Do you know that a large majority of the Canadian workforce uses office printers not for work, but for personal stuff? They print things like personal letters,
Do you know that a large majority of the Canadian workforce uses office printers not for work, but for personal stuff? They print things like personal letters, colour photos, maps, bills, and even resumes!It’s unethical, but doing it for free is tempting compared to buying their own printer or paying for their own ink or toner cartridges. What the company doesn’t know can’t hurt it, right?That has never been further from the truth. Companies lose thousands of dollars per year per employee because of unauthorized printing. That’s why print management solutions like PaperCut software are important for businesses to have.Assuming the average cost of printing per page is $.0725 and employees print approximately 10,000 pages a year, you’ll arrive at $725 per employee per year. Multiply that by the number of employees you have and it could easily reach tens of thousands, even more.Without a printing management system, that’s how much you will lose.
What is PaperCut Software?
You can’t literally guard your office printers to prevent unauthorized printing, but you can use software like PaperCut to do it for you.PaperCut software is an application designed to manage and track your printing behaviour. It also minimizes waste while providing a secure printing environment. It’s easy and convenient to use because you can print from a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) or mobile device. It can also auto-deploy print drivers.
How Does It Work?
To put it simply, print jobs that pass through the queue is “watched” by PaperCut. It monitors certain information such as page counts. The software uses the data it pulls to report the usage to the server and implement logging, quotas, charging, control, reporting, or a combination of all of these. It also has security features like watermarking, archiving, and print release.All these features work together to save paper and ink, minimize waste, encourage users to improve printing behaviour, and improve document security.
The Benefits and Features PaperCut Software Offers
To give you a better understanding of how helpful PaperCut software can be to businesses, here are some of the features and benefits it offers employers:
Minimize Waste
PaperCut software reduces waste and eventually cuts printing costs by giving users the opportunity to select duplex printing and deleting unwanted print jobs. Aside from managing printing jobs in the queue, this allows users to judge the importance of the document to be printed and can eventually give them a rational conclusion that such can be managed digitally and doesn’t need to be printed at all.
Print Policy Enforcement
Most companies don’t have a formal print policy in place which gives employees the liberty to print whatever and whenever they want. With PaperCut software, individuals who neglect printing policies will receive popup notifications enforcing them to have a sense of accountability and responsibility.
Printing Usage Tracking
PaperCut software tracks printing usage and generates reports in one click at the employee level. This way, employers can assess usage and how much printing waste there is on a daily basis so they can create a printing policy based on this data.
Document Security
Security is always an issue in devices. But with PaperCut software, your printing infrastructure is secure.How? You can manage what can be printed and who can print them. Device error can be managed as well and you can even set up two-factor authentication. For additional security, users can set ID badges for a tap-to-print function at any printer.PaperCut software also secures the printing outputs including printing trails, reports, watermarking and digital signatures, and print archiving. This way, all the company’s printing assets are secure.
Mobile-Ready
A lot of employees today do a mix of working in the office and working from home. With PaperCut software, employees who are away from the office can print documents using any devices, including mobile phones, and in various formats too.
Money-Saver
Aside from minimizing printing expenses and saving up on ink, toners, cartridges, etc., PaperCut software is also capable of setting quotas per individual. Doing this will make users more cautious and encourage them to only print what’s important.
Ideal for All Types of Organizations
PaperCut software can be used by small or big organizations. It can be used by schools, engineering and accounting firms, and other institutions that require large printing outputs in their operation. This software only needs the system requirements of Windows Operating System (OS) running on a minimum of 2 GHz processor, Windows server 2003, 2GB RAM, and 10GB of hard disk space to work. Although these are the minimum requirements to run PaperCut software, a higher system is advisable so you can use the full potential of the software.
Final Thoughts
Resources are scarce and have gotten even more scarce with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses must take action to reduce where and when they can. The implementation of smart printing policies— such as asking users if it’s in colour or black and white or if it’s a double-sided printout or not—is one way of saving resources. Monitoring the printing behaviour of employees and encouraging them to print practically is another. All these can be done only with PaperCut software.
Manage Your Printing with PaperCut Software
Now that you know how helpful PaperCut software is for businesses, there’s no reason for you to delay. If you want to take complete control of your printing environment, get in touch with us today. Integr8 empowers companies with print management solutions that help their business grow. Give us a call or visit our website to know more.
