Businesses of all sizes are trying to cut back on unnecessary expenses in today’s challenging economy. For many businesses, the print environment is a source of savings that’s often overlooked. Few companies actually have formal print policies in place and most don’t realize exactly how much their print environment is actually costing them. Every time your employees send a document to print, they’re making a buying decision.

Colour copies can cost from 10 to 80 cents per printed page depending on the output device.  To get costs under control, you should consider implementing and enforcing some simple print rules in your office. Here are four ideas to get you started.

1.  Create and Implement a Formal Print Policy
It’s a simple solution that works. Policies can be simple, like making two-sided printing mandatory and limiting colour on an as needed basis with approval. Studies show that simply letting employees know print is being monitored can reduce print volumes by 10%.

2.  Reset Printer Defaults
By simply defaulting all output to black and white, you can lower your costs. For extra savings, defaulting all printers to two-sided output can immediately lower paper use by 50%!

3.  Employ a Managed Print Program
A Managed Print Services program is a step beyond a formal rules based print policy. A Managed Print Services provider uses technology to monitor devices and can be used to set restrictions for users as well as print devices. Typically, a Managed Print Services program can lower costs anywhere from 10 to 30 percent almost immediately as well as reduce waste, reduce consumable use and offer better budget predictability.

4.  Limit Devices to Monochrome Output
Eliminating colour devices immediately reduces colour output! Most departments and end users really don’t have a need for colour printing on a […]