Printer Costs Rising? Try These 4 Tips

Outdated printers, the lack of a printing workflow, and an over-reliance on hard copies may be contributing to your rising printing expenditures. With some creative problem-solving and fresh ideas, you could drastically reduce your printing budget. Start by following these four tips.

Replace outdated printers

Depreciated or cheap printers may be still be functional, but they are most likely also taking a huge chunk of your budget than you may realize. Any piece of equipment that is seven years or older will require frequent repairs, and often causes more trouble than it’s worth. Because old printers are most often not under warranty, fixing them is more costly and challenging. It’s also difficult to replace parts for old printers, since manufacturers have likely stopped making them for older models that have been phased out. When you replace outdated equipment with newer, multi-functional printers, you’re investing in hardware that will pay for itself with increases in productivity and efficiency.

Don’t Buy Unnecessary Supplies

A poorly managed printer environment could result in a stockpile of cartridges, toners, and reams of paper. This happens when, for example, an employee uses a printer that’s about to run out of ink and makes an unnecessary request for a new ink or toner. This is more common than you may think, and can definitely take a big chunk out of your budget. By assigning a dedicated printer manager, you can avoid this situation by automating supply replacement. Choose a specific employee to proactively place orders when supplies are about to run out.

Be Strict with Process Workflows

Submitting expense reports, filing reimbursement forms, and other administrative tasks require a proper document workflow to be successful. Without a strict guideline, employees and administrative staff can end up printing unnecessary documents trying to follow their workflow. Automate your company’s document-driven processes to reduce or prevent redundant print jobs that result in stacks of abandoned documents. Not only is it a waste of money and resources, it can also be a security and privacy concern.

Go Green

The best way to save money wasted on printing is to eliminate the use of paper as much as possible. By designing a document management solution, you can reduce paper consumption drastically, which will end up saving you money. It may not be possible to do away with document printing in every department, but those who can do their jobs without printing should be encouraged to do so. Printing lengthy email chains that can be discussed in a meeting is just one example of a wasteful practice that should be avoided.

If you are looking for more ways to save on your printing costs, contact Info Advantage today at (585)254-8710 to talk about how we can save money on your IT budget.