Make it Earth Year with Paper Saving Software

A one-day event like Earth Day is a great way to highlight an important subject, but I think most success in life comes from managing processes, not from a single event. Merely making an effort one day a year isn’t going to meaningfully impact too much (it’s a good start!), but changing behavior every day is going to make real differences. And changing behavior takes commitment and time. And it can be hard work.

However, with an application such as AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software, the payoff over a year is quite significant in terms of cost savings and resource-use reduction (we see 30%+ savings in most of our successes). Much more than simply asking people to “think before you print”, AXIAR Green evidences waste and delivers a powerful set of tools to manage print processes without having to retrain users.

So how do we get the Paper Saving process started? Plan your work and work your plan:

-Pick a local group/department who is interested in reducing waste (act locally)
-Identify printing processes, devices and users with our assistance
-Track and quantify current printing volumes using AXIAR Green’s metrics collection tools
-Determine which processes can be modified with Paper Saving Software without negatively impacting your core business processes
-Implement Paper Saving Software features incrementally with user feedback encouraged
-Use AXIAR Green reporting tools monthly to graphically illustrate both cost and paper saving
-Expand Paper Saving Software use to new processes (think globally)
-Reduce paper use, device count and lost productivity/employee time tracking print jobs with AXIAR Green

AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software, positively impacts printing processes every day, all year long. It not only raises awareness of printing waste by tracking use, but also delivers tools to reduce use. It is part of a process through which your organization can save money and demonstrate to stakeholders that you are committed to sustainable business practices.

Paper Saving Roll Call

As we are finishing off a great first quarter 2010 here at LBM Systems, I wanted to highlight a few fiscally responsible and environmentally accountable customers who are saving money and reducing resource waste with our software. We call it our "Paper Saving Roll Call":

- Orange County Department of Education (California)
- WESCO Distribution (Pennsylvania)
- Daiwa Securities (New York)
- Fidelity National Financial (Florida)
- Fisher Nut Company (California)
- TaylorMade-Adidas Golf (California)
- Luminex (Texas)
- United States Social Security Administration - Disability Determination Services (Washington DC)

Please feel free to contact me any time for detailed paper saving references. The question to you is: why isn't your company or government saving money and reducing resource use with AXIAR Green, Paper Saving Software?

Good Governments Save Paper

We expect our government to provide services and support to our communities for the lowest reasonable cost. Although there doesn’t seem to be a lot of positive news about government efficiency, I’ve got a something to note: many of our government customers are saving taxpayers lots of money with LBM’s Paper Saving Software.

At one department alone, our Paper Saving Software is saving the taxpayers of Ohio over $40k per year by automatically creating and distributing online batch reports that were previously printed. We’re saving Federal taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars per year at our dozens of Social Security Administration sites using our software to intelligently route and track print output to eliminate reprints and ensure print delivery, which eliminates lost print jobs.

We’ve got a lot of really smart and really conscientious government workers and managers using our Paper Saving Software to cut costs while maintaining services.

But I will admit I still think our government can do better: NOT ENOUGH of our government networks are using Paper Saving Software to save taxpayers lots of money. So the next time you see a government representative asking you, the taxpayers, for ideas on how to reduce costs, tell them to look at www.PaperSavingSoftware.com and join their colleagues in saving money without sacrificing services.

Are You Watching Your Waste Line?

Most of us working in office settings have some sort of a “number line” that drives our daily duties. Maybe it’s your sales for the month…the number of cases you’ve handled this week…the number of A/Rs you’ve closed…the number of widgets you’ve shipped. But here’s a number line that I think too many people ignore, yet we all contribute to it: our waste line.

I’m not writing about plumbing here, that’s another type of waste line. I’m writing about what an office consumes and then discards as waste. And some of the biggest contributors to this waste line are office paper and the resources consumed by printers and copiers.

Have you ever considered the real cost of not only producing, buying and then using that paper, but also the cost of removing it? According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a typical office disposes of about 350 pounds of wastepaper per employee per year (source: NRDC.com, Greening Advisor: Reducing Paper Use). The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified office printing as one of three main areas in a typical company that has the greatest potential for reducing waste (source: EPA WasteWise: Where are the Biggest Cost Savings?) If we start by looking at your office paper recycling bins we can begin to address the need to improve the habits and inefficient processes that fill them up.

So how can you put your paper waste line on a diet? Like most diets, it’s pretty easy to start, but tougher to stick with it. You have probably already initiated some paper saving efforts (‘Think before you print’ signs and email footers…signs posted to remember to recycle office paper…asking people to remember to print two-sided…and so on). These are great, but (in my opinion) about as efficient as putting a note on the cookie jar asking if you’re SURE you want a cookie…the problem is the cookie is there waiting for you, and a note isn’t really going to foster better behaviors.

We believe paper saving software is one of the best ways to commit to a waste line reduction program. Paper saving software allows offices to change printing behaviors in incremental steps to allow users to reap the benefits of lower paper use without radically changing their focus on the “number lines” vital to their day-to-day activities. Paper saving software automates paper saving processes and removes the burden from the user to think about printing less. This saves money, saves time and reduces the amount of waste produced by your office. We have thousands of users throughout the world who are controlling their waste lines with our software.

