Many organisations have no clue regarding their printing needs and excess printing stationery and devices that are procured as a result. Without a proper foundation and printing policy in place, employees of such organisations tend to print unnecessary content. Last week, I had reported on the printing habits in UK offices which were far from satisfactory. To bring the printing process in line, there needs to be a print management system in place. A result of a print management system could be reduced costs of printing and saving of paper and other printing stationery.

Vnunet has published a longish article by Paul Bray which features several figures in the IT industry who are voicing their opinion on the need for print management. Here are some snapshots:

According to Neil Donohue, solutions product manager at Ricoh, print management comprises of-

- Route output directly to the most efficient device for the job.

- Accurately allocate output costs to user, department or project codes.

- Eliminate unauthorised printing and copying and protect document confidentiality with secure document release.

- Follow-me printing, where devices can be grouped and the document printed at the most convenient printer.

- Manage colour costs by enforcing quotas on colour output.

- Increase device efficiency for the best return on investment.

- Reduce IT support requirements via centralised printing.

- Monitor devices and redirect a print job should a device be unavailable.

- Obtain insight into usage patterns.

- Automatically capture meter readings.

As noted by a marketing director at Kyocera, printing management is about collecting information such as w hat is getting printed, by whom, on how many devices, how often and how much is it costing? Based on all these inputs, an analysis is conducted to prepare a blueprint for reducing or optimising the cost and efficiency of printing solutions.

Other views expressed were varied and interesting. Here are some highlights:

- individual users will be presented with functions and applications that are required for specific roles

- to prevent users from printing in colour and to restrict certain software packages

- recognise the print volume and route the printing jobs to available printers

- recognise measures to prevent problems with printing infrastructure

The bottom line is that every organisation immaterial of the size should have a printing management system in place. It’s important on a broader perspective to know the needs and the printing that takes place.