Latest research gives new insights into real-world coverage and spending patterns.

While spot color remains a more common use of color printers and multifunction products (MFPs) in corporate America, businesses are willing to spend proportionately higher amounts for color devices compared with monochrome machines, according to new findings by imaging industry market analyst Lyra Research Inc.

The study is part of Lyra's Office Print Monitor (OPM), a collaboration with software vendor PrintFleet Inc. that is studying real-world printer usage data collected by PrintFleet's auditing tools. Via a remote server, OPM aggregates data from more than 12,000 installed output devices, which together create about 40 million pages per month. In addition to determining actual print output patterns for each device, the OPM project also calculates page coverage amounts.

The latest results of the ongoing study were reported in a recent Lyra Webcast.

When the analysis firm looked at how companies used color laser workgroup printers, it calculated an average coverage area of 15 percent, slightly less than prevailing industry estimates of 20 percent, says Cortney Kasuba, industry analyst and program manager for laser consumables at Lyra.

Although coverage rates ranged from a low of about 5 percent to more than 50 percent, the 15-percent average indicates that most workgroup devices now print spot color, such as letterheads, versus more extensive uses, like graphics-intense marketing materials, she adds.

OPM also analyzed color printer and MFP buying among a sample of 17 corporations over a nine-month period ending earlier this year. Lyra found that while about two-thirds of new laser-device installations went to monochrome machines, a disproportionate 45 percent of the corporate dollars was spent on color devices. The sample group invested about $200,000 for color laser machines in the period studied, Kasuba says.

Although monochrome printers still see significant unit volumes, corporations are willing to open their checkbooks for more expensive color units.