How Can I Reduce Office Printing Costs?

It's been said that "print is dead" — but reports of the demise of printing have been greatly exaggerated. Despite the rise of digital communication, businesses still often rely on their print operations for important business functions. In fact, most companies will spend up to 3% of their annual revenue on printing costs alone. 

This may seem shocking - but consider that the typical office worker uses approximately 10,000 sheets of paper every year. That's 20 reams of paper per employee, not to mention the additional costs for equipment, toner, and maintenance... See how quickly it can quickly all add up? And without the proper company-wide oversight in place, the price of your printing operations can be much worse. 

With this in mind, the question “How do I reduce printing costs in the office?” is urgently relevant. 

Printing waste wastes money - but most businesses don't do anything about it. In fact, most don't even have a clue how it's happening. It's been estimated that 90% of companies across the globe don't track their printing costs effectively. What’s more, due to document errors and incorrect printer settings, 17% of all printed pages are never even used. That’s 1,700 pages per employee every year!  

But paper isn't the only problem area. Reordering toner can also be needlessly costly.  

During our recent evaluation of a major healthcare organization, we discovered that for every 1,000 printers they leased, only 700 were actually being put into use. That’s 300 printers draining the budget every month simply because no one took a comprehensive look at their operation.

Another company we worked with was stocking up on toner the way people hoarded toilet paper during the pandemic. Closets and closets were full of unused toner cartridges because it didn't have an effective toner-use tracking solution, so they ended up with a whole lot of clutter and a lot less money. 

In another recent instance, our evaluation revealed that the local branch of a company had ended up listing a nearby OfficeMax as a trusted office supply vendor. This was meant to be for staplers, or Post-It Notes, but several employees ended up buying themselves a personal desktop printer (or 10) and expensive toner cartridges they required.  

And all this reckless retail-priced spending went completely unnoticed by management because the receipts were being filed under "office supplies" and not "print operations". It’s difficult to see a solution when you can't get a good look at the whole issue. 

You can see how unmanaged print can cost you a fortune and not even know it. What you don't know, can hurt your profit margin.  

It's important to know how this kind of mismanaged printing can drastically impact your bottom line, not to mention the environment. Luckily, you'll be able to turn this around and reduce your printing expenses by up to 30% with some planning and oversight.  

If these scenarios sound like your print operation - or worse, you're unsure - you have options to explore with an experienced managed print services provider. 

Managed print is a crucial solution for businesses looking to gain control, visibility, and predictability over their unwieldy print operation.  

At FlexTG, we start by looking at the company's printing setup as a whole, and making the process more efficient from start to finish by consolidating supplies, optimizing usage, and eliminating unnecessary printing whenever possible. 

1. Streamlined Operations  

Simple but effective solutions, such as print quotas and double-sided printing, will be put in place to reduce toner and paper use (and cost). Additionally, a regular printer maintenance schedule partnered with a toner subscription will stop all the needless overspending, right-size your cartridge renewals, and ensure your printers are ready to use when your team needs them. 

Sound like a lot to handle? It's not, when you're working with an experienced MPS provider. By outsourcing your print management, you can focus on your business without being bogged down by printer problems.  

A strong managed print services provider will do a lot more than automate toner replenishment and device maintenance. For example, our proprietary software gives a holistic view of print coverage, including determining where machines aren't necessary.  

Additionally, with our predictive analytics you can make better toner purchasing decisions, leading to reduced toner waste and more predictive spending (in addition to cheaper toner through stronger buying power). 

And it’s worth pointing out that most companies have cybersecurity vulnerabilities through their printers that, left unchecked, can lead to a devastating data breach. Which leads us to our next point: 

2. Enhanced Security
   

By adopting managed print services, you get cutting-edge security features to protect sensitive information from being stolen through unauthorized access of your print devices. These can include secure printing, user authentication, and system-level encryption of print jobs. 

By implementing secure printing solutions, you can require users to authenticate themselves with a personalized code or badge scan before allowing devices to print, copy, or scan any company documents. This reduces the risk of your sensitive information being left unattended and falling into the wrong hands by a lot.  

Better to be safe than sorry.  

3. Increased Sustainability

MPS partnerships contribute to environmental sustainability by promoting eco-friendly practices. MPS providers can help your business reduce their environmental footprint by optimizing paper and toner usage, implementing recycling programs, and encouraging digital workflows.  

This isn't just good for the environment, it's also good for your company's reputation as a responsible corporate citizen.   

4. Specialized Industry Regulations

Some industries, such as legal, healthcare, and education, heavily rely on print for regulatory compliance, patient records, and educational materials. MPS providers can tailor solutions to meet the specific needs of these different industries, ensuring they receive the most effective and compliant strategies available.  

5. Advanced Technologies

It's hard enough to stay up-to-date with developing digital technologies in your own area of expertise. A strategic MPS partnership can get you such cutting-edge benefits as cloud-based printing and AI-driven predictive analytics, leading to a holistic view of device usage and system analysis - with none of the headaches of setting it all up yourself. 

By allowing an MPS provider to centralize your company's print operation, you can rest assured that your team will be able to print securely from any location. (Your branch managers and remote workers will love that, and your network will stay safe and efficient.)  

No, print isn’t dead, but boy oh boy, it sure has changed - and continues to change as digitization, cloud computing and new technologies roll out.  
 
Managing it all adds stress to your already overworked IT team or office manager and creates blind spots and unpredictability that ends up costing your company a fortune. 
 
Let us help! We can carry out a full diagnostic assessment of your fleet, set you up with software that gives you full transparency into print spend, and ensure you have the right device leases at the best cost. (We routinely save new clients over 30% of their annual spend).