22 Nov Why Have a Print Audit?

Why Have a Print Audit?

Streamlining processes is key to businesses these days. Smooth back office functions enable you to get on with building your business rather than constantly firefighting problems and issues. Not only do businesses need to be efficient and productive, whilst keeping basic running costs under control, they also need to strive to be greener, and reduce their impact on the environment.  Here is where a print audit comes in…

Why Print Audit?

Are you aware of your print contract terms, your asset leasing terms, your costs per copy and costs per scan? You could be paying over the odds? There could be some simple print rules you could implement such as black & White only instead of colour, double sided instead of single and so on? You could also implement a ‘think before you print’ policy across your business. Just some simple tips that could make savings that add up in the long run.

However there cannot be a blanket approach.  every business as each has its own processes and procedures. We undertake a print audit to help your business ascertain the right print strategy to meet the needs of your business now and for the future.

In discussion with you we find out your main issues and what you as a business feel can be improved upon. With your print audit our account managers can look at the following areas:

Hard Costs
Print Habits
Print & Workflow Targets
Solutions

Hard Costs:

Review of current costs, whether you currently track it or not. If not, we can take a set usage over a certain period, cross referencing with ink and consumable spend. From here we can judge you most expensive machines and gather a total picture of your specific costs around the office

Print Habits:

We sit down and discuss your current habits. Issues such as double sided, colour, wasted print, email print etc. We have stats across many areas of business and know what levels to normally expect from those who allow Newman to track their print.

Print / Workflow Targets:

Does the client imagine a certain way of working? This may be automation of scanned / emailed documents by using OCR to automatically read documents. This allows the document to be automatically saved and processed, meaning there is little human intervention. It can even populate your databases if needed! This is a process which can help an office change there whole working habits to move away from print.

Solution:

Based on the previous areas, after gathering a full picture we can offer recommendations. This could be any or all of the following:

– Adjusting or enforcing print habits through setting changes and print management software. This could be forcing mono print, auto redirection of large jobs to cheaper devices or just a simple prompt to remind those printing the job to print sensibly etc.

– Finding the right printer/copier for the right environment. For example, smaller ‘cheaper’ printers operate at a higher cost than larger machines, and therefore shouldn’t be used for large volumes. We will suggest the best machine to meet the requirements.

– Consolidating devices. Frequently, we see everyone in an office with a personal printer. This not only promotes needless print, but these machines are expensive to run. Sometimes reducing the machines to a single better device can save lots of money.

– If the idea is to come away from print and work towards a paperless environment, we are the best people to speak to about making the change to digital through our powerful document management and automation software. A big step into coming away from the paper heavy office.

If you would like to discuss the next step and set up a print audit with one of our experience account managers call Newman on 01892 664155 or email info@newmanbs.co.uk