Although, the modern world is going digital, traditional printing still plays a role in today’s business. Whether it is a financial report or policy changes, printing is still used to share information with company employees. However, if printing is left unmanaged today, it can be a costly affair for any business, small or big.
Recent studies show that about 60 percent of all American businesses utilize some sort of print management. Some manage printing in-house, while others outsource to specialized companies. Only about 4 percent of American businesses are not in favor of print management strategies.
According to a blog post on Business2Community site, print management is the concept of combining all printing via copiers, fax machines and traditional printers under a single strategy to manage their use. As per this post, the primary reason is to reduce wastage, and thereby cut the cost of printing.
To keep track of who, what and why, a print management strategy determines who is printing, what is being printed, and why it is being printed, wrote blogger Danny Duric. The idea is not only cost savings, but better management of data and information for creating a better business.
A study conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows that an average office employee in America continues to use a shocking 10,000 sheets of copy paper yearly. If not managed, the study indicates that workers will not use these documents efficiently, thus hindering productivity. Similarly, an investigation by the Paperless Project shows that an average document is copied nine to 11 times, while 18 minutes is lost searching a document.
As a result, each misfiled document costs $125 and each lost document costs $350 to $700 to an organization. By the way, large organizations lose a document every 12 seconds, according to the Paperless Project.
In essence, wrote Dunic, proper print management cuts wastage and significantly improves business productivity. The post estimates that just a 10-percent increase in the efficiency of information management can increase sales and worker productivity to improve the return on assets.
Meanwhile, efax is gaining momentum as people on the move are finding this app very helpful. It enables users to securely send and receive documents such as event contracts and catering agreements without the need of a physical fax machine. Faxes can be sent using a camera on an iOS or Android (News - Alert) based mobile device, as e-mail attachments or documents stored in the cloud, and can be electronically signed using the app's digitized signature feature. All faxes are stored online in a digital archive, allowing for easy 24/7 access to any document and eliminating the need for planners to carry around stacks of papers.
Edited by Alisen Downey