Phillips Office Solutions Blog 4 steps to reducing printer costs

A constant initiative in the business world anywhere is cost reduction. Everybody is being told to do more with less. Sometimes some of the most manageable, but overlooked costs, are those related to your printer fleet.1.) Appoint a 'Printing Manager'. Most organizations view printing as a necessary evil. Although printers or copiers are bought or leased to take care of the needs of a specific department or sometimes a specific area of midsize to large business. Many times that decision is made by a manager of the department. Depending on the size of the company there could be several department managers making these decisions. A better strategy is to centralize the responsibility to one person or a team, depending on the size of the company, to take ownership of the task.2.) Measure your usage. Once that is done another important task is actually identifying what you are actually spending on the printing and how much actual printing is being done. There are many options available to measure the actual print volume. There are several options available online. Also, most printer vendors out there offer the software for free and most times will offer to provide free reports once data has been collected for a while.3.) Streamline your Printing Devices. Once actual print volumes are measured it is easier to make informed decisions on the type of equipment to do the job of printing. Many companies have high printing costs from too many personal printers and inefficient device placement. Choosing a centrally placed copier and keeping the personal printers to a minimum usually will help with saving costs.4.) Go Green. When printers/copiers are set-up it is possible to set default settings to automatically duplex prints and copies. Another default setting if you are using a color print capable device is to print in black & white unless color is absolutely necessary.Taking these steps should significantly help reduce costs. If this seems to be about 3 more steps than you are willing to take to create the desired savings that are needed you may want to bring in a professional! The potential savings that can be realized in the business world is staggering!