tcprojector is a range of tools available to resellers that enable 'usage based' calculation of Total Cost of Printing. These tools enable users to project quick, simple and realistic Total Cost of Printing estimates.
CharisCo Printer Labs has continued to become more and more convinced over the course of the last 18 years that Total Cost of Printing is the biggest issue surrounding printing and it remains dedicated to demystifying Total Cost of Printing for businesses and consumers alike. Part of the problem with calculating Total Cost of Printing is the variable nature of the algorithms involved. There isn't a fixed formula that takes into account every aspect of usage. CharisCo Printer Labs has developed a complex algorithm that morphs in relation to the printer and usage profile to allow the results of the calculations to be as realistic as possible.
When calculating Total Cost of Printing, there are three major markets that would benefit from a clearer understanding of these costs: resellers; businesses/organisations and consumers. Because of this, we have developed two tools that provide the solution to two of these market's requirements, with a further solution already roadmapped for future development allowing businesses to calculate their own costs across the entire business.
This is an effective and comprehensive web-based SaaS tool that allows printer and consumable resellers to calculate Total Cost of Printing across entire fleets of printers using a fleet/location/team-based structure for managing the printers. It provides an in-depth cost analysis, broken down by the fleet/location/team structure, with the ability to make comparisons between different printer combinations, thus allowing the user to find the most economic solution.
When addressing the needs of the consumer in calculating Total Cost of Printing, it is fundamentally important that the tool is simple and also flexible. Because of this, we have built an API that eCommerce partners may include in their packages to allow the Total Cost of Printing to be displayed against their printers in a small infographic. The costs that are returned by the API aren't pre-calculated costs generic to RRP pricing but, instead, bespoke costs specific to the reseller's own pricing. In order to process the cost calculations, we start off with informed assumptions about the user's printer usage that they themselves can customise using our 'What does this mean' link below each infographic. Changes to the usage profile affect the calculations displayed in the infographics, regardless of which tcprojector API partner site is being viewed, due to our tracking feature. If browser-based tracking or cookies is turned off this feature cannot work.
We hope to incorporate tcprojector API into many of the online printer retailer's websites, firstly in the UK then across Europe and eventually worldwide. Alongside this, we hope to impact the reseller market, particularly MPS providers, with tcprojector APP. We see that these two tools can make a real difference in their respective markets, helping those with purchasing decisions to make wise and economic choices that will prove their value in the longer term.
