Printer Management
Printer management is tricky for a variety of reasons, and I’m not going to pretend I know all the answers. But what I thought I would do is discuss a few of the issues that make it so tricky, and provide a few tips and tricks that can make things easier.
That’s MY printer syndrome
People get very possessive about printers! I think because people hate having an existing habit disturbed, and walking further to the printer (whether it’s an extra metre or an extra 20 metres) feels like a marathon until you get used to it.
Personal printers are also a status symbol, and it can be very difficult to remove them, no matter how little they are used and expensive they are to support. Develop a culture where a personal printer is a privilege, not a right, and don’t allow anyone to inherit a personal printer when they move into an office – whip it out of there as soon as you discover the office is vacant, and never, EVER allow anyone to have an old printer because it is spare. You will never get it back and everyone else will want one too.
Another good tip is to network personal printers – it might seem like a waste of time, but believe me, personal printers breed like rabbits, and the only way you will have any ammunition for reducing their numbers is to be able to demonstrate how little they are used versus the support cost.
Old printers are expensive
Old printers are expensive to run, although they seem cheap – after all, they depreciated to nothing long ago, and they just keep running and running, like the Duracel rabbit. The expense comes in the cost of toner, which gets more expensive to buy as the printers become rarer, and the cost of electricity, as newer printers are much more energy efficient. Older models are also much dirtier (the cartridges allow toner to escape more easily) and more restricted in their capabilities eg not being able to duplex or print different sizes of paper, so there will be pressure for a larger number of printers in a smaller area.
Different work roles have different printing needs
The type of documents your users print can make a big difference to printing needs. For instance, a lawyer who prints off a large document of a hundred pages every day will have very different requirements to a book keeper who prints off a hundred one page invoices. The lawyer won’t mind (too much!) walking to the MFD at the end of the corridor, but the need to do so for the bookkeeper would seriously affect their productivity. It is perfectly reasonable that they should have a printer closer to them so they’re not making so many trips just to pick up print-outs.
Having said that, there may be a wider issue of why the person must print out a hundred one page documents a day. Are they manually entering data from one application to another (but what about the inherent the data-entry dangers)? Are they comparing data in different documents (perhaps a larger monitor might make it easier for them)? Are they printing out documents in order to keep a hard copy record (maybe they should use an electronic archive instead)? It may be worth asking a Business Analyst to spend some time with the person to see if there is anyway that their work can be streamlined and productivity improved in general, as too much printing can be a symptom of other work inefficiencies.
There are no hard and fast rules
All these factors mean there are no rules by which to judge whether you have achieved the optimum printer environment. The number of printers required in any given space will be a function of the number of people, the distance to the printer, the type of printing they do and the culture of the organisation. Analysis of the print environment should be ongoing and constant to try and minimise the number of printers and associated support costs.
Has anyone had any experience in designing the optimum print environment? What factors did you consider when making your judgements?
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