Going, going, gone. That phrase, once the preserve of auctioneers, could just as easily describe the current state of what we once knew as ‘budget surplus’. But while spending – particularly within IT areas – is seen significant cuts across the board over the last couple of years, businesses and their employees continue to print like it’s going out of fashion. If anything, quite the opposite is true.

Since 1997, printed pages have increased almost seven-fold at a relatively even rate to the present day. Data from the IDC reveals that, in contrast, copied pages flat-lined until 2003, at which point they steadily declined. The truth is thus out: people like to print.

Any owner of a small or mid-sized business knows that printing accounts for a hefty line item at every budget review. It’s no surprise, then, to find low cost print management solutions on every CFO’s wish list.

1.) When in doubt: duplex. Since the majority of sane business owners will accept the need for printing in reasonable quantities, thorough application of a common sense approach can often save between 30-50% of a company’s print requirements. How? Simple: set duplex as standard, printing two sides instead of one. Businesses on cost-per-page contracts can do their own math.

2.) Streamline the supply chain. In other words: don’t buy why you don’t need. The likes of Hewlett Packard and other leading print manufacturers, along with their preferred vendors, will take on responsibility for providing all the consumables you need upfront, restocking as required (monitoring usage as you go) and billing on a monthly or quarterly basis. It’s the easy way to avoid a storage cupboard packed with expensive inks and toners.

3.) Consider your options. Save marriage for your personal life. In today’s competitive market, there’s no need to make lifelong commitments to any given manufacturer just because it’s what you’ve been doing for years. A comprehensive review of your business’s print environment and habits will reveal the best print solution for your current needs. Knowing what you need will enable you to get a managed print solution tailored to your business that scores high on both ROI and TCO.

4.) Find hard savings in software. Print management software is one of the easiest and fastest routes to create savings and serious efficiency within your print environment. In short, with the right software, productivity will increase (imagine no more bottle necks and minimized downtime); costs and TCO will drop (as will unnecessary use of colour inks and other consumables; while limiting user access to expensive stocks and colour print options); you’ll know to within 1dpi what to invest in and why thanks to accurate print environment analysis and reporting, and people will at last print as they were meant to – not as they want to.

5.) Consolidate with Multifunction printers. There’s more to a multifunction printer than just its neat, space saving appearance. Capable of looking after everything from copying and faxing to scanning and, of course, printing, an all-in-one printer equipped with the right software can also serve as a highly efficient electronic document management device for the entire business, turning dusty, space-wasting hard-copy archives into something very ‘twentieth century’. Not only that, but the energy savings from having one device rather than several plugged into the wall will also help you see green in more than one way.