When you make that jump from small business to midsize enterprise, you start to experience growing pains. Suddenly itās not about keeping your head above water. You have to juggle systems, staffing, and a complicated tech stack, all while trying to scale (but not overextend) the business. Itās a delicate balancing act. This is why so many medium-sized companies eventually become out-of-business companies. They donāt get the balance right.
We canāt tell you how to run your business, but we can help you run your print environment. Over the years, weāve worked with dozens of medium businesses, and they all have a few things in common. They want to grow, they want to run lean, and they want highly efficient, scalable systems. Letās see what that looks like.
What do we mean by āmedium businessā?
Thereās no standard definition for what constitutes āmediumā, but Gartner defines it as any business with between $50 million and $1 billion in revenue, or 100 to 1,000 employees.
When it comes to the clients we usually see at PaperCut, āmediumā covers everything from 200 to 1,000 employees, or $50 million to $500 million in revenue. In other words, youāre not an SME anymore, but youāre not an unstoppable global juggernaut either. At least, not yet.
Why is print management essential for medium businesses?
Letās be honest, you can probably get by running a small business without robust, best-in-class print management. Itās not ideal, but itās doable. Not so for midsized enterprises. Once you top 100 employees, with millions of dollars coming in the door and a few satellite offices, you need a centralized, scalable print solution.
Cost control. Medium businesses live and die by their margins, which is another way of saying cost control. Print management software helps reduce print costs and eliminate waste, leaving you more budget for the important stuff.
Efficiency. As a medium business, you donāt have unlimited resources, which means you still need to do more with less. By streamlining your print processes, reducing wait times, and optimizing printer usage, youāre getting more bang for your buck.
Enhanced security. The more complex the business, the greater the security risk. Print management software protects sensitive documents through encryption , user access controls , and features like secure print release .
Centralized management. Satellite offices. BYOD policies. Hundreds of staff. Multiple teams. Medium businesses need centralized print management. Without it, thereās no way to monitor (and thus improve) print performance.
Print management solutions ensure cost transparency
If you donāt know how much your print environment is costing you, weāll help you out. Itās costing you too much. Nearly every print network comes with waste ā unnecessary print jobs, excess ink and paper usage, print errors, and maintenance ā but thereās no way to know how much waste without robust print management tools.
Detailed reporting and analytics. Print management solutions can generate comprehensive reports on your print volume, consumable usage, print patterns, and associated costs. This data lets you understand your printing habits (the good and the bad) and identify any worrying trends.
Cost allocation. Itās always good to know exactly where your money is going. With print management, you can set up cost allocation for specific departments, offices or users, helping you track and allocate your spending more efficiently.
Quotas and limits. Want to incentivize your teams to print smarter? Implement print quotas , so everybody gets a finite number of pages. Youāll be amazed how much of a difference this can make. Example? See our work with construction firm Halcrow Group .
A print management solution can also enhance security and compliance
Depending on your industry, you might be staring down the face of some complicated data protection laws or privacy legislation. This is especially true for finance, healthcare and education. An unsecured print environment is an audit and sanction waiting to happen, which is why itās so important to use secure print management software. End-to-end encryption , secure print release , multi-factor authentication , access controls, network segmentation, job tracking , digital watermarks, and real-time alerts ā all of these will enhance your print security, and make regulatory compliance much easier.
Factor in scalability and compatibility
As your business grows, your print infrastructure needs to grow right alongside it. That sounds simple, but a lot of businesses stumble over stuff like cloud print migration , server scaling, and network performance. The good news is, by using print servers and print management software, youāve already got all the tools you need to scale; centralized management, a streamlined printer fleet, water-tight security, and flexible network architecture.
Weāve covered this in more detail here , but the key takeaway for medium businesses is this: you want scalability without compromising performance. The core business model shouldnāt suffer on account of your tech stack. The stack should enhance the business ā thatās what itās there for.
If you need help navigating this awkward growing phase, give us a call . Weāre always here to help.
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