5 Tips for Print Fleet Optimization
Tip 1 – Don’t Overbuy
One of the easiest things we see larger companies do with print, is they get too many printers in the printer fleet and then device management gets a lot trickier because there are too many printers.
There are 2 places this tends to happen.
- Lack of a policy about who gets printers
- Lack of tracking for printers already owned
So, you will want to make sure you don’t have more printers than you need.
Tip 2 – Don’t Overuse Your Printers, Copiers or Multi-Function Devices
Unlike the first tip, this is using print devices way past their suggested use limits. This could look like printing 2000 pages a month on a normal inkjet printer. This will make your ink costs explode.
Buying a printer because it is cheap upfront can end up costing your company a lot more, especially if you print or copy a lot on that device.
Tip 3 – Use Papercut or Rules Based Printing
This tip centers around controlling user behavior. If you have software like Papercut MF or another of the many rules based printing packages out there, you can determine who can print in color, who can use the copier, what printer to use for long print jobs, what printer to use for color, etc. These rules help make sure you are using the best printer for your jobs without having to teach your staff all of the print rules.
Print management software can make it much easier to control cost than trying to train users.
Tip 4 – Use Follow Me Printing
Like tip 3, Tip 4 is great to implement because someone can send a print job and then go to any printer on the network and get that print job. What is interesting, companies have found this reduces print by more than 20% when it is applied. We guess many people forgot they printed, so you never even have to pay for the print.
Tip 5 – Consider Managed Print Services
If you have a lot of devices (more than 25), then you should consider this alternative. We will help you have a full list of your printers, see how much each printer or copier is costing on a monthly basis. We handle toner management, which ensures you don’t have closets filled with discontinued toner cartridges. We also work with you to see what functions people need, to turn off color for users who don’t need it. We help you know when you should get rid of inkjet printers in your print fleet.
Our job in print management is not just to achieve cost savings. After all, sometimes, you print more and cost savings are not even a reasonable goal. Our plans help you know exactly what each device is costing your company. Our belief is transparency and information help drive the behaviors which ultimately reduce your cost.
We know you may have shelves filled with supplies you don’t need. We don’t think this is something you should have with a managed print solution.
If you would like to talk to one of our experts about your print environment and how we can help your company with print fleet management, we would love to talk to you.
