Could Printing Costs Be Harming Your Profits?
Posted on 1st January 2022 at 11:58
Your printing could be costing more than you think. Many companies are spending far more than they need to on their office printing. Making a few simple changes to the way you put ink to paper can help you make considerable savings and make your budget go further.
When your print costs aren’t managed, you risk being left in the dark on how much you are really spending and can find it much harder to budget. Read on to learn more about how to reduce photocopying costs considerably without compromising the efficiency of your operations.
Why you could be spending more than necessary
You’re managing printer supplies in-house
Toner management can be one of the biggest headaches for budget-conscious businesses. Unless a specific individual is tasked with ordering print resources, you could be ordering toner when there are already stocks at your premises or on their way to your office.
Toner can be expensive, and large sums of money can be tied up in resources that you don’t need (yet) or can no longer use because you’ve replaced a printer. Ordering more toner than you actually need can have a considerable impact on your bottom line, funds that would be better spent elsewhere.
You’re using consumer printers or all-in-ones
If you have a fleet of several small printers or copiers (potentially different models and manufacturers) it is unlikely that you are achieving optimal toner expenditure. The more equipment you have, i,e several smaller printers rather than one larger MFD, the more chance that you are using toner inefficiently.
One larger machine, used by all employees is going to be more consistent and consistency is key when it comes to saving money. Personal printing is likely to reduce, supplies can be purchased at optimal levels for the device, volume discounts become more likely, small device failure rates are removed from the equation .. the list goes on.
Consumer inkjets are slow, messy and get clogged up; consumer lasers are slow and vastly under powered for office use. Both cost significantly more to run than a proper small office printer, in fact last time we looked at some numbers a small KRL printer was £21 / per month, versus the £72 that our customer was spending before our involvement.
You’re literally throwing money away
That bin next to the printer in your office – each sheet of paper that goes in there is literally money being thrown away. Blank paper has a cost, printed paper has a higher cost. Uncollected prints or unnecessary printed pages are also a security risk. It doesn’t need to be this way.
Print management software will help you to add pull print (aka follow me print) so that printouts only appear on the machine as the user goes to collect them. Printers can be configured to skip blank pages, or force duplex (double sided) by default. These are all areas that a managed print provider would help you with from the outset.
You’re wasting time hunting for printer toner
The amount of time your staff spend on looking for and ordering toner can also be excessive. Whilst your team members are focussing on this, they should be carrying out their real, important business duties.
It’s vital that we don’t underestimate how valuable a commodity time is. Businesses need to take steps to ensure they don’t run out of toner or buy more than they actually need. Toner management services can help you avoid many of the problems that come with sourcing toner.
You’re not using managed print services to reduce headaches
When you use a print management service, you can be confident that you’re getting supplies from reputable manufacturers that can get a quick fix in place if something goes wrong. Toner management services can also help you avoid problems with faulty toners, which in turn improves productivity.
You won’t have to worry about running out of toner or being unable to print, and you don’t need to fret about a member of staff ordering the incorrect cartridge for and causing damage to your device.
Another benefit is that your team won’t be tied up in troubleshooting print issues when they have other, more important matters to attend to.
You’re manually monitoring toner levels
A managed print service provider will automatically be alerted when your printers are running out of toner. As soon as they receive a notification, toner will be automatically sent directly to you. No wasted time sourcing, raising POs, placing orders and reconciling bills, OR of running out of toner half way through an important print run.
In the unlikely event that a toner pack is faulty, a service technician will come to your premises, resolve the problem and install new toner.
You’re trouble shooting your own printer issues, or worse still you’re paying your I.T. company to do it for you
Although it may seem that print costs are rising, a managed print services will make printing more cost efficient, whilst ensuring all your service and maintenance requirements are handled by experienced professionals. You won’t have to spend your time trying to troubleshoot your way to a fix, you’ll be backed up by a highly competent team supporting you.
What’s next
We’re confident that if you use office printers or copiers, we can improve the efficiency with which documents and printing are handled in your organisation. As a first step we recommend a simple one to one discussion to assess where you are and what we can do to help.
We’re here on Teams, Zoom, Skype or the good old telephone to guide you. Or alternatively you can fill out the form below.
Tagged as: Cost Management
Share this post: