Wednesday 18 March 2009

Printing efficiently

Programme Board meeting discussed progress on all existing projects, and only approved one new one - Print Audit and Submission Software. This follows on from our environmental printing review and we're trying to ensure that we print as little as possible, but when we do print, we do it in the most environmentally friendly way. The University needs to take tighter control of its print spend and make the best possible use of existing resources.

Print submission & ordering software gives users a choice of where to print and makes best use of our equipment and resources, and print monitoring software will raise awareness of the cost of printing and help us to manage our print spend. Hopefully we will be able to reduce our spend and our carbon footprint. But - and this is a big but - the software alone will not solve the problem. There'll need to be a big change in business processes and behaviour. Giving up individual printers on desks, and moving to networked, efficient, multi-function-devices (photocopiers for the uninitiated) will require a culture change. Thinking about NOT printing rather than printing, not printing powerpoint slides one to a page with full colour backgrounds with white text, printing double sided - all require a conscious change in behaviour. Without that, we won't get any of the benefits of the service.

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