Even a moderately-sized business can expect to find the
daily business of print cost management a major challenge
in terms of cost control. These days a multitude of printer
systems are available, often at very low purchase cost, and
it takes little time for individuals and workgroups to
acquire and operate their own print devices within
departmental or workgroup budgets. Without an overall
strategy for printer acquisition and maintenance, daily
print costs can spiral out of control. How can these costs
be reduced and managed effectively?
Print Auditing and Control Systems
The effective answer to the problem is to consider a
software solution which enables an analysis and then a
real-time controlling system. The two-pronged approach of
analysis and implementation are discussed here.
Printing Analysis
On average, businesses can spend up to 12% of revenue on
document production, management and distribution.
Amazingly, this is the third largest expense, after office
rental and personnel costs.
The first step to reduce printing costs is - naturally
enough - to analyse the existing print volumes. But how to
get an accurate picture of what your organsation's print
volumes truly are? By installing an auditing and analysis
system creates and environment where comprehensive
reporting capabilities are easily achieved. Based on this
knowledge, you are in pole position to optimise your
printing network.
The fact is, that such an analysis is crucial. It is not
enough simply to know how many sheets of paper you use each
month and attempt to estimate the overall costs based on
manufacturers figures. In fact, it is clearly a nightmare
for growing businesses, to have any idea what is being
printed and where, or who is printing and how much their
overall printing costs are. This situation can be avoided
if you have access to the right print analysis information.
Print analysis software enables a business get a grip on
printing costs by answering the following questions:
- Which staff member is printing?
- What is being printed?
- Where are the print jobs going?
- Which printer in your organisation is used the most?
- How big is each job?
After the Analysis - The Implementation
After the analysis, installed print cost reduction software
will allow proactive choices, for example to restrict
colour usage by user, to enforce printing limits and
redirect expensive print jobs to the most efficient
printing device.
It is quite likely that most businesses are underestimating
printing costs by more than half. Once the analysis phase
it set up and running, then print cost reduction software
can assist cost-saving changes in working methods.
Some example Changes to Print Processes
For example, print jobs can be allocated to the print
device within the company most appropriate for the job in
hand. Thus for example, a workgroup might be printing
thousands of pages monthly on an old, expensive printer,
while an executive uses a top-of-the-line, efficient
printer for just the occasional page. With print tracking
analysis software, this situation can be identified and the
jobs swapped accordingly.
Again, you can direct jobs to the new digital copier when
printing large documents, rather than an older inkjet
printer to reduce printing costs. Most print cost
management software will either suggest or force users to
print to more efficient printers based on the size of the
print job. Additionally, you might want to disallow colour
printing from specific individuals or disallow black and
white printing to colour devices, and of course, configure
individual printers to do only duplex (double-sided) output
to save costs.
Reporting tools can show instantly where excessive use is
being made of certain printers, in terms of paper and
consumables. Identifying such overuse will mean immediate
and effective action can be taken to prevent losses. Most
reporting tools will also provide electronic records with
the name of every document printed, who printed it, and
when it was printed. Apart from anything else, this reduces
paper use by showing that all printing is being monitored
(after all, stacks of pages left on printers at the end of
each day will inevitably disappear). Additionally of
course, administrators can make much more informed
decisions about the efficiencies of individual printers,
and can make acquisition choices according for new
equipment.
All these benefits mean a clear benefit in terms of the
return on investment for the software itself, its
configuration and maintenance.
----------------------------------------------------
Jimi St. Pierre writes for several Office Equipment
suppliers in the UK, including office printer supplier
Principal. Helpful advice on reducing printing costs can
be found as part of Principal's comprehensive Print
Supplies website at => http://www.principalcorp.co.uk/
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