Maintaining a streamlined printer management policy is crucial for any organization, particularly those looking to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. Today, many organizations purchase office equipment for individual departments on an as-needed basis. However, even at organizations with a central procurement department, not all office equipment purchases are standardized. The result is an accumulation of different equipment models, which can lead to an added maintenance burden and an increase in costs associated with replacing consumables like toner and ink. By streamlining your printer fleet, you can reduce maintenance and operational costs, as well as take advantage of the other high-tech features this equipment offers.
When the City of Arlington, Texas, was faced with an aging printer fleet, city officials researched options that would optimize operations in order to achieve greater efficiency across the city’s 16 departments and 75 office locations. Over the years, the city’s printer fleet had grown to encompass more than 930 printers and copiers, many of which were varying printer models located on employees’ desks. In addition, the city worked with six different printer management vendors to maintain this fleet of disparate equipment. The city needed a solution that provided a range of managed print services with top-notch security features.
The City of Arlington chose to partner with Samsung to provide a reliable, cost-effective managed print solution to their need. An important consideration was Samsung’s underlying eXtensible Open Architecture platform, which features an open application programming interface (API) that can be customized for a variety of business functions and a software development kit (SDK) that can integrate with third-party applications for document-management, secure-printing and cost-tracking capabilities.
The considerable benefits of putting a printer management program in place became immediately apparent. As a result of its printer optimization program featuring the Samsung MultiXpress line of multifunction printers, the City of Arlington was able to reduce the size of its fleet by 56 percent, and cut the monthly number of pages printed by 21 percent. As an added benefit, the scanners incorporated into the multifunction printers are also helping the organization on its way to transitioning to digital documentation, which it hopes will enhance the services it provides to city residents.
In a government setting, where data security is critical, Samsung MultiXpress business printers also feature secure printing to prevent printing-related security incidents such as sending confidential documents to a shared printer without the required access controls. There are guidelines in place that government entities must follow regarding strict information assurance, and these extend to secure printer management.
Even with more information being produced and consumed in digital form, office printers, copiers and, increasingly, scanners are vital for maintaining smooth business operations. Almost every organization is to some extent still reliant on printed documents, but inefficient printer management can reduce efficiency and lead to waste. By streamlining printer fleets and management capabilities, all organizations, including government agencies, will benefit both from greater efficiency with regard to their printing requirements and also from the enhanced security that is provided for safeguarding their organization’s sensitive information.
Want to learn more about how to “smartify” your printer fleet? Read the case study.
