Print Audit: How to Analyse Printing Behaviour and Reduce Costs

A print audit is the systematic analysis of printing behaviour within an organisation. It captures who prints how much, on which devices, at what quality and at what cost. The goal: create a data foundation on which informed decisions about print infrastructure optimisation can be made.

In most organisations, there is no overview of actual printing costs and behaviour. Without data, decisions about print infrastructure are based on assumptions and gut feeling. A print audit creates transparency and typically uncovers savings potential of 15 to 30% of total printing costs.

This article explains which metrics a print audit captures, what typical results to expect and how to translate the findings into concrete measures.

What is a Print Audit?

Definition, objectives and methods of print analysis

A print audit is a comprehensive assessment of the entire print environment, consisting of three components:

Device Inventory

Recording of all printers and MFPs: manufacturer, model, age, location, maintenance contract, cost per page. In many organisations, this reveals more devices than assumed, often in unfavourable ratios (e.g. one printer per 5 employees instead of the recommended 1:25 to 1:50).

Usage Analysis

Capture of printing behaviour over a representative period (at least 4 weeks, ideally 8-12 weeks): print volume per user, department and device. Colour vs. black-and-white ratio, duplex rate, time distribution and peak load times.

Cost Analysis

Calculation of actual printing costs including all factors: toner/ink, paper, maintenance, electricity, lease payments, IT support effort. The total cost of ownership often reveals significantly higher costs than consumables alone.

Key Metrics in a Print Audit

These KPIs provide the data foundation for optimisation measures

Metric	Industry Average	Why Relevant
Pages/employee/month	500-1,000	Basis for capacity planning and benchmarking
Colour ratio	30-50%	Colour prints cost 3-5x more than B/W
Duplex rate	20-40%	Potential for 50% paper savings
Uncollected prints	20-30%	Direct waste, eliminable through follow-me
Print volume per device	varies	Identify over- and under-utilisation
Cost per department	varies	Cost centre allocation and budget planning
Cost per page (TCO)	5-8 cents (B/W), 20-35 cents (colour)	Basis for ROI calculations

Manual vs. Software-Based Print Audit

Which method is right for your organisation

Manual Print Audit

In a manual audit, printer counters are read at regular intervals and recorded in a spreadsheet. This method is simple and requires no additional software but provides limited data: information at user and department level is missing, and data collection is error-prone and time-consuming.

Software-Based Print Audit

Print management software captures all print jobs automatically and provides detailed data at user, department and device level. Data collection runs in the background, is comprehensive and provides real-time data. The software generates automated reports and enables trend analysis over longer periods.

Criterion	Manual	Software-based
Effort	High (regular manual collection)	Low (automatic after setup)
Data quality	Limited (device level only)	Detailed (user, department, device)
Error-proneness	High (reading errors, missed collections)	Low (automatic, comprehensive capture)
Real-time data	No	Yes
Cost	Staff time	Software licence

Typical Print Audit Results

What organisations typically discover during print analysis

20-30% of print jobs are never collected — These printouts end up in the output tray and are eventually discarded. Follow-me printing eliminates this problem completely.
The colour ratio is higher than expected — The actual colour share is often 40-50%, even though most documents could be printed in black-and-white.
The duplex rate is low — In many organisations, fewer than 30% of pages are printed double-sided because duplex is not set as default.
Some devices are overloaded, others barely used — Utilisation varies widely, pointing to suboptimal device placement or lack of follow-me functionality.
The actual total costs are higher than expected — When IT support, maintenance, electricity and floor space are included, per-page costs are often 50-100% above pure consumable costs.

Experience shows: Most organisations can reduce their printing costs by 15 to 30% by implementing audit results — in some cases up to 40% when combined with fleet consolidation.

From Audit to Action

How to translate results into concrete optimisations

Implement Follow-Me Printing

If the audit shows a high proportion of uncollected prints (typically 20-30%), follow-me printing is the most effective countermeasure. Automatic deletion of uncollected jobs virtually eliminates this waste.

Optimise Print Policies

Based on audit data, targeted policies can be defined: duplex as default (with low duplex rate), black-and-white as default (with high colour share), page limits for specific user groups.

Consolidate the Printer Fleet

Devices with low utilisation can be removed or combined. Replace personal desktop printers with central MFPs. The recommended ratio is 1 device per 25-50 employees.

Continuous Monitoring

A one-off audit is good; continuous monitoring is better. Print management software provides ongoing current data and enables success tracking of implemented measures. Quarterly reports show whether optimisations are working and where further potential lies.

Analyse Your Print Environment with Docuflair Print

Docuflair Print delivers detailed print statistics at user, department and device level. Follow-me printing, print policies and automated reports help implement the savings potential uncovered by your audit.

Request Free Demo Discover Docuflair Print

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most important questions about print audits

How long does a print audit take?

A meaningful print audit should cover at least 4 weeks, ideally 8 to 12 weeks, to capture seasonal fluctuations and typical work patterns. With software-based data collection, the audit runs automatically in the background and requires no additional effort after initial setup.

What metrics are captured in a print audit?

The key metrics are: total print volume (pages per month), print volume per user and department, colour vs. black-and-white ratio, duplex rate (double-sided vs. single-sided), proportion of uncollected print jobs, print volume per device (utilisation), cost per page and per department, and peak load times.

How much savings potential does a print audit typically uncover?

In practice, a print audit typically reveals savings potential of 15 to 30 per cent of total printing costs. The biggest levers are eliminating uncollected prints (20-30 per cent of volume), switching to duplex as default and reducing unnecessary colour prints. In some cases, additional fleet consolidation can yield even higher savings.

Print Audit: Analyse Printing Behaviour