Do you know how much your business spends on printing on a daily basis? We are not just talking about how much it costs you to buy in the materials, but the cost of delivery, re-ordering and electricity consumption too. Unfortunately too few print server administrations have a good idea of what is being printed, where, when and by whom, not to mention how much it is all costing.  If you are worried you are overspending on printing, why not consider having print audit consultancy? Here we will explain how it could save your company a fortune.

 

Print audits enable business owners to gain an accurate insight into their printing operations, helping them to make decisions that improve efficiency and make cost savings.

 

What is a print audit?

Companies performing print audits usually use specialist software to assess the printing devices on your network and monitor the traffic. Once the data has been collected, it will then be analysed and a report will be produced. The print audit consultancy company will then use this data to make recommendations to your company on how you can implement a more cost effective print strategy and improve overall efficiency.

 

Produce accurate data

Unfortunately many companies underestimate their printing costs by over fifty per cent. This often leads them to thinking they are operating efficiently, when in fact they could be making much bigger cost savings. Having a print audit consultancy conducted, you can benefit from the analysis of accurate data, rather than basing your business decisions on guess work.

 

Whilst identifying the costs of printing equipment, the data will also tell you who is printing the most, what they are printing, where the print jobs are being sent, which printers are being used the most and how large each print job is.

 

Relocating printers

The analysis from the print audit can help you save money by identifying the best location for printers. For example, if the results show that your office employees are printing thousands of pages a month on an old, inefficient printer, but you are only printing a few pages a month on your top of the range, energy efficient printer, you may want to consider swapping them around to save yourself a significant amount of money.

 

Improve internal document workflow

The results from the audit can also help you to improve internal document workflow. This may involve preventing certain types of documents from being printed in order to save on costs. It may also involve preventing unauthorised users from being able to print documents without obtaining permission first.

 

Encourage less paper waste

Something a print audit can also do is encouraging your staff to stop wasting paper. If they know that their print operations are being monitored, they are more likely to take better care when it comes to printing out documents. The less paper the less waste, the less orders you will have to make, saving you the cost of buying paper and having it delivered to your place of work.

 

Make cost effective business decisions

Having a printer audit consultancy will help you to make more cost effective business decisions. Having accurate information in front of you will allow you to make rational decisions about your overheads, printing costs and equipment purchases.

 

Conclusion

Although you will have to pay to have an audit performed on your printing processes, it will prove to provide an excellent return on investment when you see the savings you make not only on equipment but human resources too. If you are interested in improving the efficiency of your printing operations and saving a fortune on printing costs, we highly recommend getting in touch with an independent print auditing company.