HP Customers Sign Up For Print Management

Hewlett-Packard, taking advantage of the growing trend to outsource the ownership and care of copiers, printers, and other output devices, on Wednesday said that more than 625 of its customers, representing nearly $500 million in service contracts, have signed up for HP's Total Print Management technology and services.

Total Print Management is HP's way of determining how much a company is spending to produce printouts, copies, faxes, and other documents, then offering to cut those costs by managing a company's printing and imaging systems. HP's Total Print Management contracts are generally for several years and charge customers on a per-page basis.

"There's a major trend in this industry toward providing printing as a service," says Ken Weilerstein, a Gartner research director. "Companies want to know where they can save money from their printing costs."

HP sees outsourced printing services as a way to generate recurring revenue and sell additional products and services to its customers. HP's Imaging and Printing business has consistently been the company's top performing unit. For its third fiscal 2003 quarter, ended July 31, HP's Imaging and Printing business had the greatest year-over-year increase in revenue of any other business line, growing 10% to $5.2 billion.