Printing is a normal part of the daily routine of almost all offices, with many of them relying on print shops for big printing projects. While such companies do this to ensure quality output and avoid investing in advanced printing devices, outsourcing printing jobs can be costlier than printing in-house. As a matter of fact, the print services provider you hire has an established pricing system as a way to recover operating costs and earn profits.
As we are all aware, printing can cost a lot and some companies may be spending as much as 3% of their revenues on printing alone. It is imperative for business managers to review their printing costs and find ways to reduce them. One way to accomplish this is to equip your business with the right printing devices or partner with an efficient managed print solutions provider.
With the enhanced capabilities of modern printers, the need to outsource printing projects may no longer be necessary. Here are some practical ways that can help you determine if investing in printers can help you to reduce your operating costs:
1. Define your Printing Needs and Objectives
Start your mission to keep your print jobs in-house by defining your printing needs and objectives. Your first approach to accomplish this is to work with your outsourced printing company to find answers to the following questions:
- What is the average volume of print jobs that I outsource?
- How often do large print jobs occur in my business?
- What supplies do I need to bring all print jobs in-house?
- Can the speed of my existing printing equipment handle my printing demands?
- Is my existing printing equipment equipped with finishing capabilities to help me save time and money?
- Does my staff need training to operate the new equipment efficiently?
- Is project scheduling necessary to prevent my normal daily printing operations from being affected?
Other Conditions to Consider:
- If large printing jobs occur regularly that your existing printer can’t handle, you should consider upgrading to a faster model. This is a cost-effective, more productive approach especially if your current printer is frequently down and no longer producing the quality and quantity of output you expect.
- If large print jobs can cause a disruption of your daily printing activities, you should consider adding more efficient printing equipment to your fleet. Be sure to get a printer that’s designed to handle large-volume printing. An efficient, high volume multifunction printer may be a good solution to solve this issue.
2. Consider Quality
We can’t deny the fact that modern print technology has given us the capability to perform various printing tasks at low cost. This is very enticing, but you must also keep in mind that no matter how fast or versatile a printing device is, it still can’t be considered an asset if it isn’t able to produce quality output.
Aside from its capability to maintain or increase office productivity, quality output is another major reason many companies choose to outsource printing jobs.
To realize your objective of printing in-house at the least possible cost, consider these cost-effective, quality-focused print management tips from tested providers of mps print services.
3. Buy Toner from Trusted Suppliers and Use It Wisely
You can buy toner through a lot of different outlets, with many of them sold at unbelievably low prices. Problem is – many of these products are fake and you could end up paying more for something that’s not even useful. Cost effectiveness is not about buying cheap; it’s more about buying something that provides value.
Don’t be a victim of toner scammers. Buy your toner and other printing consumables through a managed print solutions program or from authorized suppliers. You can also maximize your toner-saving strategy by setting your default printer settings to draft and black and white.
4. Save on Paper
According to statistics from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an average office employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper each year, with 45% of these ending up in the trash bin. That’s exactly 20 reams of paper per worker each year. If each ream costs $5.00, every employee should cost your company $100 a year, with about $45 becoming trash.
One easy way to reduce paper costs is to set your printer to perform duplexing or two-sided printing. This has the potential to cut paper usage in half on a lot of printing jobs.
5. Control Your Print Environment
Putting the right printers in the right places helps to reduce printing costs. Just be sure to install the equipment that’s able to cater to the printing needs of a whole department or section. This enables you to eliminate inefficient and personal printers and save money on supplies, energy and maintenance, and reduce environmentally unfriendly waste.
Implement these controls through an effective MPS print services program which includes the use of software to track usage. This should work to maximize your potential for cutting cost and allow you to find more windows for cost savings.
6. Eliminate Your Print Outsourcing Need
Modern and advanced multifunction printers have many capabilities similar to the printing equipment used by commercial print shops. Some of the capabilities of modern multifunction printers include:
- Handling a variety of paper sizes
- High quality color
- Advanced finishing capabilities (multiple packet printing, hole punching, folding, sorting and stapling)
As expected, modern multifunction printers cannot completely duplicate what commercial print shops can do, but they do enable you to bring a majority of your print jobs in-house.
Combine it with efficient managed print solutions from a competent provider like OneDoc Managed Print Services and you’ll see a stunning improvement in terms of productivity, cost-savings, print environment control, and waste elimination.
Call us toll free at 1.844.633.3050.