Offices are busy places, but that doesn’t mean they have to lose money. Many offices are currently doing just that though, simply because they are not managing their printing in a cost efficient way.
The office printer can be the biggest culprit when it comes to losing money. Here are five ways to avoid the problem.
1. Turn printers off
One of the single best ways to reduce wastage with printers is to turn them off at the end of the day. That means turn them off properly, not just putting them on standby. The Carbon Trust states that just by turning off the printer at the end of the day the energy the printer uses can be reduced by up to 70%. If you want to translate this into running costs for a company, this could mean up to £65 a year saved, just by turning off the printer.
2. No more hard copies
Another way to save on the costs of printing is to stop filing stuff. Amazingly, many companies are still making hard copies of everything. This may have worked 10 years ago, but with the digital age it makes a lot more sense to scan, save and transfer documents electronically. Avoid making hard copies of everything you possibly can, it is wasting printer ink and adding to the overall costs.
3. Several docs to one page
If we’re talking about internal documents, such as memos or other important internal communications, think about the possibility of printing several documents to one page. This is commonly known as ‘n–up printing’, and it can save paper and ink. It could be as simple as making smaller versions of one document and then printing multiple copies onto one page, so they can be cut and disseminated. It is one easy way of cutting down on printing costs.
4. Stop printing emails
With the advent of email, it is even easier to communicate with someone else digitally. Email was made to be a digital medium, so it is needless to print copies off. With the growth of tablets and all the other mobile devices that people have, it is becoming increasingly pointless to print emails. People do not read printed emails unless they are told to. So stop printing off emails and instead ensure that they are used as they were meant to be, as a digital channel of communication.
5. Managed print solution
Some companies offer a managed print solution (MPS). Here, the company allows you to control the amount of printing that you undertake, by monitoring and reporting on the printing that is taking place in the organisation. The best MPS Solutions have been known to cut up to 30% of an organisation’s printing costs. This cost saving runs across the entire printing cycle, from buying paper to replacing income cartridges.
If you want to find out more about an MPS, why not get in touch with us at Collate for a free print audit. We will show you how an MPS can greatly reduce your printing costs and how it will boost your overall profit as an organisation. Call us on 01425 484700 or email Mark on mark@collate.co.uk.
Image courtesy of num_skyman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
