Most businesses overlook printing until something jams, inks run out, or something breaks. Then it turns into a small office drama and a scramble to get documents printed without wasting time.
Print tends to sit in the background as an “admin issue” when in fact it’s a mix of hidden costs, wasted time, security exposure and avoidable operational drag.
If you’re an MD, FD or office manager, print isn’t really about printers; it’s about whether your business is utilising a cost-effective and reliable printing service.
The four costly problems businesses have with printers
The obvious problems with print are familiar enough. Some of them can include:
- Devices fail
- Toner running out
- Drivers misbehave
- Print jobs get stuck
- Users having issues connecting
All these issues end up wasting time trying to get a basic document out of the door.
But the more important problems are structural.
1. Poor visibility
If you don’t keep track of what you’re printing, what it costs, who is using which device, or where waste is happening, you cannot manage it commercially. Ignoring all these factors can lead to wasted resources and expenses.
2. Productivity loss
HP’s 2026 workflow research says outdated systems show up as “wasted hours, missed opportunities, and burned-out teams,” and identifies document workflows as one of the overlooked places where friction slows work down.
3. Security
Analysts from Quocirca say SMEs are increasingly concerned about office printing and home printing risks, but are still slower than larger organisations to put proper print security assessment in place. Another Quocirca finding is even more uncomfortable, finding 63% of SMBs experienced a costly print-related data breach in the past year, yet only 20% were concerned about print security.
4. Legacy kit
And the fourth problem is legacy kit. Older printers tend to hang around because they still “work”, but they often cost more to run, create more support hassle, use more energy, and miss modern security and management features.
That last point is a reasonable inference from ENERGY STAR’s efficiency guidance and from the way current managed print services are positioned around remote management, proactive support and optimisation.
How big is the problem? Small losses become expensive quickly
The trap with printing is that the waste often looks too small to matter. A few minutes here, a toner issue there.
- Somebody walking across the office
- Someone reprinting because the first run was wrong
- An admin person ringing support
- A finance lead waiting for signed paperwork
None of it feels wasteful until you add it all up.
The ONS says median hourly earnings for full-time employees in the UK were £19.67 an hour in April 2025.
So, take a simple, conservative scenario. If each employee loses just 10 minutes a week to printer-related friction across 48 working weeks, the annual cost becomes significant.
- 25 employees = c.200 hours lost, worth roughly £3,934 in salary cost alone
- 50 employees = c.400 hours lost, worth roughly £7,868
- 100 employees = c.800 hours lost, worth roughly £15,736
That does not include missed deadlines, interrupted workflows, reprints, IT time, consumables waste, or the cost of staff doing workarounds instead of higher-value tasks. It is just a basic labour-cost view.
That is why unmanaged print quietly becomes a commercial issue. Not because one printer is expensive, but because the business absorbs lots of low-grade inefficiency without ever pricing it properly.
How and where to improve your printing services
Most organisations do not need a grand print transformation. They need better control and consideration of some sensible options.
Visibility
If you cannot answer how many devices you have, what they cost to run, who uses them most, what you print most often, and where support issues come from, you are operating on assumption rather than evidence. You need to start tracking performance and usage.
Standardisation
A random mix of devices, drivers, consumables, and support arrangements creates complexity that scales badly. Even older industry analysis from HP noted that multiple print drivers create challenges for users, help desks and IT.
The more fragmented the print estate, the more friction it creates.
Reduce waste at the source
Use duplex printing by default where appropriate, retire under-used legacy devices, review whether staff are printing things that should be digitised, and tighten secure-print and access settings for sensitive documents.
ENERGY STAR specifically points to duplexing as a route to paper, cost, and energy savings, and Quocirca’s security data shows why access control matters.
Finally, stop treating toner, maintenance and breakdowns as isolated events and costs. They are all the same cost line and acute symptoms of how well print is being managed.
Buy a printer outright, or move to managed print?
Most businesses compare the upfront purchase price of a printer against the monthly fee of a managed print service and assume buying outright is cheaper.
This is the wrong comparison to make, as you’re comparing a capital device purchase versus an operational monthly consumption cost that includes hardware, monthly pages, supplies, maintenance, up-front assessment and ongoing optimisation.
The case for buying outright
- Print volumes are low and predictable
- The device is non-critical
- Downtime is tolerable
- You already have the internal capacity to manage support, supplies and security
The case for managed print
- Print is important to daily operations
- Downtime disrupts service or finance workflows
- Multiple devices or sites are involved
- Security matters
- You want automatic supplies, remote management and a predictable cost base
- The business would rather free up staff time than babysit printers
The bottom line
SMEs and schools need to take a simple commercial test to decide on the best route for them.
Remember the humble printer is easy to dismiss because the pain shows up in small bursts. But unmanaged print is exactly the kind of low-visibility, recurring friction that eats margin over time.
A managed print solution will not be right for every business. But for many SMEs and schools, it is a better answer than buying another random device and hoping it causes less trouble than the last one. Remember, “cheaper to buy” and “better for the business” are not the same thing.
Want to know whether your current print setup is costing more than it should? Book a FREE, no-obligation print review, and we’ll give you a comprehensive view based on facts.
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