How Your Organisation Can Benefit From A Print Audit

In order to conduct a print audit, software is used to monitor and collect informative data, this information will then offer the opportunity to gain a full understanding of your organisations existing print infrastructure along with user behaviours, print volumes and costs. This exercise is also a great way to learn more about how a document moves through your organisation. All data is then analysed by a Business Analyst to identify key problem areas and highlight opportunities to maximise efficiency, ensuring your organisation’s print infrastructure is as efficient as possible.

The main benefits that a Print Audit can deliver to your organisation include:

Full Visibility

The main aim of a print audit is to provide organisations with full visibility of management information. The audit will not only show you how documents are printed but how they move around your organisation, providing you with a definitive list of devices, current suppliers and usage. With this visibility, the organisation can establish an effective print strategy for continual improvement.

Cost Savings

The data gathered as part of a print audit can provide real time and accurate figures on how much your organisation is spending on their current print infrastructure. This may lead to an uncovering of hidden costs and wasteful practices. Implementing a more efficient Managed Print Service can help organisations reduce their print costs by up to 30%.

Improved Efficiency

Slightly larger organisations often find that they have multiple suppliers for the print infrastructure, which comprises operational efficiencies. By switching to one Managed Print Provider, it creates a clear print strategy that can relieve the headaches of dealing with multiple supplier processes and communication channels. The print audit will optimise the fleet through identifying how devices are being used and assessing your workflows, which will ultimately make it easier for users to follow and increase efficiency.

Environmental Awareness

A print audit will provide your organisation an insight into the environmental impact of your current print fleet. Data collection can help locate areas of excess paper use and ink wastage, highlight areas of high electricity consumption and lead to the introduction of a new print policy. Creating awareness of this environmental print policy will gradually change user behaviours so it becomes natural to conserve the print consumables.

Increase Security

The increased visibility provided by a print audit can help you find any weak areas within the document security, such as confidential documents being printed on unsecured devices which can potentially cause breaches of data. These gaps in security can therefore be addressed to help minimise risk and help your organisation gain increased control via audit trails.

All these benefits can help your organisation implement a bespoke and effective Managed Print Solution that will not only provide greater control of your costs and environmental impact but also help to improve overall user experience.

James Anderson, a Professional Services Business Analyst for Apogee, Europe’s largest multi-brand Managed Print Services provider, offers the below as rationale for an organisation undertaking a print audit.

“Printing can account for up to 3% of an organisation’s revenue, yet very few have an accurate understanding of what that cost actually is. The Business Analyst team at Apogee produce reports showing an organisation’s current print fleet (mapped onto floor plans), the volumes going through each device and the associated costs. Potential cost savings of between 10-30% can be made merely by ‘rightsizing’ the number of printers, copiers, faxes and scanners in use”.

Your organisation could benefit from a free print audit with one of Apogee’s Business Analysts, so contact us today by completing the form below.