Could print management be the key to better innovation & cashflow?

Believe it or not, print management can save finance teams time and costs - it's just a matter of how they focus their solutions. That's according to Y Soft, which believes that print management is actually an important part of balancing innovation with cash flow.

Y Soft Australia's managing director Adam O'Neill says that finance teams overlook the amount of time and money they could potentially save with better print management solutions.

"It's not just about trying to use less paper and ink; businesses can save significantly by implementing solutions that protect cash flow, deliver better visibility into costs, and automate workflows. This can help finance teams meet cost saving and innovation objectives," he says.

But how do you go about implementing a print management solution, and what do you need to look out for? Y Soft has provided the following tips:

Cashflow protection

Subscription-based software and services let organisations adopt new technology without the usual upfront investment, which is normally a capital expenditure. While common in several other major software markets, subscription pricing is new to the print management and document capture software markets. It lets businesses transfer what would have been a capital expenditure into an operating expenditure, giving more certainty over monthly costs and preserving capital.

Gartner predicts that, by 2020, more than 80 per cent of software vendors will change their business models from traditional license and maintenance models to a subscription-based model, regardless of whether the software resides on premises or in the cloud.

Unnecessary expense elimination

Organisations have unique workflow goals and specific needs, which can change at any time due to seasonal or other fluctuations in demand, making a modular approach to print solutions more cost effective. It lets finance teams pay only for what the organisation needs, when it needs it, rather than paying for excess capacity just to deal with demand peaks. This delivers complete control over print environment costs.

Additionally, a print solution that is priced per-device means costs don't increase when an organisation adds new employees. Instead, because costs are based on the number of devices in the organisation, businesses can decrease costs by reducing the number of devices. In an optimised print environment, the business uses only the precise number of devices it needs, rather than having a printer on everyone's desk, for example.

Print cost management and allocation

Being able to report on, manage, and allocate print costs empowers finance teams to accurately budget for their organisations' ongoing print requirements. An effective print solution should offer data and insights that help teams automate this process, leading to faster and more effective decision-making. These reports help identify high-volume users and departments, and develop potential cost saving initiatives that let businesses effectively manage and predict print environment costs.

"Finance teams are always under pressure to do more with less, and implementing an effective print management system can help them achieve this, delivering significant savings. A print solution can provide control, flexibility, and insight, protecting cash flow and releasing budget to invest where it is needed most for business growth," O'Neill concludes.