To help stem the tide of coronavirus outbreaks in the United States, many colleges and universities are turning to remote learning. A remote environment helps protect students and faculty by limiting the amount of contact with the large group sizes typically present in a university setting.
While virtual courses might be par for the course, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) encourages schools to implement strategies that ensure education continuity, including student support services.
These services range from library and lab access to access to other facilities that are essential to continued learning, including printer access.
No matter whether learning is remote or on-campus, however, educational organizations on notoriously tight budgets can benefit from software that allows them to track and control print costs. Perhaps now, more than ever, cost-control is an essential element of a school’s ability to continue to thrive in a post-pandemic environment.
PaperCut — It’s All About Control
In a university setting, both students and faculty are moving throughout campus facilities on a daily — sometimes hourly — basis as they change classes, move to office hours, or take a lunch break.
That means that the school’s printers are often used not only by people in that particular office or classroom but anyone that might be moving through the building.
Unchecked, this can result in a high level of waste and potential abuse as personal materials or unnecessary printing or copying is carried out. In fact, the average university department of 1,000 people spends about up to $4,000 per month on ink, toner, and paper. That’s not even taking into account maintenance and support costs.
A school district with 10,000 students spends at least $200,000 per year on paper alone — imagine what a university of 50,000 or more students is spending?
Enter PaperCut.
PaperCut dovetails with existing print management strategies to allow school print administrators to exercise effective control over their print environments.
The powerful software has robust user tracking and monitoring capabilities to make it possible for school administrators to know when students — or even teachers — are abusing facility printers by printing unnecessary documents for personal use.
Then there is the onslaught of wasteful printing — the average student wastes 3,200 sheets of paper every year. PaperCut allows administrators to create print policies that specify duplex printing or all black and white. It also generates reports that track savings and pinpoint areas of focus.
Being able to know who is printing what can help schools manage their expenses and greatly reduce printing costs.
But PaperCut goes far beyond simple tracking.
For example, PaperCut’s innovative “pay for print” solution allows schools to enable printing for users to pay as they go through integrated payment gateways and card systems. This allows students to have access to print facilities but ensures they are not printing more than they need.
PaperCut also provides a Mobility Print solution to allow printing from any device — a useful tool for students who bring their mobile phones and laptops to school. This Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) environment is a boon to educational organizations, who can then reduce spending on school-provided devices. PaperCut’s Mobility Print can work with any native interface, freeing students to use the device they are most comfortable with.
James Imaging Can Bring PaperCut Technology to Your School
At James Imaging, we have a team of print management professionals that can fine-tune a strategy for your school that takes aim at print costs.
Using PaperCut software among a variety of other technologies, our experts will craft a print management program that can help your secure sensitive data, expand your school’s efficiency, and reduce printing costs and waste through robust tracking and strong policies.
Even in a remote learning environment, school printers are a necessity. With less staff on campus, there is more opportunity for waste and abuse when it comes to printed documents.
With PaperCut and other print management tools at your fingertips, your school will be able to successfully track and control costs, reduce abuse, and still provide staff and students access to the print services they require.
Lower your school’s printing costs and expand your ability to serve students using state-of-the-art print management. Reach out to a professional at James Imaging Systems and learn how PaperCut and other print management tools can revolutionize your print environment.