How can you get started? Contact us to talk about your printing and copying habits and needs. We’ll analyze your printing requirements and assess how paper saving software can reduce your paper use. We’ll show you real dollar saving numbers and let you prove the viability of our software with our metrics collection and reporting system.

We make it really easy to start reducing your waste line - what is stopping you from starting?

Is Paper Saving Software Right (or Left)?

Regardless of where an idea started, I don't think it matters if a good idea comes from the "left" or the "right"; if it's a good idea it deserves to be heard.

If you only look at the extremes, the green/sustainable movement can appear anti-business/anti-consumption, while an extreme pro-business outlook can appear anti-environment. Both viewpoints, however, need the other to thrive. Business needs to sensibly apply green/sustainable practices to satisfy consumer demand for responsible corporate behavior and consumers need to reward good behavior with their purchasing dollars.

There is a lot of common ground, and I believe there are a lot of sensible people who see the value in sustainable business practices.

And this is where we see paper saving software playing a role: if you'd like to implement a green/sustainable initiative at your office that saves your company money and improves the speed of business-critical information delivery, paper saving software from LBM Systems is a great option. Paper saving software is pro-business (saves money and accelerates document workflows) and pro-environment (reduces waste and overconsumption).

We are saving paper at thousands of offices around the world and we can help you, too. You can learn more by reading the 'Green Paper' on this blog, watching the movies on this blog, going to www.PaperSavingSoftware.com or contact us any time.

The question I have for you is: can we meet on this common ground? If yes, then let's talk about your office paper use and figure out a way to save you money and reduce the waste you create...if no, well then let's talk anyway and you can tell me why paper saving software isn't a good idea. I appreciate hearing from sensible people with both supporting and opposing viewpoints.

What does Paper Saving Software do?

Someone recently looked at this blog and told me they'd like to get a better idea of what we do. I think that's a great request, so here's my reply:

In brief, our software sits on a server and waits for a person or application (say, an invoice printing request, a pick ticket printing request or even a check printing run) to submit a print request. Our software accepts that print request, analyzes the characteristics of it (i.e. number of pages, number of copies etc.) and then applies paper saving features based on rules that are set up in our software. So, in general, people don't have to remember to make paper saving decisions when they hit 'print', our software enforces the paper saving rules automatically.

The features include:

Converting Print to PDF: AXIAR Green automatically creates and stores PDF documents for portable online document delivery and viewing. This is more useful for large batch print jobs, not necessarily PC-based PDF creation. Think of tax bills or utility bills created by government sites.

Automatic Enforcing of Draft Print Mode: Users can create an AXIAR Green virtual printer that automatically sets print quality to draft mode, reducing the amount of toner consumed by up to 30% with each print.

Printing Duplex (two-sided): AXIAR Green can be configured to automatically duplex print output, potentially reducing paper use by 50%.

Distributing Digital Documents: After using AXIAR Green to create digital output (typically PDF), AXIAR can also automatically distribute digital documents to employees, customers and vendors, which eliminates the cost and environmental impact of transporting paper documents.

Green Print Routing: AXIAR Green can be configured to intelligently determine the most cost-efficient printer based on resource use. This ensures that the environmental effect of printing is kept to a minimum when information must be paper-based.

Digital Forms: AXIAR Green enables laser form printing on blank paper, eliminating the need for pre-printed forms which are often reduced to scrap paper due to misalignment, form changes and damage to stored forms.

Reduce Personal Print: AXIAR Green can be used to encourage responsible use of print resources by tracking employee use. In addition, AXIAR Green can generate statistics for auditing and securing print streams through encryption to ensure the proper use of print resources.

There are many other features and benefits to using AXIAR Paper Saving Software. Please contact me any time, read the 'Green Paper' available on this blog and check out www.PaperSavingSoftware.com to learn more.

Less Mess in Texas

We’ve had a lot of success saving money for customers in Texas (both commercial and public sector) for over twenty years by using our software to reduce the amount of office paper waste created.

From Corpus Christi to Austin to El Paso to Dallas/Fort Worth and just about everywhere in between - if you’ve ever been to a John Deere dealership in Texas odds are you saw our software in action - we have customers using our paper saving software to save money, reduce waste and accelerate business-critical document processes.

But we have more to offer the Lone Star State: paper saving software from LBM Systems lowers the cost of government while delivering green/sustainable office benefits at the same time. We will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Austin on January 26 and 27 showing off our paper saving software at the 2010 Courts & Local Government Technology Conference. We’ve already implemented in many local government sites and several Texas State government departments. We have references, real solutions and a commonsense approach to green office printing. Using our paper saving software:

-Lowers toner spend
-Lowers power spend
-Lowers recycling/waste disposal costs
-Delivers tangible green office/sustainable office results
-Lowers the cost of government

If you want to help reduce the cost of government, please visit us in Austin, give us a call (800) 898-6434 or pass our website www.PaperSavingSoftware.com on to your local government representitives. Paper Saving Software reduces the amount of waste paper created and reduces the cost of government.