Reasons Why a Print Audit Is Essential
Unbeknownst to some companies, a print audit is just as important as creating a hiring strategy in order to hire top talent, or a marketing strategy in order to launch a new IP. Business printers are big business, and their importance to virtually any establishment should not be underestimated.
If you currently use several multifunctional business printers and copiers in your office, then you should strongly consider creating a print audit.
Without one, you will be unable to calculate the exact amount of waste that your company produces on an annual basis. In order to gauge your corporate expenditures and total waste amounts, you should create a print audit.
Here, we will delve into the reasons why a print audit is essential for companies that utilize business printers frequently.
Save Money
A print audit can save you up to 30% in terms of long-term print savings. You won’t just save money in terms of the amount of printer ink and paper that you use, but will also save money in the form of time management as well as electricity.
In addition, by mapping out all of your electronics and determining what each device is specifically used for in the office, you will help optimize corporate efficiency.
It should also be noted that not all printers on the market are equal in terms of quality and performance, as certain brands or models are better suited for certain office tasks or demands.
Once you are able to maximize the value and use of your business printers, you will quickly notice savings in the form of boosted efficiency.
Help the Environment
While most companies will prioritize fiduciary savings over other forms of saving, an added benefit of a print audit is that you will also help reduce your company’s carbon footprint. This is because you will be able to reduce your office’s environmental impact in the process. In other words, a print audit will help you reduce the amount of electricity, printer ink, and printer paper that you use.
As an added plus, you can help boost the reputation of your company as being an eco-friendly enterprise. This may help bolster customer loyalty, as most people want to purchase products or work with environmentally conscious companies. You may also be able to obtain new clients and business partners by demonstrating that you care about global warming and environmental sustainability.
Concoct a Sound Printing Strategy
By being aware of where your business needs to be in order to maximize its efficiency, you will be able to analyze or monitor your printer usage in a precise manner. It can be argued that a print audit will allow you to have a baseline to work with, as implementing a waste management system will pay great dividends in the long run.
It is also important to realize that seemingly small items, such as the default print layout of your printers or the ink colour usage of each device, will accumulate as time passes. As a result, modifying your printer settings according to your current business needs will significantly reduce costs in the long-term, even if it may seem irrelevant at face value.
A print audit will not only inform you as to where your establishment needs to be but will also specify what you need to do in order to remain in the ideal position.
Boost Security
Yet another benefit of creating a print audit is that it will also help you assess printer security at the office. For instance, a print audit will allow you to determine if any of your printers are currently vulnerable to a dangerous data breach. Moreover, negligence or ineptitude can lead to printing errors, which may allow certain sensitive or pertinent documents to end up in the hands of competitors or cybercriminals.
A print audit is essential for every business, as it will allow business owners to reassess their security measures and ensure that all files and documents end up where they need to go. To further illustrate, you can enhance your current security system by authenticating each and every print task by an employee.
For instance, you can provide key personnel with print cards that they will need to swipe in order to print documents. Or, you can provide trusted employees with a print code that they will need to enter in order to access your business printers.
The result is that you will be enhancing the security of your printing environment and bringing accountability to the office. All this while cutting back on the amount of paper that is wasted via printing.
Save Time
Unfortunately, some printers will eventually begin to falter in terms of their performance, which can lead to quite a bit of downtime in the office. Even worse, is when a printer stops working altogether, and employees will either need to spend hours trying to solve the issue on their own or will need to call in IT experts in order to solve the issue.
Regardless of the cause of a faulty printer, the one constant is that a copious amount of time is wasted trying to deal with a malfunctioning or broken printers, time that should be spent being productive and attracting new customers.
Fortunately, a print audit can bypass such issues, as it will allow you to not only have the right equipment for your daily office needs but also ensure that it is working as intended.
In addition, a print audit will help you devise a printer maintenance strategy that will ensure that each printer in the office is routinely inspected for problems, which will reduce troubleshooting times for your workers in the future.
To learn more about print audits and how to run one in your business, call DOS Canada at 647.557.2065 or contact us here.