Where Businesses Lose Control Of Print Spend and How a Print Audit Helps

Why does print spend become difficult to control?

Print spend may not arise from one obvious order. It can build through routine decisions made by different departments, suppliers and approval routes. An individual invoice may look reasonable while the combined pattern remains difficult to assess.

Visibility can weaken when materials are held in several locations or when outdated artwork remains available. Reorder quantities may also continue after demand has changed. The issue is not only the price of each item. It is whether the organisation can see what it is buying, holding and replacing.

Responsibility may also be spread across procurement, marketing, operations and local offices. Each department can make a reasonable decision within its own budget while the organisation lacks a combined view of suppliers, specifications and stock. A print audit creates a shared baseline for discussing those decisions without assuming that every local order or supplier arrangement needs to change.

What does our print audit analyse before more orders go out?

Our print audit analyses current print spend and printed products rather than headline unit prices alone. Depending on the agreed scope and records available, the review may also consider supplier spread, specifications, ordering patterns and stock information. This can bring duplicate products, outdated artwork and inconsistent purchasing into one clearer picture.

Where order history and stock information are available, reviewing them together can show whether quantities reflect current demand. A low unit price may still represent poor value when materials remain unused, similar items are sourced separately or frequent small orders add administration and delivery costs. Looking at the wider pattern can provide a stronger basis for procurement decisions than reviewing one invoice at a time.

We do not leave you with a report to interpret alone. We use the findings to discuss practical next steps, which may include reviewing specifications, supplier arrangements, stock levels or the ordering route for repeat materials.

What information helps create a reliable audit?

The review is only as useful as the evidence available. Current and historic order records can show product names, quantities, frequency and supplier routes. Product lists and artwork references can help identify similar items, outdated versions or specifications that have drifted. Where stock records exist, they can add context about what is available, what is moving and what may no longer be required.

Not every organisation will hold complete records in one system. We can agree a practical starting point using the information that exists, then identify gaps that limit visibility. The purpose is not to create unnecessary administration before the audit begins. It is to define a scope that produces useful evidence and makes each recommendation traceable to the records reviewed.

This distinction matters because a print audit should not be reduced to a supplier price comparison. Price is important, but it sits alongside product specification, order frequency, delivery pattern and the risk of replacing materials before they are used. Reviewing those factors together can show where a lower unit cost is useful and where it may be offset by excess volume, duplicated products or repeated handling.

When is a print audit worth doing, and what happens next?

A print audit may be useful when spend is fragmented, difficult to explain or inconsistent across departments and locations. Indicators can include routine rush orders, stock held in several places, similar items sourced through different routes and older files remaining available after an update. These conditions do not prove that every order is poor value, but they can justify a closer review.

Once the analysis is complete, we discuss actions that reflect the evidence. Depending on the findings, these may include consolidating suppliers, standardising specifications, reviewing obsolete stock, adjusting order quantities or moving suitable items to print on demand.

Where implementation support is needed, we can connect the recommendations to procurement support, stock management and CDP Storefront, our web-to-print system for ordering approved materials. Because these are separate CDP services, the implementation scope can be agreed around the organisation’s priorities.

The findings may point to several possible changes, but they do not all need to happen at once. We can separate immediate corrections, such as withdrawing an outdated file, from longer-term decisions about suppliers, stockholding or a controlled ordering system. This gives the organisation a practical sequence for change and keeps implementation proportionate to the evidence.

Define the review before the next buying cycle

The most useful next step is to agree what the review should cover and which records are available.

Agreeing the scope first helps keep the review proportionate and gives procurement and budget holders a clear basis for assessing any recommended action.

Speak to us about the print categories, departments and locations involved, and we can confirm a practical scope for a free print audit before more budget is committed.