Local Devices Ratio

The Local Devices Ratio is the number of local devices (i.e. printers connected directly to an employee workstation) per 100 employees. You can use this tool to help you determine if your organization has too many local printers. The Local Device Ratio is calculated using the following formula:

Local Device per 100 Employees Ratio = (Number of local devices / Number of Employees) * 100

A green gauge indicates that the ratio of local devices per 100 employees is under the target and implies a healthy local device per 100 employees ratio.
A yellow gauge indicates that the ratio is approaching, but not over the target.
A red gauge indicates that the ratio of local devices per 100 employees is over the target.

Why is this important?

Shared devices provide many advantages over locally attached devices. Local desktop printers are typically the most expensive devices. Many organizations are surprised to see how high this value is. Eliminating or significantly reducing the amount of local printers in favor of more cost-effective shared devices often provides a quick path toward reducing operational costs.

If your environment has a high Local Devices Ratio, ask yourself the following:

Are local devices justified?
Is the amount of local device volume justified?
Are employees aware of the high cost of desktop printing?
Is the organization aware that a secure printing solution is more effective way to ensure document security and confidentiality?

In most cases, employees think they need personal printers for security reasons; they may need to print documents containing sensitive information. This is the most expensive way to obtain document security. Secure pull printing enables you to take advantage of shared, efficient network devices. Employees use their ID card or AD credentials to authenticate at a printer to release their documents. This ensures that documents can be accessed only by their owners, and it allows the document owner to release their document at any device on the network.