A major new survey undertaken by leading independent economics consultancy, centre for economics and business research (cebr), on behalf of OKI Printing Solutions, has found that smarter printing could save the public and private sectors across the UK between £900 million and £2,100 million per year on printing costs.

The report, Smarter print management - controlling costs and environmental impacts in the United Kingdom, estimates that £360 million could be saved by moving expensive outsourced printing in‐house while savings of between £500 million and £1,760 million could come from more efficient management of existing in‐house printing tasks.

The study finds that the UK spends around £5,800 million per year on outsourced printing and £14,300 million per year on in‐house printing, resulting in an annual bill for UK business of around £20,100 million. "This is larger in size than the entire UK accountancy sector," says Phil Scrase, UK managing director & vice president, Western Region, OKI Printing Solutions. "It is clear that trimming costs in this area could have a huge impact on business efficiency.

"There is a real opportunity here for ‘smart printing', or better printing techniques, to make a significant contribution to improved productivity and competitive edge. In responding to this, OKI Printing Solutions has both the technology and knowledge to help organisations manage their in-house printing more cost-effectively."

The largest potential beneficiary sectors of more efficient printing are estimated to be (with potential annual cost savings listed):

• Education (£245 million, equivalent to 9,800 new graduate teachers);
• Architectural activities and technical consultancy (£238 million, equivalent to 1,737 starter homes at an average price of £137,000);
• Public administration and defence (£213 million, equivalent to covering the annual council tax of 155,134 band D homes at an average of £1,373).

According to the report, saving on printing costs could benefit businesses across all sectors and contribute to a gain in UK productivity of around one fourteenth of a percentage point. That is to say, that businesses save an average of 0.07 per cent of the economy's gross value added through more efficient printing.

These productivity benefits would spread throughout the UK economy making business more internationally competitive, boosting exports and business investment and reducing imports and consumer prices.

cebr forecasts that a shift to more efficient printing practices could boost GDP by up to £2,840 million and net exports by £220 million as more efficient UK companies compete more effectively across the world. It expects economic change of this kind to lead to an investment boost of up to £810 million.

The wider environmental consequences of this increase in efficiency are substantial. If companies adopted the most efficient printing processes, resource usage could be reduced by the equivalent of up to 170,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) a year, which equates to 599,000 barrels of oil equivalent per year or taking around 46,000 cars off the UK's roads

- ends -

Notes to Editors:

About cebr
The Centre for Economics and Business Research Ltd (cebr) is an independent economic research consultancy established in 1992. It provides advice to City institutions, trade associations, local, national and international government, government agencies and the private sector.

About the cebr study
The report, entitled, Smarter print management - controlling costs and environmental impacts in the United Kingdom, presents cebr's assessment of cost savings available for United Kingdom (UK) firms from more efficient management of their printing functions.

About OKI Printing Solutions

• OKI Printing Solutions is the brand name of OKI Data Corporation
• Annual turnover for OKI Data Corporation is 187.9 billion yen. (FY07)
• OKI Printing Solutions' sales are divided between 54.3% EMEA, 22.3% Americas, 17.8% Asia and Oceania and 5.6% Others.
• OKI Printing Solutions is represented in over 120 countries worldwide
• OKI Printing Solutions is a subsidiary of Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. Oki Electric Industry, established in 1881, is Japan's first telecommunications manufacturer with an annual turnover of 719.7 billion yen.
• Oki Electric Industry employs approx. 22,640 people throughout the world with 7,327 employees outside Japan
• More details on Oki Electric Industry can be found at www.oki.com

Further Information

Whiteoaks PR
Sharon Entwistle
Account Executive
Tel: 01252 727313 ext 209
Email: sharone@whiteoaks.co.uk

Further information (external website)