Tag Archives: Print Less

Securing printing efficiencies

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Can any business save money on printing costs?

In our experience, the answer is simple – yes.  Even if you think you don’t print much, chances are your employees are printing more than you realise.  The opportunities to improve efficiencies are therefore often huge.
A good example of this is the work we’ve been doing with Australian integrated services specialist SECUREcorp.
The business has printers based in over 200 remote offices across Australia and was keen to get Upstream on board to identify how it could improve the efficiency of this set up.
Securecorp logo Securing printing efficiencies

Following a detailed audit of current printing operations and implementation of Upstream managed print services, SECUREcorp has seen a printing device productivity improvement rate of 165 per cent.  In real-terms that’s led to a 17 per cent reduction in printing costs.  And it doesn’t stop there.  Over the next five years the business expects to save $50,000 on printing as a direct result of implementing managed print services.
For a business that needs to be efficient to remain competitive and profitable such cost savings can have a huge positive impact.
The next time you’re considering how best to improve business efficiencies don’t forget to consider printing – the savings might be bigger than you think.

To find our more on how your business can save on printing too, please visit Upstream’s advantage index.

Do paperless offices start with paperless schools?

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The paperless office concept

The paperless office concept is one that’s been talked about for many years but just how far are we off this becoming a reality? If recent news is anything to go by, it won’t take long. At Sydney-based Neutral Bay Public School, all year six pupils have been issued with an iPad as part of a $100,000 year-long trial. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, almost all classroom work will now be done on the hand-held device. Although the school admits the devices will not completely replace pen and paper, their introduction will significantly change the way in which students learn and produce work. ipad class release Do paperless offices start with paperless schools? Given these children will soon become our future workforce, their experiences are likely to shape the way in which they work later in life. Whether that’s taking notes in meetings electronically or reviewing everything using a tablet device or PC remains to be seen. What’s more certain however is just how much we can learn about future printing habits by going back to school.

To learn more about how your business can reduce paper consumption and head towards a paperless office visit www.upstream.com.au

 

Which one of these printing personalities are you?

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Do you look like any of these printing personalities?

which one of these printing personalities are you Which one of these printing personalities are you?

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 icon smile Which one of these printing personalities are you?

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.

peter signature Which one of these printing personalities are you?

What should you consider when choosing a new printer?

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Choosing a new printer – easy or difficult?

choosing a new printer What should you consider when choosing a new printer? 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.

Think before you print

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With more organisations than ever looking at ways to improve the sustainability of operations it’s no wonder printing is under the spotlight.  The amount of documents printed unnecessarily within organisations is staggering.  Anything that can be done to reduce printing volumes can therefore have a significant impact both in terms of the environment and bottom line.

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.