Green IT is no longer just a fashionable subject for debate among systems managers. At a time when companies of all sizes are forced to do more with less, establishing environmental policies actually allows companies to increase their efficiency, reduce costs and improve their corporate image.

"Green IT continues to be a significant initiative for many small and large businesses, but in these economic times, it is simply not enough to just be green," said Julio Olivares, CEO of DocPath. "Any green program must save money and time, in addition to helping the environment, and document management and printing represents an often overlooked area that has significant potential for cost savings within any organization."

According to www.reduce.org, the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper per year in the United States alone. That translates into nearly 3.7 million tons, or 700 billion sheets annually. Beyond the costs and waste generated from the paper itself, energy, ink and equipment costs associated with the production of each one of those pages must be also considered.

DocPath (www.docpath.com), which makes software that helps companies efficiently manage their document and printing needs, offers these tips to help companies reduce the waste and the costs associated with the printed page:

1. Install a print control system to more efficiently manage and monitor all the work that is printed. With this type of application, individual user and department level print quotas can be established, and customized reports can be generated to provide detailed analysis of the overall operation of the printing system.

2. Whenever possible, print in black and white, print on both sides of the paper and only use color printers when business considerations demand it. Color printers consume more energy than black and white printers and the ink for color printers is much more expensive.

3. Use software to electronically process documents and thereby increase productivity and generate savings from the costs of printing and paper storage.

4. Employ multifunction machines that can print, fax, copy, scan and send and receive electronic documents by email. As well as reducing energy consumption, this will provide savings on capital costs by eliminating some unnecessary infrastructure.

5. Encourage a change of thinking among your employees and begin to implement a paperless office environment. With an incentive program, printing can be reduced year by year. One idea might be to award departments that consume the least amount of paper. Then employees would think twice before pressing the print button.

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