Office Printer Management Tips to Reduce Costs and Improve Workflow

There are many benefits to optimizing your business’s office printer management that aren’t necessarily apparent. When your printing processes are effective, they help to streamline operations, improve productivity and bring down costs. If you’re concerned about environmental responsibility and sustainability, taking the time to optimize your office printer management can also help to reduce paper waste and power usage.

But how do you go about making the most of your office printer management so that you can unlock the full benefits of super-efficient printing? And what are the potential pitfalls to avoid?

In this article we reveal the key factors and best practices to optimize your office printer management.

What Is Office Printer Management?

Office printer management is the process of managing your business’s entire document output lifecycle. That includes:

• The placement of your printer fleet
• Tracking usage volumes and patterns
• Implementing tight security
• Maintaining and repairing your printer fleet
• Maintaining and replenishing supplies of consumables like toner and paper

What does that mean in practice?

Assessment and Optimization

To keep your printing operations at a consistently high level of efficiency, you’ll need to regularly assess the number of devices in your fleet, your employees’ usage patterns, and your workflows. Underutilized equipment should be removed, inefficient practices like color printing should be minimized, and devices and supplies should be standardized as much as possible.

Security and Compliance

In an age of rampant cybercrime, data security has never been more important – and your printers can be a significant security risk in your IT architecture if they are not properly secured. To properly address the growing threats, you’ll need to implement processes like secure print release, user authentication, and data encryption. These features help to protect your company’s sensitive information and support compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.

Monitoring and Support

The more users you have, the more important it becomes to monitor, track, and optimize usage. You can significantly cut costs, minimize downtime, and foster a productive office culture with real-time tracking of print volumes and supply levels, coupled with proactive alerts and a streamlined system for service tickets.

Cost Control

Printing costs can quickly add up, especially if you factor in the shocks created by broken or malfunctioning devices. But even if your printers rarely break down, the costs of maintenance and consumables can present unpleasant surprises if they’re not carefully controlled.

For many businesses, it makes a lot more sense to outsource rather than having to deal with the unpredictable ad-hoc expenditures that come with in-house office printer management.

In-House vs Outsourced

The first – and arguably most important – decision you have to make regarding office printer management is whether to handle it in-house or outsource some or all of it to third-party providers.

In-House Management

In-house office printer management tends to work best for either very small companies with minimal printing needs or very large organization – particularly those that standardize their printer fleets around specific brands and models. You’ll basically be handling your entire document output flow in-house.

The benefits of in-house office printer management include:

• Complete control over printing schedules
• Immediate turnaround for urgent jobs
• Direct control over your company’s sensitive data

However, in-house management requires significant internal IT resources, capital investment in hardware, and ongoing troubleshooting efforts. For micro-enterprises with limited print requirements and usage, the time and monetary costs are often more feasible than the costs of outsourcing their office printer management to a provider. Likewise, large enterprises may find it more efficient to dedicate some of their IT teams to office printer management, rather than outsourcing.

Managed Print Services (MPS)

For most other businesses, the benefits of outsourcing their office printer management to expert third-party providers make more sense. That’s one reason why the Managed Print Services (MPS) industry is growing so rapidly.

MPS makes your printing costs much more predictable. You’ll also gain access to the latest technologies, which are often beyond the budgets of small- and medium-sized businesses. In essence, instead of managing your document output manually and paying for repairs or consumables as and when required, you’ll outsource your printer management, maintenance, and supplies to a provider for a set monthly fee.

Depending on the specific agreement you sign with your provider, the benefits of MPS include:

• Zero or minimal upfront expenditure on new or upgraded devices
• Predictable monthly costs
• Easy access to specialized, expert support
• Reduced in-house workload for your IT team
• Access to the latest technology, including security and access control features

MPS offers peace of mind. It’s reassuring knowing that your office print management is being handled cost-effectively by experts. You’ll also gain access to scalable solutions if you print at high volumes – not always that easy when you handle your office printer management in-house – as well as solutions to help simplify compliance with data and privacy regulations.

The downside is that you’re essentially handing over operational control to a third party to some extent. You may also experience longer turnaround times for non-standard print jobs.

Best Practices for Efficient Office Printer Management

Here are some of the key factors to ensure you make the most of your office printer management, whether you’re handling it in-house or via an MPS provider.

In-House

• Centralized software and automation – Use print management software to set up print policies, apply cost-saving settings like duplex and grayscale printing, and automate the ordering of supplies based on real-time toner levels. For large organizations, setting up centralized dashboards can save your IT team plenty of time and effort by enabling quick driver updates and patch management across your entire fleet.
• Hardened security – To minimize the risk of cyberattacks, take steps like isolating your printers on a dedicated VLAN, regularly updating your firmware to patch any vulnerabilities, and disabling possible points of attack like unused USB and network ports. It’s also a good idea to prevent sensitive documents from sitting exposed in output trays by implementing user authentication techniques like Secure Print Release.
• Optimized fleet and cost control – Try to consolidate workloads onto a smaller number of multi-function printers rather than a fleet of single-function machines like standalone printers and fax machines. Use data analytics to set department-specific print quotas and minimize excessive color printing and other wasteful practices. It’s also advisable to standardize your fleet into a single brand or model family. By doing so, you’ll simplify maintenance and may be able to leverage volume pricing to get a much better deal on your consumables.

MPS

• Strategic partner selection – Choose a partner that offers a comprehensive upfront assessment of your print environment, as well as a transparent pricing model and a clear Service Level Agreement (SLA) that guarantees response times and uptime. Make sure your industry compliance needs are covered and that your SLA specifies exactly what is covered, particularly print volumes, response times, when technicians will be available, and a workable maintenance schedule.
• Security integration – It’s crucial that your provider is able to seamlessly integrate their security tools with your existing IT framework. It’s not always that simple, depending on your existing IT stack. The security features they provide should follow Zero Trust principles, and include data encryption and detailed audit logging – essential for robust compliance reporting.
• Predictive maintenance – Your provider should offer predictive maintenance to address issues before they cause downtime by means of remote monitoring. Remote monitoring should also ensure that replenishment of your consumables is fully automated, eliminating the risk of entirely avoidable downtime due to paper or toner running out.
• Continuous review and optimization – Your provider will typically provide regular weekly or monthly usage and performance reports as part of their service. Make a point of analyzing the usage trends, cost-per-page metrics, and uptime statistics in these reports to identify ways you can optimize your performance further. A good provider will recommend hardware or workflow automation upgrades as your business grows and its needs evolve. These upgrades should ensure that your print environment remains aligned with your organizational goals, whatever new directions your business might take.

Finding The Right Partner

Whether you’re handling your office printer management in-house or outsourcing to an MPS provider, a trusted, expert partner is a critical component for success. Copiers Etcetera Inc. offers a wide range of printers and document management solutions to suit businesses of every size and industry. Customer satisfaction is what we’re all about. So, if you’re in the Mill Creek area, contact us today for a free assessment and quote.