A printer goes down. Someone walks to another device. An employee searches for toner. IT gets a message because a print job will not go through. A service call gets placed.
None of these situations may seem especially costly on their own.
But when they happen repeatedly across an organization, the cost of printing can extend well beyond paper, toner, equipment, and service.
The real cost of a poorly managed print environment often shows up in the time and productivity lost around the devices themselves.
Understanding those less obvious costs can help businesses make better decisions about how their print environment is managed.
The Cost of Printing Is More Than What You Spend on Printers
When businesses think about print costs, they often focus on the expenses that are easiest to see: equipment, toner, paper, maintenance, and service.
Those costs matter, but they do not tell the whole story.
Consider what happens when an employee cannot print what they need. They may spend time troubleshooting the device, checking supplies, restarting a print job, contacting IT, looking for another printer, or waiting for service.
Multiply a few minutes by multiple employees, multiple devices, and an entire year, and small interruptions can become a meaningful productivity issue.
This is one reason organizations comparing Managed Print Services vs. managing printers internally often discover that the true cost of printing includes considerably more than equipment and supplies.
Employee Time Has a Cost
Employees were not hired to troubleshoot printers.
Yet in an unmanaged or inefficient print environment, staff may routinely spend time dealing with paper jams, supply issues, connectivity problems, print queues, or devices that simply are not performing as expected.
Even when the interruption is brief, it breaks the employee’s concentration and pulls attention away from more important work.
The issue becomes more significant when the same problems occur repeatedly.
A five-minute printer problem is not just a printer problem when it happens across an entire organization.
Looking at how often employees interact with print-related issues can reveal costs that are easy to overlook.
Your IT Team May Be Spending Time on Printing Too
Print problems do not always stay with the person trying to print.
When employees cannot resolve an issue themselves, IT is often the next call.
That can mean troubleshooting drivers, connectivity, print queues, device settings, network issues, or other routine problems. Individually, these requests may be relatively minor. Collectively, they can take IT resources away from security, infrastructure, user support, strategic projects, and other higher-priority responsibilities.
A well-managed print environment should reduce the amount of time internal IT teams spend responding to routine printer issues.
Supplies Can Create Hidden Costs
Toner is another area where costs can quietly accumulate.
Without a consistent process for managing supplies, businesses may order cartridges before they are needed, stock supplies for devices that are rarely used, keep toner for equipment that has already been replaced, or pay employees to monitor and reorder supplies manually.
There is also the opposite problem: running out of toner at exactly the wrong time.
A more proactive approach to Managed Print Services can help organizations better understand device usage and manage supplies based on actual need rather than guesswork. KDI’s current MPS approach includes supply management, device maintenance, reporting, and print management capabilities designed to give organizations greater visibility and control.
Not Every Printer Is in the Right Place
Over time, print environments tend to evolve one device at a time.
A department needs a printer, so one is added. Another team gets an MFP. An older device remains in service because it still works. Employees change locations. Workflows change. Print volumes shift.
Eventually, the devices a business owns may no longer match the way employees actually work.
One department may have more printing capacity than it needs while another relies heavily on an aging or undersized device. Some printers may see very little use while others handle a disproportionate amount of volume.
Reviewing printers and multifunction devices as part of a complete environment can help determine whether equipment is appropriately placed and sized for actual usage.
Older or Unreliable Devices Can Cost More Than Expected
Keeping an older printer in service may seem economical, especially if the device is already paid for.
But acquisition cost is only one part of the equation.
An aging device may require more service, use more expensive supplies, lack newer security capabilities, or cause more frequent interruptions. Employees may also develop workarounds around unreliable equipment without anyone recognizing how much time those workarounds consume.
This does not mean every older device needs to be replaced.
It means businesses should consider whether each device still makes operational and financial sense.
Print Security Belongs in the Conversation
Cost and productivity are not the only considerations.
Printers and multifunction devices are connected endpoints that can process, transmit, and store business information. Depending on how they are configured and used, they can also introduce security concerns.
Documents left sitting in output trays, inappropriate user access, outdated device settings, and unsecured print processes can create unnecessary risk.
That is why print security should be considered alongside device performance, cost, and usability when evaluating a print environment. KDI’s MPS offering includes secure print capabilities such as user authentication and secure print release.
You Cannot Manage What You Cannot See
One of the biggest challenges with print is that businesses may not have a clear picture of what is happening across their environment.
Which devices are used most heavily? Which ones require the most service? Where is toner being consumed? Are employees printing differently than they did a few years ago? Are some devices barely being used while others are overloaded?
Without visibility into usage, service, supplies, and device performance, it is difficult to know whether the print environment is efficient.
This is where a Managed Print Services Assessment can provide a useful baseline. Instead of looking at one printer at a time, an assessment considers how the overall print environment is performing and where opportunities for improvement may exist.
The Goal Is Not Simply to Print Less
Reducing unnecessary printing can certainly lower costs, but that should not be the only objective.
Businesses still rely on printed information for many legitimate reasons. The more useful question is whether printing is being handled in the most efficient way for the organization.
The goal is to create a print environment that supports employees without creating unnecessary cost, disruption, or administrative work.
That might mean better device placement, more appropriate equipment, proactive supply management, improved service, stronger security, or greater visibility into how devices are actually being used.
Look Beyond the Printer
A printer’s purchase price or monthly cost is easy to measure.
The time employees spend dealing with print problems is harder to see.
So is the time IT spends troubleshooting, the cost of unnecessary supplies, the impact of poorly placed equipment, and the productivity lost when employees have to stop what they are doing because a device is not working as expected.
That is why evaluating printing solely by equipment and supply costs can leave a significant part of the picture out.
Your printers should support the way your business works, not create more work for the people using them.
KDI’s Managed Print Services Assessment can help you take a closer look at your current print environment and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, visibility, security, and overall print management.
Request a Managed Print Services Assessment →
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the hidden costs of business printing?
Hidden print costs can include employee time spent troubleshooting devices, IT support, unnecessary or excess supplies, service interruptions, inefficient device placement, and productivity lost when equipment is unavailable.
How can businesses determine what their printers really cost?
A complete evaluation should consider more than equipment, toner, and paper. Device usage, service history, supply consumption, employee support time, and the efficiency of the overall printer fleet can provide a more complete picture.
What is a Managed Print Services Assessment?
A Managed Print Services Assessment evaluates an organization’s current print environment to identify inefficiencies, unnecessary costs, device issues, security concerns, and opportunities to improve how printing is managed.
Can Managed Print Services reduce IT workload?
Managed Print Services can reduce some of the routine print-related responsibilities handled internally by proactively managing devices, supplies, service, reporting, and other aspects of the print environment. KDI specifically positions MPS as a way to reduce the burden of managing print internally.
Does print security apply to ordinary office printers?
Yes. Network-connected printers and multifunction devices can process, transmit, and sometimes store business information. Device configuration, user access, document handling, authentication, and secure print release can therefore be important parts of print security.
Does reducing print costs always mean printing less?
No. The goal should be to make printing more efficient. That can include using the right devices in the right locations, reducing unnecessary interruptions, managing supplies more effectively, and gaining better visibility into how employees actually use the print environment.
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