Setting smart policies and making sure they’re followed can optimise printing for SMEs and dramatically reduce associated costs.
The cost of printing makes many businesses long for the often-promised but not-yet-delivered paperless office. Most industries still rely on paper for much of their operations. It goes without saying that businesses can cut printing costs significantly by taking a few simple steps.
Businesses have been trying to do more with less for some time now but printing is often an area that gets overlooked. This is unfortunate since most SMEs can make small changes that will deliver big savings when it comes to print costs.
According to Gartner, organisations that actively manage their printer, copier and multifunction device fleet can save up to 30% in print costs.
Here are four key things you can do to optimise printing in their business.
1. Document capture and workflow automation
By scanning paper-based documents and automating their associated workflows, companies can save both time and money. Securely scanning documents to pre-defined document libraries makes it easy to digitise important documents for archiving, and reduces the amount of physical space required.
Look for a world-class optical character recognition (OCR) engine to ensure the documents remain readable, searchable and editable. By keeping subsequent workflows digital, companies can save time and avoid the need to print the document again.
2. Reporting
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Organisations looking to optimise their print processes must start with comprehensive reporting so they can see which departments or individual users do the most and least printing – including information on frequency and paper size, colour or, use of double-sided printing options. The organisation can then take steps to reduce unnecessary printing, and, potentially, find ways to bill the cost of printing back to clients or workgroups.
3. Printing governance
Setting smart printing policies and making sure they’re followed can dramatically reduce printing costs. This includes mandating monochrome prints in most cases, utilising double-sided printing options, and implementing pull-printing or print roaming solutions to ensure print-outs aren’t wasted. By getting employees to think about what they’re printing, organisations can significantly reduce the amount of unnecessary printing, leading to big savings.
4. Print roaming
In 2015, pull-printing solutions, also known as print roaming, made up more than half of managed print services engagements compared to less than 10 % in 2005 –demonstrating the value of this method of printing.
For this, users send a document to the printer, then must physically go to the printer and use a swipe card or secure code to release the printing. Overall, this reduces the chances of unwanted print-outs, secure documents sitting on the printer, and wasted paper.
Businesses that invest in a print management solution can expect to achieve a fast return on investment as the system begins saving on print costs from day one.
Adam O’Neill, managing director, Australia, Y Soft
