Don’t let your printing costs get out of hand!

As an organisation, you wish you could give your employees the licence to print freely, print whatever they want, how they want (in colour or black & white, single or double side…). However, this ‘free’ printing strategy can have a staggering impact on print related costs including paper, toner, cost of maintenance and support. In today’s organisations, employees print on average 60 pages a day or 12,000 sheets a year. Multiply this by the total number of employees in a single firm and you can get an idea of the impact. Add the indirect expenses mentioned above and you will find these costs mounting up to 3% of your total profit*.

Whatever the size of your firm, the deployment of print management software will provide you with an accurate insight on activities on a global, departments or user level: who is printing what? For which customer, if any? On which device? 

This will form the basis for making informed decisions to optimise the print infrastructure and keep costs down. Not only that, research has shown that as soon as a user is aware that their prints are being tracked, the number of documents printed drops significantly.

In addition, print management solutions provide specific functions such as rule based printing. When implemented, users are, for example, automatically defaulted to printing all emails and internet pages in black and white and in duplex and still have the choice for the other documents.  An automatic re-routing action can direct large print jobs of over 15 documents to dedicated print rooms which are equipped to handle these large volumes. This alone can save firms up to 25% on print related costs and effectively changes the user’s printing behaviour.

Pull printing, is increasingly implemented as it can reduce the printing volume by up to 15% and improve security at the same time. Rather than being printed off immediately and left in the tray to be picked up or in many cases abandoned, documents are only released upon user authentication.  Users therefore get a second chance to decide whether to print the job or delete this from the printer server if it is no longer required.  Additionally it ensures that the printed document is retrieved by its rightful owner, which is essential in environments where the information must remain confidential.

The cost recovery feature, provided by the most advanced print management solutions, tracks and monitors print related expenses and automatically allocates them to a matter, a project or a client account for re-billing. When linked to an accounting system, such functionalities can go as far as automating the invoicing procedure, effectively transforming the MFP from a cost center into a revenue source.   

Ultimately print management is about reviewing and controlling the entire print environment, driving users to change their printing habits and become more cost efficient or environment friendly. The benefits are almost instantaneous and over time, firms can reduce costs by up to 40%, thus boosting their profit levels.

Nila Hirani [   ]

Nikec Solutions [ www.nikecsolutions.com ]

*  IDC research 2012

Copitrak is a reference solution in cost recovery and expense management. Copitrak ensures clients can effortlessly improve cost control and maximize recharge rates. Copitraks' range of tools and software includes modules for Copy, Print, Secure Print, Scan Routing to email/Document Management Systems with OCR, Expense Management, Print Room Management Workflow, Telephony and Blackberry tracking, all of which are geared to deliver 100% payback within a few months.

Visit nikecsolutions.com for more information.

SafeCom Smart Printing offers a modular approach to control and optimise imaging and printing activities. It helps businesses cut costs, increase efficiency, enhance security, reduce waste, and protect the environment and works with all types of printers and MFP devices across small, medium and large multinational firms. 
Visit nikecsolutions.com for more information.