If you haven't done so already, it might be time to evaluate whether the time and money you spend on office printing and copier equipment is well-spent. Do you have efficiencies in place, or do you feel like you're playing a game of whack-a-mole—a printer goes down, you fix it; a toner cartridge is empty, you order another one. The printer runs out of paper, you borrow a ream from another print station. Your printer maintenance shouldn't be an afterthought or left to no one in particular.

Printing efficiency and effectiveness is best supported by a single point of accountability for all of your equipment and supplies. It's important to assign this responsibility to one person, or one department, so everyone knows who to call when the printer needs attention.

Pick the Right Point Person: Two Factors Will Lead to Success

1. Decide Who Has Time

While the obvious answer to the question, “who has time to manage copier and printer maintenance," might be “no one,” it will help to make it part of someone’s job description. Find someone who can make this a priority. Of course, this point person will need to be at least somewhat comfortable with technology. 

2. Communicate Who Is in Charge

Once you've chosen someone to take on the responsibility of copier and printer maintenance, the next step is to communicate their role in a number of ways—in meetings, through email and maybe even posted on a bulletin board near the printer.

Once a system is in place for communicating responsibility, you and the chosen person can determine an escalation system, so employees know what to do and who to call if printers fail and the normal fixes don’t work. 

Effective Implementation

Here are some important factors to remember as you roll out this new responsibility:

• Pick a person and provide a job description that includes copier and printer maintenance.
• Ensure there is room in the employee's schedule for these responsibilities.
• Secure additional training for this person. 
• Consider changing or updating policies, especially if your print operations have been decentralized up to this point. 

Again, don’t forget to communicate to your team any changes to standard operating procedures around printing.

Smaller Organizations

If your organization isn't large enough to have a person solely responsible for your printing needs, you need someone who has a strong understanding of technology, your organization’s workflow and your team’s processes.

Mid-Size Organizations

In mid-size to large organizations, a manager responsible for office technology is in the best position to assign someone to take care of printing technology. In most cases, this will be the IT department.

Large Organizations

If you are in a large organization, you might require a team of employees to manage the print technology scattered throughout various departments or office locations. This team will work closely with each other to manage your copiers and printers. 

Assigning responsibility to a single person is important, but that person will often need help. Work with a Marco Copier/Printer Specialist to determine the best way for your organization to centralize your printing technology management responsibilities and implement a productive Managed Print Services program.