economic crisis, the study found that SMBs are increasingly looking to improve their environmental performance as well, particularly since the Energy-using Products (EuP) Directive of the EU was introduced in January, requiring all new printers to feature an auto-off mode to reduce energy consumption.
Erwin Bader, Country Manager, Netherlands for OKI Systems, said: “Lower energy has positive financial implications for the business. Like many other suppliers OKI has made ??every effort to [ensure] the harmful impact of printing on the environment can be reduced. The IDC research shows that newer products, such as ours, usually [use] 30 percent less power and 20 percent less toner than older devices. This makes the investment in new equipment in the long term pay back because the printing costs are lower.”