The printing infrastructure has grown steadily over the years without following an overall concept. Printer landscapes often consist of a mix of laser printers, inkjet printers, devices like the paper guillotine, and other multifunction devices from different manufacturers. Not only maintenance and support are complex and expensive, but also logistics and procurement of the consumables. With optimized processes that cover the entire output production, therefore costs can be reduced in every company.

It is not a secret that saving on running costs for maintaining the office was always relevant for any enterprise. But few managers and employees of IT services imagine the real amount of printing costs. They can initially assume that they are not too large. But this is not so – printing costs can be high sometimes. It depends on the business profile of the organization that can reach 15-20% of the total cost of office work. At the same time, several factors significantly overstate printing costs, such as:

Causes of high costs

• An outdated printer fleet that is not optimal for use because of the inefficient location of printing devices. This can happen because of low-power MFPs and printers in intensive printing departments. You can replace many expensive personal printers and MFPs with one productive printer.
• Inappropriate use of office printing equipment, such as printing by employees of personal materials – abstracts, books, photographs, etc.
• Ineffective printing using more expensive colour printing is unnecessary. It is good to print single-sided for drafts and to reprint in case of undetected errors.
• Surplus printing. Employees, for various reasons, do not pick up printed documents from the printer.
• Expensive original supplies. purchase of cartridges from resellers that do not have special discounts from the manufacturer
• The direction of a volume print job to the wrong printer can be inefficient.
• High network traffic due to a large number of printing devices on the network
• Excessive power consumption
• Formation of non-core assets at the enterprise (printing equipment), the need to allocate space for storing supplies, paper, and spare parts. Many companies offer several integrated software solutions for optimizing office printing and gradually saving costs on this integral part of the workflow.
• With their help, you can conduct printing audits and collect statistics on the cost of consumables in each network printer or MFP. You can also set up printing rules for each department, cutting off unnecessary costly functions.
• You can enter print authorization. It will save paper and toner in cartridges not only on forgotten printouts but also on the use of printers for the personal needs of employees.

Solutions aimed at increasing the efficiency of using printing equipment:

JetAdvice

This is a software product designed to collect information on printing devices and their consumables. JetAdvice allows you to monitor the status of consumables for all printers within the company’s network at any time. You can notify responsible persons by e-mail when the toner level is reduced to threshold values. Thanks to the support of most of the existing printing devices. JetAdvice 2.0 allows you to monitor the status of supplies and the load on equipment from various manufacturers. This makes it indispensable in networks with a non-standard equipment fleet. There are so many online companies that help you to set JetAdvice at your workplace and provide printer fleet management services.

Main characteristics:

• Monitor all devices on the network, including devices from other manufacturers
• A quick automatic search for network print devices
• Presentation of the complete information about the device, including settings, counters, user list, address book, entries in the event log, etc.
• Remote configuration, viewing and settings of all equipment from a single terminal
• Integrated equipment management and centralized accounting
• Firmware update both on one and several devices at once
• Messages about the status of devices like paper jam, low toner, etc. by e-mail, visual, audible notification of all device alerts
• It gives various customizable representations of a set of devices – their grouping by properties and dynamic representation, for example, all devices where there is little toner
• Presentation in the form of the location of devices on the map of the department/office/building the user adds background
• Export data for further analysis, collect statistics about print jobs and print reports.

Integral Printer Management Software

This tool has five different modules that can be used individually or by combining them in a personalized way. They have a flexible configuration in network environments to adapt to the changing circumstances of each company.

Net Care Device Manager.

It is the module of administration of the devices of impression and the fundamental application of the suite. In companies with large volumes of work, the fleets of printers are constantly growing, so they require attention. Instead of managing each device separately, the Net Care device manager will allow you to access, configure, and monitor all devices remotely. It will control the centralized implementation of the network system configurations as well as the monitoring of the status of the printers and their consumables.

Account Manager.

It offers the exact answer to the classic question in printer fleet management. Who printed what, when, and how much? This module will allow you to keep an exhaustive control of the impressions and their costs through a central counter. It can automatically track all copy, print, scan, and fax jobs. With the self-assessment of printing costs and the elaboration of printing budgets, greater transparency is achieved in the calculation of the exact cost of printing. You can also minimize the consequences and unnecessary printing.

Authentication Manager.

Whenever you install printing equipment centrally, many users can access it, so it is essential to establish secure printing procedures. Controlling and limiting access to printers not only guarantees the confidentiality of corporate information but also keeps print volumes and costs under control. This module will allow in all the devices where it is installed and centralized management of print queues.

Print Manager.

It is the printing module that offers safe and convenient use of printer users. In most SMEs, with more than five shared and multifunction printers, it is necessary to create a central administrator or print manager. This user must be able to control all printers and users remotely. Assign access rights flexibly from your position and consider the different job requirements.

This also applies to manage the appropriate restrictions, such as not allowing colour printing to certain user roles. These tasks will be easy to maintain, and the verification of access levels will be instantaneous.

It is also a very useful application regarding the printing of confidential documentation. Its versatility will help you avoid discarded prints that are never collected. This will minimize unnecessary printing and increase profitability.

Conclusion

Thanks to JetAdvice, you can quickly customize the user interface for printers, as well as the individual and central management of all configurations. Currently, there are more and smarter devices in companies. For this reason, the demand for personal user interfaces increases continuously. Each user is different, but their workflows are most likely. With JetAdvice module, it is possible to create an individualized panel with a personalized home screen.