kodak patents

p>Most office managers will realise that printing is a substantial cost to company overheads – with many businesses reporting print costs accounting for up to 3% of revenue. Meanwhile, office workers battle with printer inefficiencies and mistakes every day; a 2008 report released by Gartner says that 44% of printing is avoidable and unnecessary printing – the by-product of user waste and inefficient workflows.

Understanding the common causes of printer waste can help businesses find an effective solution to manage their print flows. Education, monitoring and management software can help streamline your printing processes, so you can get on with your business.

Common causes of printer waste:

- No monitoring – without the facilities to monitor your printer use, do you really know how much printing you do in a day? Employees have no way of being accountable for the amount they print, so it becomes more challenging to change bad habits and reduce waste.

- Default settings – internal documents often don’t have to be printed in colour and single sided. Many companies now set their default print settings to black and white, double sided in an attempt to minimise printer waste.

- Lost documents – since many print jobs get jumbled together, it’s easy for documents to go missing. Meanwhile, sensitive documents including private financial information or HR matters can be left sitting on the output tray – as many as 33% of employees admit to having seen confidential documents left unsecured at a printer.

A smarter way to manage your printing
Imagine if you could send your presentation to the printer from your work station and head off to lunch, and then pick up your documents right outside the meeting room upon your return. What if your employees could see exactly how much and how often they print, so they can learn where they can cut back on their printing?

Canon has a number of business solutions and managed document systems to help your organisation manage its print flow. Management systems like uniFLOW help streamline print jobs and allow for greater monitoring of individual print use to encourage employees to change their habits. By installing workflow management systems, including the checking out of print jobs and allowing staff to print their documents anywhere on-site, print waste can be reduced throughout your organisation. It’s a simple solution to help your company run smoother and cut costs, so you can get on with doing business.