How Big Data Can Help Lower Your Printing Costs

Big data has quickly caught the imagination of businesses of all kinds. Companies realize its importance in improving their overall productivity and efficiency. It introduces a more methodical and detailed way of analyzing and using huge amounts of data in centralized and effective manner.

Big data can be effectively used to reduce the printing costs too. Printing is done on printers such as inkjet printer, laser printer, etc. It needs printer inks, ink cartridges, various types of toners, ink cartridge refills, and the list goes on. All of this can make printing quite expensive. But here is how big data playing a crucial role in achieving this.

What is Big Data and how businesses benefit from it

The term Big Data is new, but the concept behind it is not. Collection and storage of a large amount of data and then analyzing it to improve various aspects of a business has always been part of the process of running and building any enterprise.

In simple words, big data is a term used for the large amount of data, structured or unstructured, gathered by businesses daily. What is important though is the way this collected data is utilized to advance various business processes and improve the efficiency and productivity of an organization. The volume of the information is secondary to how it is used for business development.

The benefit of Cloud technology to the Big Data

The recent growth in the cloud technology is making the utilization of Big Data analysis and operations more viable for companies. The possibility of storing and processing an unlimited amount of data has taken the big data operations a step forward.

Most businesses are finding great value in adopting Big Data processes for the more accurate analysis of the various business operations. This helps them understand and gain substantial insights into potential business and marketing trends, customer desires, needs and their behavioral patterns and buying habits. This greatly helps them improve their sales and marketing strategies.

Big Data can be used for reducing printing costs too

The external applications of Big Data, such as various external transactions and communications, are given priority by most businesses. Sales, marketing, and various other management and communication processes and other such broad-scale business operations get attention. However, the use of Big Data for the more ordinary and routine internal operations can be easily overlooked. One such important application of big data is found in cutting the costs for printing.

Most small and large businesses are flooded with vast amounts of data regularly from various sources. All this data collected in the data stores. Big Data makes this process more efficient and centralized. This makes it easier to search for the relevant data, processes it, analyze it and use it to gain insights into various business processes and transactions.

In the context of print management and cost reduction, Big Data can play a crucial role. Following are a few ways to achieve this.

Using Big Data for internal operations by establishing collection routines

Businesses that are familiar with using Big Data analytics for external operations can adopt the same method for internal operations. They can find the right sources to obtain relevant data and then formulate analytical routines that will use the collected information in planning and managing printing processes and the workflow.

The process of printing management can be greatly helped to become more efficient, and the print workflow can be effectively streamlined for better and faster output if combined with the Big Data analytical process. Business intelligence tools and their analytical capabilities can be utilized to obtain print-related data from various reliable sources. This can be further processed and analyzed to formulate better print-related strategies and make more cost-effective decisions related to print management.

Big Data facilitates intelligent decision making based on concrete data

Most businesses are already aware of the area where improvement is necessary, such as cutting the print-related costs. While the existing print management system offers basic information such as page count and data regarding consumption of the consumables; the Big Data analytics offers a broader picture and a deeper insight into it. Some of them are,

• Identify the effects of marketing campaigns on the amount of printing required.
• Identify the amount of repeat print work for each customer
• Identify print devices that are being underutilized such as Inkjet Printer, Laser Printer etc.
• Identify paper-based internal processes that can benefit by shifting from paper to the digital media.
• Identify potential savings on printing by going for single-sided to double-sided printing or from colour to black and white printing.

Acting upon the solutions obtained using Big Data analytics is the key

Using Big Data collection and analytics to gain useful insights is certainly an effective way to make sure that your business runs more economically. It helps in formulating strategies that can be used to reach more effective solutions to reduce the spending of money on unnecessary print-related tasks.

However, this is only the first half of the process of effectively reducing print costs. The second half involves implementing those strategies by making actionable plans and taking relevant and timely decisions related to saving print cost. One excellent example of this is the decision to go for a paperless management system.

Periodic examination of the progress is essential to reach goals

Big Data analytics helps you get a clearer picture of what needs to be done to achieve your printing cost reduction objectives and printer requirements. However, it is important to keep an eye on the progress using the custom dashboards. It gives you an updated overview of the cost savings regularly so that you can keep on track and reach your objectives faster and more efficiently.

Conclusion

Big Data helps businesses improve sales and marketing. It can also help companies cut their print costs. Used rightly, it can help them find more cost-effective print solutions that will improve the overall economy of the enterprise.