These days, most industries are looking for ways to save money. The insurance industry is no exception.
Leaders often save money by cutting costs that offer an immediate impact. However, this often means overlooking options that might not instantly save tons but quickly add up. This is especially true in the print-heavy insurance business since many of these “hidden” cost savings live within your company’s print, document, and security workflows.
With the high price of paper, ink, and toner, print can be a huge financial cost for insurance companies. Between piles of paperwork, policy decks, marketing collateral, and claim documents, print expenses are substantial and might feel unavoidable.
We’re here to tell you that your current print costs are far from set in stone.
In fact, a smarter strategy can save you up to 30% on print-related expenses. With a few tips and insights, you’ll conserve paper and ink, boost efficiency, and save serious money in no time.
In addition, many of these systems will also enhance your printer security. This ensures that your client’s critical information remains safe while also minimizing the chance of a costly security breach.
From your corporate headquarters to your most remote regional offices, these 3 solutions can jumpstart your team towards the most efficient print process possible.
1. Reduce Your Print Volume
The insurance industry’s high print volume doesn’t have to be a burden to your budget. In fact, zeroing in on that volume presents a tremendous print savings opportunity. All it takes is learning where and how the costs are currently going and how your resources can be better utilized.
For example, one of our clients—a well-known national insurance provider— cut back on printing costs by just 10%. However, because their print volume was so high, small changes quickly translated into millions in savings! Maybe your own savings won’t be in the millions. But by finding surprisingly simple ways to reduce your print, any insurance company can cut costs.
There are countless ways to save money on print expenses. Here are a few of our favorite methods:
- Digitize Your Documents
For many insurance agencies, documents have always been on paper. The idea of making the switch can be daunting. However, just think of how much paper and ink could be saved by going digital with even a few workflow adjustments? From PDFs to cloud-based document automation programs like Laserfiche, it’s easier than you think to make the change to digital. - Smart Software
We’re HUGE fans of PaperCut—a software that helps your team make smart decisions while printing. An IT administrator can create rules that, for example, require large jobs to print double-sided or ask users if they really want that email printed in full color. There are hundreds of options and everyone can play a role in print cost reduction.
- Better Education
Even great tools like PaperCut and Laserfiche can only go so far. That’s why we always suggest that employees get fully educated on smarter print practices. Do they know the real financial impact of poor print habits? What should they do to make choices that ultimately save their company money? A simple seminar can keep everyone informed.
2. Rethink Your Print Environment
The COVID pandemic has caused many companies to quickly evolve and change how their office spaces look. Maybe more (or all) employees are now work from home, your client volume has changed, or your strategy shifted.
Whatever your unique situation might be, now is the perfect time to reassess your print environment. You’ll be shocked at where your costs are going, and you’ll realize what small adjustments can save serious dollars. It’s extremely likely that you have too many printers, have printers in poor locations, or have the wrong printers for what your team actually needs. All of these situations mean you’re losing money.
Between eliminating excess printers to minimizing print volume, every business can find ways to comfortably dial back. Some companies have even reduced their devices by 80% without compromising efficiency!
By finding ways to streamline your printing process, even small insurance offices could be looking at tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings every single year.
3. Security for Insurance Companies
Insurance companies collect and manage large amounts of sensitive customer information — but do you know if that data is secure? After all, more hackers are targeting printers because they are an often-forgotten access point to gathering incredibly lucrative data.
Still, many IT leaders overlook their print devices when building out their security networks. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that printers and copiers are computers too. As they’re just as connected to networks and servers, today’s printers are every bit as vulnerable to a breach as any other computer on your network.
It’s important that you’re working with the latest, cutting-edge hardware and software solutions to protect against modern security threats. By using technology that specifically targets how hackers infiltrate printer and copier systems, these programs significantly reduce potential security issues.
Now, your insurance company can rest assured that every client’s personal information is safe and secure—no matter what.
Are you an insurance company that’s ready to cut back on printing costs and enhance your printer security systems? We’d love to talk to you! Schedule a 15-minute Discovery Call with the imageOne managed print experts and let’s make your printing process better than ever.