Johannesburg, 24 Jan 2022
Invoices, contracts, tax records, letters and more. Most offices have a number of documents that need to be printed, but the process can easily feel like it unnecessarily slows down the office.
This paper clutter is ineffective for businesses for a number of reasons, including low productivity and higher printing costs. Here are a few actionable ways you can streamline your printing process to make your organisation more efficient.
1. Choose a printer that meets your needs
Purchasing a printer that meets your standards, can be easily used by your staff members and can fast-track documentation is the first step towards streamlining your office printing environment.
Every office has its own requirements – be it from the number of printed pages per day to how much colour printing is necessary or the type of paper printed on. The last thing you want is a printer that continuously jams, wastes ink or fails to meet your deadline. Understanding your needs will help you buy a printer that works for your business.
2. Consider creating print neighbourhoods
Print neighbourhoods allow you to decide on the placement of your printers based on priority, need and frequency of use. Instead of providing every employee with a printer or having a single device for the entire office, you can have multiple printers that address the printing requirements of specific clusters of employees.
For instance, your HR department can have one medium-sized printer for the whole department while the accounting department can share two printers or use one large printer that can handle high monthly print volumes and print at a quicker speed.
The whole idea of print neighbourhoods is to reduce strain on one device and distribute print production to neighbourhood-specific printers to streamline your workflow.
3. Prioritise printing based on deadlines
Managing a print fleet can be a large and complex task, but providing your organisation with a reliable printing experience can lead to better team performance, a more productive office and happier, productive staff.
Letting employees or departments with high-priority printing needs print first and then allowing other employees to print can reduce traffic near the printer.
You may be cutting back on expenses, so printing less is one of the most effective ways to increase your bottom line. Avoiding unnecessary printing and costly reprinting will save time and money.
Consider implementing protocols that ensure your staff members reduce “error prints”. For instance, encouraging your employees to proofread their documents multiple times or think twice before printing a document in case it is actually not required can prevent them from using the printer several times, holding up the line and wasting toner and paper.
5. Install monitoring software
If your printer is on a service level agreement, find out if your service provider offers intelligent printer monitoring software that will alert their service team if the printer requires consumables, an error has occurred or if something has gone wrong. This will alleviate the need for your staff members to report the issue. By automating this process, you are able to get the printer attended to much sooner.
6. Schedule timely maintenance
A printer that’s in good working condition will benefit both your business and employees. Since device failure, glitches and defects can affect your productivity, scheduled maintenance will decrease the likelihood of this happening to your machine. When it comes to the servicing of printers, prevention is often better than cure.
Getting more from your office printer
Office printers work only as well as you want them to. Optimising your workflows is probably the most effective way to keep your machine from overworking while ensuring everyone gets to use it productively.
A well-planned printing system is all you need to improve your team’s efficiency and ensure their time isn’t wasted. Contact us on (086) 001 8101 or e-mail info@onlinecopiers.co.za for more printing solutions.
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