How One Organization Cut Paper Usage by 50%

Halcrow Group: Turning Print Visibility Into Measurable Cost Savings

The Challenge

With more than 4,000 employees across a global network of offices, Halcrow Group—an international construction planning, design, and management firm—had a printing environment that was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to manage.

The nature of Halcrow’s work meant designers frequently printed multiple versions of drawings and drafts throughout the design process. At the same time, employees were using company printers for personal printing without meaningful controls.

The result was rising print costs, significant paper waste, and limited visibility into where printing was occurring and who was responsible for the associated costs.

Halcrow needed a way to:

• Reduce unnecessary draft and personal printing

• Give the organization visibility into print activity and costs

• Recover printing costs from employees and clients

• Encourage employees to think more carefully about what they printed

• Manage printing consistently across a large, geographically distributed organization

The Solution

Halcrow implemented PaperCut NG to bring greater control, visibility, and accountability to its print environment.

PaperCut integrated with Halcrow’s Active Directory and provided detailed visibility into printing activity, including page costs and printing volumes by user, location, and site.

The company was also able to introduce chargeback capabilities, allowing print costs to be assigned to employees and, importantly, to client accounts. In its UK offices, printing charges and job details could be automatically incorporated into the client billing process.

This gave Halcrow something it previously lacked: a clear understanding of who was printing, what they were printing, where the costs were occurring, and who should ultimately be responsible for those costs.

The Results

The impact extended beyond simply tracking print jobs.

With better visibility and accountability, Halcrow was able to encourage employees to reconsider unnecessary printing and adopt a more conscious approach to paper use.

In its Glasgow office, the number of pages printed per person per year fell by more than 50%, with other offices achieving similar reductions.

The organization also improved its ability to recover and allocate printing costs, including assigning print expenses to client accounts.

Perhaps most importantly, Halcrow turned print management into an ongoing culture of cost awareness and responsible printing. The organization promoted a simple internal message—“think before you print”—and developed paper-conservation champions among employees to reinforce the change.

What Halcrow Demonstrates

Halcrow’s experience shows that effective print management is about more than reducing the number of pages coming out of a printer.

With the right visibility and controls, organizations can:

Reduce waste. Identify unnecessary printing and encourage more efficient print behaviors.

Control costs. Understand exactly where print spending is occurring and establish accountability.

Recover expenses. Allocate printing costs to departments, employees, or clients where appropriate.

Improve visibility. Gain actionable data on print volumes, usage, and costs across locations.

Change user behavior. Give employees the information and accountability needed to make more thoughtful printing decisions.

For organizations managing hundreds or thousands of users, Halcrow’s results demonstrate how print management can turn an often-overlooked source of operational expense into an opportunity for measurable savings and greater control.

Could your organization be spending more on printing than it realizes?

[Learn how PaperCut can help you reduce print costs, minimize waste, and gain greater visibility across your print environment.]