Paperless or Paperlite?

You'd think that nearly 38 years on we'd be there - but in reality the paperless office is a myth. Businesses want a 'less paper' solution not quite as far as 'paperless' as hard copies still play a vital role in business success. Many firms and organisations still need to produce different types of documents for print, such as draft copies, official letters, and internal documents. The emerging trend seems to be the businesses desire to become more efficient, cost-effective and information secure.

The approach many firms are taking to achieve these goals is implementing print management software. These systems are often administered and implemented centrally, giving key business stakeholders increased control over all print output.

Organisations are able to understand where and how their money is spent through the ability to configure existing print reports and build entirely new ones to offer the necessary insight. These solutions all for such monitoring and visibility that can in turn result in cost-savings through an in-depth analysis of how users are printing.

Once key areas for improvement are identified, tools can be implemented to combat these challenges. Cost obstacles can be averted through the simple introduction of rules based printing, and the effectiveness of these rules can also then be measured - demonstrating very real ROI. This is particularly important for organizations that print a variety of different types of documents. These print management tools can be set up to direct documents to certain trays and printing styles; diverting larger print jobs to the most efficient device - these rules that can be suggested or enforced on users.

Software like Kappris presents users with a print dialogue box with a number of easy to use drop-down menus giving users the ability to switch to several more cost effective printing options. These products can also automatically detect the type of document being printed, whether it's a letter, internal document, email or sales proposal, and will automatically route these documents to the correct device with the correct print settings. So letters will always print on headed paper, internal documents on lower quality paper and sales proposal on that expensive glossy A3 - all this helps to reduce waste, improve efficiency and control excessive costs.

Simply speaking, these solutions are like placing an organization's print environment under a very powerful microscope. You'll be able to see what's going where and how and then you're provided with the necessary tools to rectify the problems - the unnecessary spend, waste and use. Offering such control and confidence allows organizations to create an effective print strategy that will give transparency over the way users print through successful print management resulting in reduction in waste, increasing efficiency and a reduction in excessive costs. Whilst we're not quite completely digital, these solutions go a long way to ensuring that anything we do actually print, is completely necessary and in the most effective format.