It really is simple: Cutting down on your printing will result in a reduction of costs.

To many people the “paperless office” is the ultimate goal, but the more realistic goal is the “less paper office”—and print management software can get you there. By placing your employees’ printing behavior under the microscope, you’ll promote both eco- and cost-conscious document output.

Print management software enables organizations to bring a higher level of management control and transparency to their print environment through a strong yet simple toolset. When this class of solution is deployed, companies can see results such as less paper consumption, easier attribution of costs to individual or departmental budgets, and, thanks to pull printing and other measures, increased security.

Here are ways to foster smarter printing in your business…

1. Rules-based printing: Printing in color is pricy and many of your employees simply don’t need access to it—and some might even abuse the privilege. A lot of that output could be for personal use too, as in webpage printing (82% of people say that some of the printing they do at work is optional, meaning it’s either for personal use or not required by the business process –InfoTrends Research). And to cap it all off, often these sheets are being printed on only one side of paper. However, print management software lets you prohibit both color usage and printing of certain types of documents for certain people and/or groups, while enforcing double-sided output throughout your organization — all of which will reduce costs.
2. Job rerouting: Is a piece of hardware in your office so clearly overtaxed that employees wait in line to retrieve their print jobs while other devices are left barely used? Are your employees outputting files to the multifunctional printer in the breezeway instead of choosing a lower-cost copier that requires an extra 10 steps to get to? Because of the flexibility offered in print management software, you can dictate where jobs are printed in order to manage both device wear-and-tear and print expenses. It doesn’t have to be a “forever” situation either—if you need to curtail printing on a specific device for just a few weeks or months, you can change the policy as needed.
3. Pull printing: There’s a feature that allows companies to boost security, be “green” and give their staff a convenience factor around print. Pull printing delivers on all three points, as employees must authenticate themselves at a device before their jobs are printed. Not only does this prevent sensitive documents from being left on the output tray, where they could be seen by anybody, but pull printing also gives people a second chance to decide if they really need a hardcopy (reducing toner/ink and paper consumption) and the benefit of collecting jobs at any number of compatible devices.

For more information about these and other green measures, contact your business technology provider. A free print assessment can determine the best measures for your office to take.