Most organizations are set up for their employees to print—at least some of the time. While the print infrastructure may not be top of mind for these organizations, a thoughtful approach to print management can help ensure that print is being used for the right purposes at an affordable cost.
According to Keypoint Intelligence research, about 41% of U.S. companies manage all their print devices internally, while the rest use an outside company for at least some of their devices. This depends highly on company size, however; in small companies (those with 1-24 employees) print is managed internally 81% of the time.
Whether or not a company uses a third party for print management, software can be leveraged to track print behavior, volume, and costs. Companies can see which employees are printing to which devices, what they are printing, and the cost of each job.
To help keep costs down, quotas can be set up to keep users from spending more than their allotment. And customizable print rules (such as the ability to enforce duplex printing and convert color jobs to black and white) and end-user popup messages that encourage more cost-efficient print can also help organizations save money.
Other benefits of print management software include:
- Customizable reports detailing print activity and costs (and in some cases how many trees have been saved)
- Departmental, user, and client-usage accounting features that let companies bill internally or externally for output as appropriate
- Mobile apps and support for printing from mobile devices
- Easy-to-use dashboard for administrators
- Ability to track, control access, and enable print release with user ID authentication (including network card readers) at the device
- Compatibility with cash payment hardware
- Ability to create consistent experience across devices
These are just some of the common features of print management software, but providers are continually adding new features for enhanced ease of use, productivity, and security.
Summary
Whether or not your company uses an outside company to manage your print infrastructure, it can be beneficial to implement print management software for gaining insight into your print activity and spending, applying restrictions to save money and improve security, and enable workers to print from their mobile devices. For more information on this kind of solution, speak with your office technology partner today.