How To Develop A Print Strategy For Your Company’s Needs

Did you know that office print expenses can cost a business up to 3% of its annual revenue? After payroll and facilities, printing expenses usually come in as the third-largest business expense. That’s quite a bit of money going to printing.

The question is, are you getting what you’re paying for? No matter the organization’s size, this indicates a chance to cut down on costs and reduce waste. That is where an effective print strategy can help. 

As a managed print provider with over twenty years of experience, LDI has worked with several clients to strategize the best print environment plan. We take a look at your current printer fleet, your print requirements and provide a print assessment to help you understand what you are spending and how you can optimize your overall print infrastructure.

This article will cover what a print strategy is and three critical elements to include. By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding how developing a print strategy can significantly impact your company’s print environment while also cutting costs.

What Is A Print Strategy?

A print strategy acts as a detailed summary of your complete print process. A print strategy considers your company’s current print resources, needs, and goals. In addition, it can provide valuable insight into your current printer fleet, how it should be used, and your expenses. 

Having a print strategy in place will provide your company with the awareness it needs to abide by a process that works for everyone. 

Ideally, your company’s print strategy will focus on optimizing workflow, sustainable print practices, and waste mitigation. A print strategy should be tailored to your company’s unique needs to provide you with the best solutions with the most value.

What Are 3 Essential Elements Of A Print Strategy? 

Preparing for a print strategy involves evaluating your company’s current print resources, needs, costs, as well as benefits and limitations of your printer fleet. This can often be achieved through a print assessment provided by your internal print team or outsourced to your managed print provider.

Once you have assessed your print environment, next comes developing a print strategy that revolves around your current print needs and goals.

Now let’s cover three key elements to include in your company’s print strategy.

1. Manage Device Usage & Placement

A print strategy can help your company set the utilization and personnel threshold for your current printer fleet. It can include a designated amount of employees per device, times of use, mandatory ink, and paper types, and a list of the kind of print jobs that can be fulfilled on a particular device. 

While an assessment can help you recognize how many employees use each device and for what, a strategy can help you put a solid plan into action. Setting print expectations can help your company implement a print protocol defining what is and isn’t allowed.

In addition, a print strategy can act as a guide including where every device lives and why.

The physical location of your printing devices can depend on who uses them and what they are printing daily. The placement of a print device can directly impact how often an employee prints at a particular printer copier.

2. Establish Security Control  

Establishing security protocol for your company’s multifunction devices and printers is critical in keeping both your company and end-client’s information secure.

Just like most computing devices, printing devices also happen to be vulnerable to data breaches. Some security risks include the physical printed output that gets left unattended and the information that lives within your print queue and even your embedded web servers.

Ensure that your company’s print strategy clearly defines security steps for employees to follow when using a print device. List out rules such as who can print what, where, when, and through what security method. 

Accessing print jobs with a card or PIN will ensure that print jobs are accessed securely by the correct user.

3. Incorporate Sustainable Methods 

A print strategy can help instill a sustainable print practice for all employees to follow.

Some sustainable print practices include managing printed output, using energy-star certified devices, controlling device propagation, and utilizing energy-saving mode.

A strategy can include clear guidelines regarding the collection of print jobs and the number of allotted print jobs per week. This can help mitigate waste and cut costs for accidental or uncollected print jobs.

In addition, your company can deploy software applications that track and manage your company’s print behavior. 

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Ready To Develop Your Print Strategy?

A print strategy should incorporate guidelines that impact your company’s current print needs and goals. 

Suppose your company only owns one multifunction device and is satisfied with its cost of operation and consumables, as well as the quality of output. In that case, you may not need to develop a print strategy.

However, if your company is overspending for consumables, is unsure of the number of devices you need, and notices quite a bit of printed output by the end of every day. Creating a print strategy can probably help.

At LDI, we work with clients to help them assess their print environment and behavior to then strategize ways to help optimize it moving forward.

Contact an LDI representative today to find out more about developing a print strategy that your team can follow moving forward.