There are many types of printing personalities, and today I’d like to talk about just a few of them.

We all know that reducing your printing is good for the environment and great for the bottom line;  it’s something we’ve talked about on here many times before (for example, in the Think Before You Print article).  We’ve also talked a lot about the range of solutions available to help better manage print levels, paper consumption etc.

What we haven’t talked about in any huge detail (but what’s certainly important) is human behaviour.  If your employees aren’t on board in terms of printing less then solutions and printing audits will only take you so far.  To really make a difference, employees need to buy-in to a printing reduction strategy.

Today I thought I’d have a bit of fun by having a go at identifying some personality types when it comes to office printing.  Do you recognise yourself or any of your colleagues? I bet you do

The Print-all – Perhaps the most wasteful of all office staff members who prints, the ‘Print all’ prints anything and everything.  Whether it’s emails, large detailed reports or agendas for meetings, if it’s not printed for review the ‘Print all’ can’t relax.  In fact, the ‘Print all’ will often print so much that they forget what they sent to print, leaving office printers overflowing with uncollected documents at the end of each day.

The Lazy printer – This staff member – the lazy printer – doesn’t necessarily print more than anyone else in the office, but when they do, expect multiple copies to hit the printer.  That’s because rather than previewing documents before hitting “print”, the ‘Lazy printer’ prefers instead to print them than to check formatting.  This trial and error approach can often result in reams of paper being wasted until the desired result is achieved.  What’s more, the lazy printer will often print single-sided and sometimes straight to colour simply because they haven’t changed their default print settings.

The Print Wrecker – Again, the ‘Print wrecker’ isn’t necessarily a heavy printer but for some reason they always seem to be the one using the printer when it malfunctions.  While it’s difficult to determine what, if anything, the ‘Print wrecker’ does to cause such disruption when printer problems arise, they’re often hovering nervously nearby.

The Eco printer – The most frugal printer of them all, the ‘Eco-printer’ only prints what’s absolutely necessary.  When they do print expect the document to be double-sided, black and white and full with text.  For the ‘Eco-printer’, white space is wasted space.  More often than not, the ‘Eco-printer’ will be vocal in encouraging others to print less too.  Unfortunately for most organisations, ‘Eco-printers’ are few and far between and as such their efforts are frequently met with resistance.

So – do any of these make you think of yourself, colleagues or members of staff?

Want to read more about printing less? See more in this print less category

Did you recognise yourself in any of these printing personalities?

Actually, I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve seen myself as each one of those printing personalities at one time or another; scary thought.

Summer is round the corner and personal trainers across the nation are rubbing their hands at the prospect of new clients wanting to shift the kilos before beach season is upon us.

This could also be true for your business. Take logistics organisations as an example:

Streamlining supply chains can be quite easily compared to losing weight: it’s often the first 80 per cent that’s easy – it’s the remaining 20 per cent that presents the real challenge. This is the part that requires true discipline, dedication and hard work.

Streamlining supply chain logistics is not a new concept; it has been on the radar as long as those extra kilos. However, there are some fundamentals which are often overlooked. For all the effort and investment that goes into scheduling tools and other equipment, quite often there are paper based systems acting as bottlenecks. But, there are solutions:

• Electronic forms eliminate pre-printed forms and documents by storing templates and imagery at the printer. This helps to automate time-intensive processes connected to printing labels, delivery dockets, pay slips and any other forms relevant to your organisation.
• Optical Character Recognition and Barcode Technology can be used to instantly archive and retrieve all documents. Storing documents enables immediate access to archived documents and information
• The most important factor of all however is customisation. This enables the seamless interaction of the entire solution with a company’s ERP system.

Conclusions for your supply chain

At the end of the day, no company wants to be weighed down by unwanted waste, so start by cutting down on waste paper, review your supply chain, and print less.

You’d probably think that choosing a printer is a simple task and not one worth spending a huge amount of time on. But when you think about how much a printer is used within your business and how reliant your employees are on printing documents, invoices, and so on, you might want to think twice before making a snap-decision.

Most people take the printer for granted, until it runs out of paper or toner, or stops working as a result of some obscure error. It’s at these times that you realise just how important the printer is.

Every year hundreds of new models flood the marketplace, with varying price tags and functionality, which makes choosing a new printer quite difficult. Deciding which one to pick based on pricing and spec is of course important but what’s often overlooked is the ongoing running cost. If a printer is not fit for purpose you can quickly find yourself wasting time and energy getting it fixed.

Now, we’d naturally suggest you follow the managed print services route if you’re unsure which printers to pick. This not only saves you time deciding which one to buy but also relieves you of the headaches associated with maintaining a fleet long-term.

