When did you last conduct a print audit? Don’t neglect the simple task that can help you take control of your print usage and costs

Year end accounts, insurance renewals and stocktaking. There are some tasks in business that seem to come around like clockwork – the necessities that keep businesses running smoothly. But there’s another task many businesses seem to neglect, despite it being just as important: a print audit. 
 
From improving security in your printing process to spotting areas where you could reduce your fleet and optimise your setup, there are all sorts of benefits to conducting regular print audits. So, if your answer is “I don’t know” or “hmm, it was a while ago” now is the time to change that. Let’s dive into the detail on print auditing – and explore how Brother can help you take the next step.

How often should you conduct a print audit? 

Regularly! Well, there are a few factors that determine how often a printing audit is recommended, the first being whether you have an unmanaged or managed print fleet. 

For unmanaged print environments:

If you have an unmanaged print fleet (i.e. no managed print services), we recommend a print audit every two years. This is especially important if you don’t have structured procurement or a device planning process. There can also be several triggers that can indicate an audit is due, including:

-  Frequent device failures: You may notice that your devices are showing signs of age, frequently failing or producing lesser quality prints. 
 

-  An increase in support tickets and user complaints: Is your IT team drowning in printer-related tickets? Or maybe you’ve heard people not-so-subtly complaining about the reliability of your devices? This could indicate a bigger problem.  
 
-  Increased print costs or fragmented purchases: You may see an increase in POs being raised for individual supplies, which is a sign that your ordering process has inefficiencies. In addition, if you have a mixed fleet, you may be holding stock of multiple types of supplies from different brands - or have un-used printers and their supplies sitting dormant.

-  Outdated security protocols: Are printouts finding their way into the wrong hands, or messages appearing suggesting your firmware may be out of date? This is a major concern for your business’ data, and not something you should ignore. Can you be sure that your current print set up can stand up to interrogation?

When you have an unmanaged print fleet, conducting your own print audit can be just another one of those tasks you put off, as it can be time-consuming to do it yourself. That’s why we recommend a managed print service to remove this burden and ensure the hard work is done for you.

For managed print environments: 

If you have a managed print service for your print fleet, things look a little different. Print audits are often tied to your quarterly business reviews (QBR) or come as part of major organisational changes. But not all managed print services come with a uniform approach to print audits, and some can be less thorough than others. 

With a Brother Managed Print Service, you don’t need to worry about remembering or scheduling a print audit, as it’s all taken care of. We conduct a print audit before we put a proposal together for your MPS agreement, and automatically during your QBR to ensure you have the right agreement. This allows us to share our areas of concern and follow up with our expert recommendations for ongoing optimisations.  

Don’t take the risk! The dangers of delaying a print audit

So, what exactly can happen if you forget that all-important print audit? Ranging from day-to-day frustrations to major security risks, losing control of your print estate poses quite a few dangers… 

-  Security vulnerabilities – It can be easy to forget that print is still an end point to your network, and a place where you’re at risk of major security breaches. With 2025 cyber attacks hitting the news and causing stratospheric issues for major UK businesses, this isn’t an area where you can afford to have weak security and unmanaged endpoints.  
 

-  GDPR compliance issues – Data security is a growing issue for businesses of all sizes, with document scanning being one of the areas where vulnerabilities are most prominent. Scanning to the cloud or sharing documents over email risks GDPR compliance, but this can be something that’s easily spotted and addressed through print audit services.

-  Increased costs – Introducing new print devices to your business on an ad-hoc basis, without long-term consideration, can mean you don’t choose the printers that are most efficient for your business. Overall efficiency takes into account things like page volume, toner yields and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – and can make a big difference to your printing costs over time.  

-   Low user satisfaction – Problems caused by inconsistent or poorly maintained devices can lead to staff dissatisfaction, often resulting in them being unable to print important documents. These delays not only frustrate employees, but can also hinder productivity and negatively affect the wider business.

Take back control of your print fleet with a managed print service

The benefits of having a Brother Managed Print Service in place span all areas of your organisation. You can take control of the cost of print, simplify and streamline print consumable procurement, increase print security and ensure print usage is being monitored and managed (yes, it’s a solution that does it all!) But specifically, when it comes to print auditing, it’s all part of the package when you choose a reputable provider like Brother.  

 
In your QBRs, our managed print assessments provide clear and actionable insight into how print is working across your organisation, including the money you’ve saved by being on a managed print service vs making transactional purchases and the number of supplies recycled through your agreement.   
 

One of our key focuses is also on sweating your devices (or what’s referred to as capacity management). This involves us working with you to make sure devices are able to last until the end of their term. For example, one device might be used heavily in a key location (e.g. head office), while another device is lying dormant in an un-used space. By moving devices between stores and/or locations, you can maximise the life of your machines – and save money in the process. 
 

The superpower of print audits: spotting risks at a major UK supermarket  

One of Brother’s MPS Enterprise customers is a major UK supermarket, with over 1,000 stores nationwide. Changes to the internal HR processes meant stores required new scan workflows – a major shift in processes that had been in place for many years.  


Brother worked proactivity through QBR feedback, helping the supermarket to avoid potential GDPR and workflow risks. The value of a print audit was immediately clear in helping this business adapt their printing process to operational shifts, without interrupting performance.

The first step of a print assessment – book a free Brother print consultation   

At Brother, we provide free print consultations to give you actionable insight on how your print infrastructure can support your business goals. Conducted by Frazer Whitehead, Senior Business Manager at Brother, these 15-minute calls are the first step in building a picture of your print estate.