Sustaining a green bottom line

Xerox also believes that sustainability is vital to the future of large and small business. Integrating environmental goals into printing and communications policies is not only the right thing to do, but also a way to reduce costs. Products such as the Xerox ColorQube not only produce 90 per cent less waste than comparable laser MFPs over a four year lifecycle, but also ensure that 75 percent of colour page prints cost less.

It is important to measure performance for resellers’ customers to determine whether or not their sustainable strategy is having a positive effect on their bottom line. Customers need to complete a self audit to identify how they are going to monitor success - it is impossible to manage a sustainable strategy if it isn’t measured.

Data must be normalised and benchmarked against ‘good practice’. Once this is complete, realistic goals should be set and consumption monitored; bills must be checked and someone made responsible to ensure that there is a set of criteria for accountability.
Xerox itself is proof of the economic benefits of a greener approach to business: the company achieved a €13.4m saving over the last financial year, based on the implementation of sustainable solutions.