Here’s some of the considerations we go through when working with customers to pick the most appropriate machine to meet their needs …

Printer volume
In businesses some teams need to print more than others so it’s important the office set up can meet their needs. For teams that print a lot on a regular basis it’s important to select a printer that can handle the loads put upon it – especially at peak times.

Privacy and security
While a communal, networked printer will be more cost effective than separate individual printers, there may be times where the privacy of documents necessitates a small amount of ‘private’ printers. For example, if you’re operating an open plan office it might make sense for the HR and Finance directors to have their own machines.

Document type
What your organisation prints is of course an important factor to keep in mind. If a lot of printing is done in black and white then black and white machines are naturally the preferred the option.

Processes for choosing a new printer
Businesses today often consider the information flow within their organisation at a software level without really thinking about how that information is printed.  Given invoices, delivery dockets and the like are crucial to business processes it’s worth considering how best to print these.  For example, it might be worth investing in a multi-function device that allows employees to quickly print forms directly at the machine.  This not only makes accessing forms easier but cuts down on unnecessary printing.

Choosing a new printer – Conclusion

I hope the information above helps in your decision-making. Have you had to go through this recently? I’d love to hear your thoughts on choosing a new printer, please post a Comment below – thanks in advance.

There’s been a lot of objection in the media recently surrounding BHP Billiton’s newly released office policy that includes restrictions on everything from post-it notes and mobile phone ringtones to the consumption of foods with a strong odour. The policy also states the amount of paper that should be left to sit on desks and even outlines that the use of iPods within the office is forbidden.

While a lot of companies have a ‘clean desk policy’ in operation, it is the detail with which BHP outlined its policy that intrigued outsiders. Many would argue that actions such as not eating smelly foods and keeping mobile phone ringtones on a low volume would be considered common courtesy; however BHP deemed it necessary to put these into writing.  According to BHP, the rules were outlined to improve efficiency and allow for “desk hopping” for those who travel.

Sounds good but problems can arise from having such stringent policies on office behaviour. Employee morale, for instance, can suffer from working in such a sterile environment, with research showing a clean desk can “leave employees with a smaller brain”. Given estimations you spend over 22% of your life at work and over 91,250 hours in a total working life, surely there’s an argument that making your desk ‘homely’ can improve productivity?

At Upstream we allow our employees to express themselves openly and aim to build a better company culture. The basis of such workplace activities needs to be trust, and we entrust our employees to know their boundaries and use their best judgement in common courtesy.

That isn’t to say we don’t see the value of keeping desks clutter free – especially when it comes to printing.  Keeping desks free of paper isn’t just about tidiness – it’s about business efficiency.  That’s why we’re currently working with organisations across Australia to move them away from paper filing toward electronic filing systems.  Moving toward electronic filing makes it easier to access documents, track the flow of information and reduce the wasted costs and resources associated with printing materials.  The fact it also cuts down on the amount of paper stored on employees’ clean desks is a bonus.

Clean desk conclusion?

So, what do you think?  Are clean desks the key to greater efficiencies or are organisations better to first focus efforts on the cause of messy desks?

It might sound trivial but when you’re setting up a new business deciding what name to give the business is an important decision.  Especially today.  In the past the main considerations concerned picking a name people could remember and a name that wasn’t being used elsewhere.  These considerations are still important.  So much so that the Australian Federal Government has launched a tool to ensure business owners don’t pick a name that’s already been trademarked.  The tool’s called TM Check and as reported by Dynamic Business, it will help business owners avoid legal bills, disputes and even the closure of their business.

But it’s not just about legal requirements.  Businesses owners today also need to think about the online world.  That means picking a name that can easily be spelt so people can search for it online.  It also means picking a name that encapsulates what you do.  People today are overloaded with information online and offline so the simpler and more focused you can make a name the better.  Take us as an example.  We’re widely known as Upstream but our officially registered name is Upstream Print Solutions.  It’s a name that’s not too long but one that clearly articulates what we do.

The name Upstream has an interesting origin. The name was adapted from an old story about a group of villagers who lived by a river. The villagers’ river and main water supply became polluted and a number of solutions were floated to fix the problem such as filtration plants and chemical treatments. One villager however asked “Why don’t we go upstream, find what is causing the pollution and fix the problem at its source?”

Given that’s what we do to help business improve efficiencies (i.e. help organisations reduce printing rather than simply selling more printers to meet their needs) the founders of our business thought the word Upstream was a great name.  And over the years it’s served us well.  It’s short, easy to remember and of course, simple to spell.

Things to think about when choosing your business name

What led you to pick the name for your business and what advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to name their first business?

Neil Tilley, CEO and co-founder of Upstream, is now blogging over at Dynamic Business so if you’re interested in reading about everything from how best to strike a work/life balance to managing corporate culture during times of change make sure you check out the blog.

