How Fairbanks Startups Are Streamlining Workflow with Smart Printing Solutions

The modern business world requires a faster pace than ever before. The “daily grind” of the past now seems to extend to night and weekends, and for a startup business, keeping up can feel impossible. What many small businesses don’t know, however, is that keeping up isn’t always about working longer hours—it’s about optimizing the hours you are working. One key way to do this is by improving the efficiency of your daily processes, including your print workflow. Smart printing solutions and automations are changing the way businesses handle documents, making it easier to cut costs, improve security, and boost productivity. Keep reading to learn how a copy machine in Fairbanks, AK, with smart printing solutions can streamline your operations and boost your bottom line.

The High Costs of Traditional Print Workflows

Before we dive into the perks and features of more modern, smarter printers, it’s important to understand just how much your traditional print workflow could be holding you back. Traditional print environments can be incredibly inefficient. Employees waste time accessing printers tucked into distant corners of the office, waiting for documents to print, and dealing with frequent printer errors. Meanwhile, administrators get bogged down with monitoring usage, restocking printer supplies, and troubleshooting those errors we just mentioned.

While these can seem like minor inconveniences and “just part of owning a printer,” they can add up to a lot of wasted time. According to industry research, businesses spend up to 3% of their annual revenue on printing—and a good chunk of that expense could be avoided. Consider some of these hidden costs:

• Wasted paper and ink from duplicate or abandoned print jobs.

• Excessive toner and ink consumption from using incorrect printer settings.

• Maintenance and downtime from inefficiently managed devices.

• Security risks from printers without proper security features.

For startups and small businesses on shoestring budgets, these inefficiencies can severely limit your ability to grow and thrive as a company. Now that we see how these older printing setups can be a drain on your company, let’s see just how much smart printing solutions can help.

What Are Smart Printing Solutions?

Smart printing solutions refer to a combination of hardware and software tools that are designed to optimize and automate print management. These kinds of systems use intelligent technologies like cloud-based print servers, analytics, authentication tools, and rule-based printing to make document workflows more efficient, secure, and sustainable for your business. A few features you’ll usually see in smart printing include the following:

• Print job tracking and analytics to help understand usage patterns

• User authentication to control access and prevent unauthorized printing

• Mobile and remote printing capabilities for hybrid workforces

• Cloud integration for document storage, retrieval, and sharing

• Automated supply management for ordering toner and paper when needed

• Rules-based printing to enforce policies like duplex printing or color usage restrictions

While they may sound simple, these tools together form a smarter, leaner printing workflow that is not only easier for your employees to manage, but also more adaptable to your business’s growth.

Automating Your Print Workflows

Print workflow automation takes the repetitive tasks often associated with printing and digitizes or automates them for you. This goes far beyond just sending a document to a printer; it includes document capture, data extraction, routing, approval, and archiving of certain documents. For example, an invoice sent via email can be scanned, processed through optical character recognition, sent to the right department for approval, and then routed to accounting—all of it automatic.

Automation tools can be integrated with a lot of your existing systems too, including CRMs, ERPs, and document management platforms. By automating and integrating your print workflow, you’ll significantly cut back on manual data entry, which not only saves time, but reduces errors and improves accuracy. You’ll see faster document turnaround times too, so other employees can move forward with their work more quickly.

How Smart Print Solutions Can Benefit Your Business

Now, you’re probably wondering what, exactly, these kinds of solutions can do for your business. What kinds of benefits will you see by taking the time to implement these kinds of changes? Here are just a few of them:

1. Instant Scalability: Rather than cobbling together printing hardware and workflows, your business can begin utilizing cloud-based print workflows that provide immediate scalability, so your printing solutions can grow with your business.

2. Cost Control: Smart printers with built-in analytics help you understand how print resources are being used. You can identify departments with high usage, track costs by project or client, and even set usage limits if needed. You can also utilize rule-based printing to enforce cost-saving measures like default black-and-white printing and enabling duplex printing. Over time, these controls lead to significant savings.

3. Improved Security and Compliance: Data security is a top concern for both your digital and physical documents. Smart printers often come equipped with security features like user authentication, audit trails, and secure pull printing to help you stay compliant and protect the information you’re handling.

4. Improve Employee Productivity: Time wasted on print-related tasks can be a major drain on employee productivity. Smart printing solutions reduce bottlenecking and slowdowns in the print process, so your employees can focus more on high-value work and less on frustrating printer problems.

Find a Modern, Smart Printer for Your Business

Even in a business world that’s dominated by digital data, physical documents are still an unavoidable part of running a business. But that doesn’t mean that your printing solutions have to be outdated. Modern, smart printing workflows can save your company time and money, and simplify many of your document processes.

If you’re looking for a modern printer that can enable this kind of smart printing workflow in your office, contact Arctic Office Products today. We can talk to you about your business’s printing needs and help you find a cutting-edge office copier machine in Fairbanks, AK, with all of the smart features you’re looking for. Call or stop by our showroom today.