If you’re still printing like you used to before hybrid work became a thing, you’re missing a time and cost-saving trick.

Working in your trackies, avoiding the commute, getting extra cuddles from your four-legged friend – hybrid work has its obvious perks. It also poses a few very familiar conundrums: the ‘mute/unmute’ charade in video meetings, missing catch-ups with your work wife/husband about last night’s episode of trashy reality TV, and that mad rush to get ink when your printer’s run out and you needed to make a hard copy of that very important document yesterday.

While we can practise our muting etiquette at home and have those water-cooler conversations when we’re back in the office, it’s the printing issue that needs a rethink. We’re working here, there and everywhere, which gives us great flexibility, but also puts up some unexpected barriers.

“Hybrid work is convenient and efficient, but only with the right tools and technology in place,” says Rachael Williams, HP’s Director of Printing Solutions, Australia and New Zealand.

“According to a recent survey by HP, 57 per cent of North American office workers surveyed said they missed their office printer more than a free lunch or happy hour. When employees do not have the right printer or ink in their home office to print the materials they need, this may prove counter-productive instead, especially if they end up travelling to the office just to print certain items.”

This is where convenience, cost and sustainability come together. For businesses with hybrid workers, the latest printing hack is one that ticks all of those boxes…

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Outsource the stress: Less to th(ink) about

In 2021, HP launched Instant Ink, a printing subscription service that automatically detects when your printer is low on ink or toner and orders more for you, delivered straight to your door.

“By automatically detecting when you are low on ink and triggering for more to be delivered, Instant Ink takes the work out of printing, so small business owners and their employees can rest easy knowing they will always be able to print when they need it most,” Williams tells Kochie’s Business Builders. “Instant Ink is also financially beneficial for businesses, with users able to save up to 50 per cent on ink costs.”

So there’s a financial incentive to get on board with a hybrid-friendly printing model. Their flexible monthly plans range from as little as $1.99 a month for the lowest users and go up from there for more active small businesses.

There’s also the convenience factor in being able to connect easily and print from wherever you might be. With Instant Ink, you can print via the HP Smart app and connect it to any HP+ enabled printer from any device, no matter where you are. You can even monitor your ink usage from the same app.

“I could be on a business trip or vacation somewhere else in the world, but with a few taps on my smartphone, I can instantly get something printed to my home office in Sydney,” Williams explains. “I can also scan using the app, and then send my scans to my home printer… It’s perfect for the future of work – hybrid work – where people are between home and the office, or even on a beach with their laptop if that’s how they like to work. It really is a future-ready solution.”

Rachael Williams, Director of Printing Solutions at HP Australia and New Zealand. Image: Supplied.

What about sustainability?

What we choose to print is also about how we choose to do it. Businesses and their staff want to find ways to the reduce their environmental impact where possible.

In printing, this means looking at more than just the paper recycling we do in our bins at work and home – it’s also about the cartridges.

“Traditional print solutions incur high amounts of waste to landfill, so improving sustainability in the print industry is one way that we can help businesses meet their sustainability goals,” says Williams.

“According to an analysis by two overseas Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), HP Instant Ink requires less packaging, delivers more pages per cartridge and has greater end-of-life recovery rates than traditional cartridges. With Instant Ink, a pre-paid recycling satchel is included for the cartridges you receive, and when you send them back, they are recycled with zero waste to landfill.”

Just drop the recycled satchel in the postbox on your morning dog walk and you’re set. It’s a closed-loop recycling system that will hopefully see a lot less cartridges end up in landfill.

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So next time you need to urgently print a client contract or flyers on the way to an industry event, take a moment to consider how you might be able to do it with more convenience, sustainability and even cost-saving in mind.

Get HP Instant Ink for your business here.

This article is brought to you by Kochie’s Business Builders in partnership with HP.

Feature image: AdobeStock