Businesses are constantly looking for ways to reduce costs and increase profits. Today, print is the third-highest operating expense right after rent and payroll. Often, we do not have an estimate of the total print cost of our business. This often is an overlooked area when we consider lowering business expenses. With unmanaged print, you could be spending thousands than you had planned.Let us look at some of the areas where you could be spending a lot more than you think:

1. Hardware: are you aware of the print per cost for your devices? These days printers are affordable but the cost to maintain them and keep them running can burn big holes in your pocket. The fact is, the cheaper your printer, the higher is your operating cost.
2. Print consumables: though the expense related to your print supplies is not a hidden cost, but the management of these often might be. Your employees might just order more toner or sheets than they need. Often the ink cartridges are not fully used before new ink is refilled. And these are only a few examples! It sounds alarming, doesn’t it?
3. Productivity: at times when your printer goes down, several operations in your business comes to a standstill. While you wait for it to get repaired, you lose on a lot of man-hours and labor time.
4. Repairs and maintenance: when your printer goes down, it is often that your IT team that is called upon. While they fix your printer, they are not getting engaged in any crucial IT work. On average, it is estimated that around 60 percent of IT help desk calls are print related.
5. Unmonitored usage: most businesses are unable to control and monitor their print environment that leads to employees not just using your office printers for personal use but also printing more than they need. Unmonitored print can cost you consumables, energy, and supplies.

There are a lot of ways in which businesses can use digital platforms to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. But in this world of ever-evolving cutting-edge technologies, it is important to remember the importance of paper-based products and how controlling the print environment can help your business. Your print infrastructure is a complex area that costs you thousands of unnecessary expenses in a year. Therefore, more and more businesses are turning towards managed print services to cut costs, increase security and boost productivity.