If you walk around most companies today, you will find the printer is generally in use or has printed documents that are sitting waiting to be picked up. We take the printing of documents for granted - we routinely print e-mails, web pages and presentations to read later. We often print out a letter for a client several times before we are happy enough with it to send it out in the post. But do we give any thought to the cost of all this printing?

The cost of printing can be as much as five per cent of the annual IT budget and, according to Gartner, printing costs could equate to a significant amount of our total revenues - between one and three per cent.

What can we do to save on printing costs?

One area that is already helping us is that the cost of purchasing new printers is falling. Organisations have purchased consumables and printers piecemeal, passing up on the opportunity of greater discount by purchasing in bulk.

Another is by implementing better print management practices so that we only print what we need to print. Over the years, faxing and copying needs have fallen, while printing and scanning have increased. Using a multifunction product that incorporates all functions will save on service and management costs.

Organisations must now do an assessment of their printing needs, looking at the purchasing of printer cartridges, paper and printers.

Ensure that all printers that are used are for the benefit of the company.

Remove any printers that are surplus to requirements and implement better print management practices. Multifunction products should be used wherever possible.

Companies can choose not to look at managing their printing or they can leave everything as it is, with the costs spiralling upwards, to the detriment of the bottom line.

Michael McMeekin is managing director of Wisdom IT. Log on to www.wisdomit.co.uk

Published: 20/09/2005