Businesses are constantly looking for new ways to optimise operations and reduce costs, and one often overlooked area where improvements can be made is print management. By utilising print usage analytics, businesses can gain insights that help them make important decisions.
What are print usage analytics?
Print usage analytics allow you to analyse and monitor how your printer devices are used in the business. It monitors certain metrics to help you transform your printing system to save money, enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and minimise downtime.
Key metrics in print usage analytics
Print usage analytics capture a lot of data to help businesses improve their profitability, efficiency, and growth by focusing on operational improvements. Here are just some of the key metrics that print usage analytics can show.
User analytics
User analytics allow you to look at individual printing behaviours which helps businesses understand who is printing, how frequently, and what type of documents they’re printing. By collecting this data, user analytics can identify inefficient or unusual printing.
Print volume
Monitoring print volume across departments can help you see which areas of the business need adequate printing resources while minimising excess capacity in other departments. This metric also informs decisions on printer fleet management like upgrading or reallocating devices based on accurate usage.
Device analytics
Device analytics focuses on monitoring and optimising the performance of printing devices within the business. It also helps you understand the environmental impact of your printer fleet and relies on data obtained from the devices themselves. Device analytics can encourage businesses to reduce overall printing costs and promote sustainable printing practices by identifying the users or departments who are overspending on consumables.
Process analytics
Process analytics focuses on creating digital change by mapping current paper-intensive printing processes and identifying inefficiencies. It monitors printing, copying, and scanning and tracks the ownership of each step. This metric highlights the time and costs associated with each process which allows you to optimise workflows.
Benefits of print usage analytics
Clearer costs
The problem with traditional purchased printers is that it’s hard for businesses to clearly see how much they’re spending on printing and managing their print fleet. Print volume, maintenance and repair costs, consumables costs, and employee downtime are all affected and not easily tracked.
However, with print usage analytics, it’s clear to see how much you’re spending on printing, and which devices are costing you more or less. This data helps businesses to find areas of inefficiency that need to be reconsidered to ensure better savings.
Preventative maintenance
Print usage analytics lets businesses monitor printer health in real time. By tracking metrics, error rates, usage patterns, and maintenance schedules, businesses can anticipate potential issues before they become real problems. This approach to maintenance minimises downtime, reduces repair costs, and extends the lifespan of the printing devices.
Cost management
Because of the range of metrics you can track with print usage analytics, it’s easier to identify cost-saving opportunities. You can optimise print settings, reduce paper and ink waste, and optimise your print budgets by finding out the cost-per-page. This means businesses can allocate resources effectively and implement cost-saving initiatives based on the data and analytics provided.
Improved efficiency
The use of analytics in print management can lead to continuous improvement in efficiency for your business. By continuously monitoring the print data, you can pinpoint workflow inefficiencies and streamline processes, thereby minimising downtime for employees. This proactive approach not only enhances operational productivity but also optimises resource utilisation across your business.
Embrace the power of print usage analytics
Utilising print usage analytics offers many benefits to your business that go beyond cost savings. By using the data provided, businesses can achieve greater efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and better business decisions.
