Every day, your business relies on your equipment and IT resources to get work done - quickly and efficiently. And yet many cost recovery products ask you to compromise that efficiency by interrupting workflow, stopping vital processes such as printing and slowing down your business. Argos software, from Sepialine, takes a different approach that preserves business processes and still maintains accountability among users.

When cost recovery systems hinder progress, users look for ways to beat or break the system. And if that doesn't work, users simply begin supplying any data that lets them get back to work. Inaccuracies mount, and the system becomes useless. Garbage in...garbage out.

At Sepialine, we have a different take. First and foremost, cost recovery should allow users to get their work done. And that's exactly what Argos software does. Users print, copy and scan just as they normally would. Nothing is stopped, quarantined or delayed. Argos messaging delivers unbilled expense activity back to the user's desktop for billing.

Without Cost Recovery

Normally, printing originates at the desktop, flows through your print server, and then arrives at the printer. (Back to top)

Conventional Cost Recovery

Many cost recovery products work at the desktop computer by blocking the print job. Users must answer questions in order to get their work done. In frustration - especially if under a deadline - users begin supplying incorrect information, simply to release their printing. (Back to top)

Argos software resides on both the desktop and the print server. As printing passes through an Argos-enabled server, all print job statistics are extracted. Printing continues normally. Argos messaging sends the unbilled print job back to the user's desktop for subsequent billing.

Lighten the Load

With server-based tracking and messaging, it's no longer necessary to display a popup to the user after every print job. The single most significant objection to print tracking among end users is that a popup dialog box appears every single time the user prints. Argos removes that requirement through icon-based notification.

The Sepialine system tray notifies you when pending expenses are waiting.

Administrators can set quotas in Argos. When a given user's unbilled printing remains below quota, a simple icon appears - much as your email software notifies you when new mail has arrived. Instead of a mandatory popup after every print job, billing occurs only when the user reaches quota.

In Argos terms, a conventional print tracking solution has a "hard wired" quota of one. Consider that, in Argos, setting a quota of three results in a 66% reduction in the number of times a user sees the print tracking user interface. That translates into more productive work, less aggravation for users and - ultimately - clean, usable cost recovery data for your business. (Back to top)