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If you like what you read or have any thoughts to share please comment on the posts to let Neil know what you think of his blogging…

To read Neil blogging visit: http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/search?search=Neil%20Tilley

NSW’s Small Business September is just around the corner so if you haven’t already thought about how you might get involved, check out the website for more detail.

This year is the 11th Small Business Month in NSW and will involve more than 300 events across the state offered by NSW Trade and Investment, sponsors and about 150 partner organisations.

According to the organisers, ‘events are designed to equip small business owners and operators with information, resources and networks to effectively build and manage every aspect of their business.’  This year, the theme’s: ‘See your business from a new perspective’ and there’s something for everyone with experts covering a broad range of topics including:

• Business Growth
• Business Online
• Business Planning
• Export and Trade
• Finance and Money
• Green Business
• Innovative Business
• New to Small Business
• Sales and Marketing, and
• Skills and HR

Getting involved in Small Business September 2011

The Australian small business community has always been a tight knit one but with Small Business September just a few weeks away what better time to dust off those business cards, get networking and learn from peers.  If you’re planning on getting involved with Small Business September we’d love to hear what your plans are.

For those wanting to do more ask yourself the following questions.  If the answer to any of them is ‘no’ it’s probably time to consider managed print services.

• Are you monitoring how much you print?  Almost all organisations are aware of the benefits of printing less but often don’t know where to start.  Without detailed insight into who is printing what it’s difficult to know where you can begin making improvements.

• Do you always have good supplies of paper and tonner in stock?   Even when someone within a business has responsibility for managing a printer fleet it’s easy for paper and tonner orders to slip through the net, causing problems when jobs need to be urgently completed.

• Do your employees pick up every document they print?  Uncollected documents is a big problem in terms of paper wastage for Australian businesses.  It’s also a security risk given there’s often a lot of sensitive information contained within documents.

• Do you have tight budget control over your printing?  Without detailed insight into what you print it’s difficult to know how much to budget for printing, which means costs can fluctuate.

• Are you aware of the environmental impact of your printing?  In the months ahead organisations will be under greater pressure to track the environmental impact of their operations so anything you can do to be on the front foot will be beneficial.

• Are you using electronic forms?  Many businesses print the same forms on a regular basis.  A lot of the time these forms can easily be replaced with electronic forms – saving both paper and unnecessary admin.

• Do you have a print policy in place?  Social media policies that outline acceptable employee use of social networking sites at work are now common place but organisations are often more lax when it comes to policies around printing.

Although it’s not clear why men appear to be embracing LinkedIn more than females nor why those in particular industries get more involved, it’s interesting to see the ways in which Australian business is embracing the online networking opportunities available.

At Upstream, we’ve found LinkedIn to be a great tool for making connections, re-establishing links with lost-contacts and sharing information with peers, customers and prospects.  While it’s no replacement for offline networking it certainly has an important part to play.

So much so that earlier this year we ran a series of workshops at a company offsite that focused on how to get the most out of LinkedIn.  Here’s some of what we learnt:

o   Get focused: Make your profile client focused and demonstrate your expertise to ensure your page is as engaging as possible.

o   Get visible: Make yourself as visible as possible by ensuring your profile includes a recent photo of yourself and links to other pages and groups on LinkedIn.

o   Get personal: No one likes spam so think before you request to connect with someone on LinkedIn.  If you don’t know an individual you’re keen to connect with see if someone you know can make an introduction online.

o   Get active: Once you’ve established an engaging and content-rich profile, join relevant industry and vertical-specific LinkedIn groups to stay abreast of interesting developments.

o   Get regular: The benefits of LinkedIn become greater the more you use it so it’s good to get into good habits.  That includes connecting with individuals on LinkedIn soon after you’ve met them in-person so you don’t miss the opportunity.

Although this report is based on the views of HR professionals and IT executives from mid to large-sized firms these trends are also being felt (perhaps even more so) by small businesses across Australia.  Gone are the days when ‘doing business’ meant sitting in an office.  Today business isn’t about where you do it.  It’s about what you do.

And we should know.  We’ve always encouraged Upstream employees to get out into the field, talk face-to-face with customers and spend time in their business to get a truly deep understanding of the challenges they face.  After all, there’s only so much you learn from a telephone or email exchange.

The great thing about developments in technology is that employees can spend even more time out with customers while at the same time keeping in close touch with colleagues.  For our customers, developments in technology mean they can enjoy the same benefits.  Take our UTrack solution for instance.  The technology offers real-time monitoring and reporting on printing habits so organisations can track who’s printing what.  Because the technology is web-based organisations can access intelligence regardless of where they are.  Perfect for those needing to keep a close eye on operations but don’t want to be chained to their desk.

No one knows what the future will bring, but one thing’s for sure.  Technology is changing the way we do business so look forward and get ready to embrace a flexible future.