Business firms are emphasizing on how to minimize the operational costs but they are missing on reducing the printing costs. Printing and copying consumes about 2% of the firm's income. It is therefore important for a company to control its copying and printing expenses to improve its financial status. Below are some ways to help you cut down these costs for your business and allow it to run smoothly.

Use two printers

Two printers are cost effective and more efficient than one. Use one for color printing and the other for black and white printing. The color printer should be used for printing photos only. Make sure that every office worker is in a position to distinguish them. A laser printer is good for printing black and white texts since it is fast.

Start from the top

Change has to begin at management level, and that means with you if you are the business owner. Reduce the printing costs to set an example to your employees so that they can follow it. Use emails to pass information to employees instead of printing memos. It saves print papers, time, ink and money. The idea here is to start reproducing documents in digital form instead of printing them.

Purchase cheap ink

Purchasing a fine inkjet-printer at a fair price is not the best solution because the cost of buying ink cartridges will be high and expensive in the long run.

Multiple Bids

Ask for bids from many printer ink suppliers and choose the best one among them. It is also imperative not to sign a contract with a vendor after the first transaction for he may end up selling low quality ink thus taking advantage of you.

Or use third party refilled cartridges - A research has proved that they give a print almost as good as the original company cartridges. This will help you save about 70% giving you good results.

Network with suppliers

Working closely and maintaining good relations with them makes it possible for a firm to identify ways of operational costs easily. Suppliers will notify the firm about the available offers in the market and provide valuable advice on how to run the business better.

Upgrade your devices

Outdated devices performing only one function are very expensive and frustrating since they are time consuming and many employees may need to use them at the same time.

Modern devices are advanced and can perform multiple tasks improving simplicity and productivity. Some require authentication before printing. This restriction is important since it limits printing of sensitive documents by unauthorized employees. This prevents of regular printing of irrelevant documents saving on ink and papers.

Reduce energy consumption

Although modern devices do not consume as much energy, it is good to come up with printers which turn off automatically when not in use.

Regular reporting

Having a fleet of networked printers, optimizing consumables and reducing waste is not enough. A business should have modern printers capable of giving reports to the management on the total printings and ongoing operations.

All these are tips that will work out better for your organization if you take individual printers away. Have a common printer connected to all the PCs in your office. Follow them and you will be sure to reduce printing costs.