3 Reasons Why You Need to Start Using Print Analytics

What is Print Analytics?

In companies deploying complex enterprise printing environments, senior officers are constantly looking for ways to save money and reduce the burden of print management placed on the IT department.

This is where print analytics comes into the picture!  Print analytics allows organizations to better understand the processes and effects related to document printing, and provides a comprehensive look at the impact that printing has on multiple levels.

Let’s take a look at the three most important aspects of print analytics and how they can help you better manage your print environment!

1. Print Equipment Analytics

Equipment analytics is centered primarily around print cost and print volume, essentially focused on answering two questions: what is your printing volume and how much is it costing you?  This aspect of print analytics enables organizations to understand their total cost of ownership (TCO) of printing.

Interestingly, many organizations underestimate their volume of printing, with some studies suggesting that companies may have printing volumes that are 70% more than the anticipated amount!

With the use of equipment analytics, firms can make educated, intelligence-driven decisions pertaining to their printer fleet.  Equipment analytics can help enterprises allocate their printers in ways that optimize their use, ensuring that there is no over-utilization or under-utilization of resources.

Firms looking to make use of print equipment analytics should begin by undertaking a comprehensive assessment of their equipment fleet, followed by assigning costs to their printing.

Check out this free whitepaper on the Hidden Cost of Printing!

2. End-User Analytics

Having an educated background pertaining to your equipment fleet and its usage is a powerful tool for optimizing printing in your enterprise, however, without fully understanding the dynamics of those using the equipment, there is valuable information still missing!

This portion of print analytics focuses on identifying users through their:

• Printing Quantity: How much is the user/department printing?
• Printing Behaviour: What are specific users printing? Where are they printing? When are they printing?
• Print Material: Are users strictly printing work related material? Are users authorized to print what they are printing?
• Print-related Waste: Are printer accessories like toner and paper being efficiently used? Are users unnecessarily printing simple text documents in high quality?

By identifying users and their habits relating to printing, enterprises can identify where they might be able to save costs, improve their print security mechanisms, and better educate users pertaining to printing best practices.

3. Print Document Analytics

Print document analytics focuses on truly understanding what role printed documents play in the enterprise.

Data related to print document analytics can be categorized under two main branches, statistical and qualitative.

Statistical data may be obtained from end-user document printing data, document filing data, document saving data, etc.

In terms of qualitative data, this can be obtained through questionnaires, meetings, and seminars.

When looking at obtaining this data, analysts can choose to view analyze from an enterprise-wide level, or from specific departments and processes.

The effective use of print document analytics allows organizations to better understand the role that documents have in business workflows and procedures, along with the ability to explore areas where improvement can be made.

Through this sub-feature of print analytics, companies can identify the printing that is truly essential, versus printing that is of no benefit, and that should be avoided.

Firms can also use print document analytics to begin the journey towards digital transformation, by automating and digitizing workflows that don’t actually require hardcopy output.

Is your enterprise searching for data driven, intelligence-focused ways to improve printing?

Make sure you take into account the suggestions mentioned, and be well on your way towards a secure, cost-effective, and efficient enterprise print environment.

Check out this free whitepaper on the Hidden Cost of Printing!