When the topic of print tracking arises, many people think of it as a way to monitor what their employees are printing each month.
Or, if you are in a busy law firm, perhaps you are using print tracking to bill back clients.
Those are two great reasons to turn on print tracking software on your office copiers or printers.
What you may not realize is that print tracking, combined with analytics, is a hidden key to business success.
With an honest eye on the who, what, when, and where of your printer fleet, coupled with detailed trend reports, you can make more informed business decisions, be more productive, enhance the security of your documents, and save money.
Despite business owners' best efforts to reduce paper in their organizations, it is still the predominant method of operations. With in-depth print tracking, you can see both what is going on and why it might be happening when it comes to the five areas that support your business operations:
1. Office Equipment
2. Employees
3. Documents
4. Processes
5. Service Histories
Office Equipment and Print Volumes
Many organizations don't know how much print volume their printer fleet is actually producing. In fact, according to Xerox research, the actual print volume can be up to 70% more than organizations think.
Purchasing decisions are often made without much knowledge of prior equipment use and need, leaving many devices over- or underutilized once in place.
The best way to make an informed buying decision is to capture a true usage report of all your devices, mapping out their locations, volumes, and costs per page BEFORE you even think about buying.
A managed print services partner will do this for you alongside a comprehensive assessment so you can establish a baseline and reveal areas for improvement.
Your Employees and Their Printing
Once you know what you have in your fleet, the next step is to look at how it is being used by employees, departments, and/or teams. A simple look at the who, what, when, and why of printing can uncover a lot:
- Good and bad printing behaviors
- Personal and departmental printing needs
- Wasteful printing – such as printing color instead of black and white for convenience copies
- Peaks and valleys in volumes
- Opportunities for collaboration and charge-backs
Documents & Processes
Despite the fact that a lot of documents are now delivered electronically, most people can’t resist the urge to print them. What’s worse, 45% of all pages printed end up in the trash.
From a workflow standpoint, many organizations have paper-intensive processes that could be simplified or even automated. An in-depth look at how your organization uses print in your everyday workflow is key.
Could an electronic signature suffice for a document that you print, then sign, only to scan the page back into your document management system?
Knowing exactly what happens with your documents from start to finish is the first step in getting a clear picture of just what you are using (and abusing).
What Are Your Service Histories?
With so many of your devices having different sale, service, and supply policies, it’s easy to ignore how often your devices are actually failing.
Print assessment software keeps watch over all of the devices on your network, regardless of manufacturer, tracking service codes down to the specific device location, error message, and time.
A monthly snapshot of how all of the devices in your fleet are performing - including toner levels, paper jam reports, volumes, and error codes - can give clues to whether or not your devices are right-fitted for your departments.
Don’t overlook what the pages coming out of your printers can tell you. If you aren’t tapping into the powerful analytics you can pull from your printers; you could be losing money and valuable insights that can help you make critical business decisions.
Ask yourself:
- Are you unsure of how print jobs are used in your organization?
- Do you have paper-intensive processes that could be made more efficient?
- Do you want to track what your employees are printing?
- Do you want to streamline your organization’s printing costs?
- Is the security of the printed page a concern for your organization? (especially if you are in healthcare or finance)
- Do you need solid evidence to support a business process change?
If you answered yes to even one of these questions, it’s time to talk. Contact us today to schedule a no-obligation print assessment.
Your Next Steps: Take Control of Printing Tracking
To be honest, we only scratched the surface of print tracking and its benefits for any organization. However, you're much more informed and educated about print tracking and how you can start your journey.
Your next best step is to read our article, How Can Managed Print Services Optimize My Business?
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