Reducing costs has become a priority for all business managers. This issue also affects IT departments, they are forced to find technological solutions that do not involve high costs and provide a quick return on investment.

Finding themselves in this situation, IT departments have conducted a thorough review of all technical aspects that consume large quantities of an organization's economic resources. As a result, they have observed the erratic printing policies that are being followed by many companies.

Following this discovery and the current market situation which demands an increase in competitiveness, business managers have opened their eyes and have decided to implement more efficient and sustainable policies regarding paper usage.

Consumption is out of control

There is a widespread over-consumption of paper, the figures published by analysts say so. A single employee generates an average of 10,000 pages per year, 6,800 of which end up being recycled, or worse, in the dustbin. Another significant statistic is that in the countries considered as 'first world' paper consumption reaches 170 kg per year per person..

Taking this data into consideration, it is not surprising that companies have decided to take action on the matter and find ways to reverse this situation. The footnotes recommending not to print emails unless strictly necessary and asking employees to be more respectful of the environment are just some of the examples of the efforts made to reduce paper usage.

However, none of this seems to work, since the figures of annual paper consumption continues to increase. Why does this happen? Are employees actually addicted to paper? Do they know the impact that excessive consumption of this material may have on the environment? Or are they simply tired of hearing about ecological policies and have lost interest?

The key is motivation

Perhaps the problem is that companies are not motivating their employees properly regarding environment awareness and lowering consumption of paper, accessories, envelopes... This would explain the passive attitude of many employees to new sustainable practices adopted by organizations.

In this situation, we should approach the problem from a different angle. A strategy that is working very well in some companies is to award bonuses to employees who best utilize printing resources. This innovative strategy manages to spark curiosity among the employees and motivates them to reduce their consumption of paper from one month to the next.

Another initiative, that might be less pleasant, but equally or more effective than the previous one, is the establishment of a control system which sets printing quotas for users or departments, granting permission to print in color to certain people in the organization or obtain detailed reports of the use of printing equipment.

These are just a couple of ideas that some companies are already implementing that can help them establish more control over printing resources, causing an effective reduction in paper consumption which in turn brings about significant cost savings and an improved brand image by establishing more efficient and ecological policies.

It is quite possible that the employees of your company only want one thing: for you to make it easier for them to quit their addiction to paper.