For businesses across industries, printing is an important aspect of daily operations. However, despite the necessity of this function, many organizations end up overspending on their print fleet.
Without carefully analyzing your print needs and taking measures to maximize the return on investment, you could be allocating unnecessary funds to your print infrastructure. Use this guide to learn the best ways to make your print fleet more cost-effective and cut spending while maximizing productivity, quality, and efficiency.
Ways to Make Your Print Fleet More Cost-Effective
Saving money on your organization’s print operations doesn’t need to be complicated. These steps will help your business make the most of your print fleet.
1. Assess Your Print Needs
The first step to maximizing the ROI of your print fleet is to analyze your business’s print needs. Understanding the scope of your business’s needs, your monthly print output, and your current infrastructure will allow your organization to assess where you can spend less. A thorough print assessment identifies how many pages are printed per department, the types of documents being printed, peak usage times, and which printers are under-utilized or over-utilized.
With this information, you can determine if your current setup suits your workflow. For example, if you have high-volume printers in low-traffic areas or expensive color printers being used for black-and-white jobs, your business has the opportunity for adjustments that can significantly decrease costs.
2. Determine Your Budget
Another major part of cutting costs within your print fleet is understanding your budget and what you can realistically spend on printing. Your budget should account for hardware, supplies, maintenance, support, and energy consumption. Once your budget is in place, your organization can use it to guide decisions moving forward, like upgrading equipment, implementing print policies, or outsourcing certain functions.
3. Utilize Managed Print Services
One of the most effective ways to reduce print-related costs is by opting for managed print services (MPS). MPS providers help organizations streamline their print operations by monitoring usage, maintaining equipment, and proactively replenishing supplies to prevent costly last-minute purchases.
With managed print services, you can gain visibility into your print environment, reduce device downtime, and improve efficiency. These services often include analytics and reporting tools, which help to make data-driven decisions and eliminate waste within your print infrastructure. In many cases, companies that switch over to MPS unlock up to 30% savings on printing costs, providing a significant budgetary win.
4. Optimize Devices
Consolidating your devices and optimizing your printer fleet can lead to significant savings for your business. Many businesses use a mix of multifunction devices without a clear strategy. This often results in redundancy, inconsistent quality, and excessive maintenance.
Instead, taking time to optimize your devices and eliminate unnecessary printers can offer many advantages. Replacing outdated or inefficient models with multifunction printers that serve multiple purposes (printing, scanning, copying, faxing) and accommodate higher volume can significantly impact your fleet’s functionality. Consolidation reduces hardware costs and simplifies management.
5. Choose Eco-Friendly Models
When upgrading existing printers or adding to your fleet, it’s important to opt for printers and copiers that are energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. ENERGY STAR® certified devices use less power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while lowering printing costs through reduced electricity consumption.
6. Create Print Guidelines
Creating and enforcing office-wide print guidelines can help minimize waste and encourage responsible printer usage. Simple rules like printing in black and white by default, avoiding unnecessary color prints, or discouraging personal printing can quickly add up to big savings.
You can also encourage digital alternatives where appropriate. For example, many businesses successfully lower costs by promoting the use of cloud storage or project collaboration tools instead of printing meeting materials or internal memos. No matter which guidelines you choose to set, make sure your employees are educated on the best practices they should follow.
7. Implement Secure Print Release
Secure print release, sometimes called “pull printing,” is a feature that requires users to authenticate at the printer before their documents are released. This prevents unclaimed or duplicate print jobs from piling up in output trays, which commonly creates waste in many offices.
Not only does secure print release reduce unnecessary printing, but it also enhances security. This feature ensures sensitive documents aren’t accessed by the wrong users, which is important for security and compliance needs.
8. Automate Monochrome Duplex Printing
One of the easiest ways to cut paper and toner costs is to make duplex, or double-sided, black-and-white printing the default setting across all your networked devices. Many print jobs do not require color or single-sided output, but users will opt for these settings unnecessarily.
Automating this function ensures employees use resources efficiently without having to change settings manually. When paired with print guidelines and employee education, automated duplex monochrome printing can help your business save on supplies.
Save Money on Your Business’s Printing
With a conscientious approach to printing, your organization can maintain high-quality output while lowering costs and maximizing your return on investment. Whether you opt to handle print functions in-house or outsource your needs to a managed print services provider, GoodSuite can deliver products and solutions tailored to your business.
Our team delivers top-rated managed print services, along with a comprehensive selection of reliable printers and copiers for sale in Woodland Hills and Southern California. Request an assessment to analyze your print needs, or call us today to learn more about our services.
