Internal print? Take a closer look

When was the last time you really took a good look at what you are printing and how you are printing?

Chances are its been a few years.

For many organisations this has now become a major area of focus as more often than not there are great opportunities to improve productivity, reduce and control cost, enhance document security and generally make everyone's working life a bit more convenient.

This could not be more true than for a recent engagement I had with a growing company where their printer fleet had grown organically over the years without any coherent plan. This is very typical, particularly amongst growing companies where the focus is always on core activities. We often see struggling IT infrastructure and printer management as systems have to cope with more users, data and documents.

So the board asked us to conduct a comprehensive Print Audit as a starting point. This allowed us to completely describe their current scenario including using floor plans to detail device locations. We then determined their exact costs and environmental impact, and from user interviews we were able to highlight the gaps in the system where productivity suffered, document security was an issue and where costs were hard to determine. We learned what they were printing and when, we also were able to show which areas of the business were printing the most and where colour was being printed.

We gathered a lot of the device and print activity information by using a piece of software called Xerox Device Agent (XDA). This software collects data from any networked print device, even from non Xerox devices. The data collected provides advanced reports including information detailing when the bulk of printing occurs, month end for example. This is critical as the majority of Print Audit applications just record a volume between two dates, so its important to ensure that the company you are engaged with has this capability.

Once complete we were able to present our reports and findings back to the board which allowed them to use the data as a baseline from which any cost savings, improvements in productivity, security enhancements and environmental gains could be measured.

We were also able to detail how their current state was sitting in contradiction of the main policies and drivers for the business. For example, they took their environmental responsibilities very seriously and were horrified when they realised how much energy their printers were using and how much paper was being consumed.

So what next?

Using all the information we had gathered about how the company worked, we designed a new solution which delivered on 5 key levels:

1. Cost reduction and control - The board now has complete visibility and understanding of their Total Cost of Ownership and can effectively budget, they were also able save over 40% compared with their previous state.

2. Productivity - The new solution lifted the management of their devices from their stretched IT department and finance have quarterly reports detailing usage and activity by user and department.

3. Security - We deployed Equitrac which requires users to authenticate themselves at devices before print jobs are printed. This means that there are never any situations where sensitive documents are left on a printer for all to see.

4. Convenience - Every device has the same user interface meaning every user easily relates to their devices and have access to everything they need: Print, Copy, Scan, Scan to Email and Fax from any location in the business.

5. Environment - We made sure their new solution matched their environmental ambitions and the board now point to their new document output solution as an example of how they are improving their carbon footprint.

Now as our customer, the company has a clear strategy moving ahead and at last control and understanding of their fleet and output, plus of course they saved 40%!

If you would like to learn more why not contact me directly at [email protected]