If you're like any other business, occasionally, one of your employees may have a large print or copy job that may tie up your copier for many hours.
Ever heard these words?
“I am so tired of marketing tying up our printer for those damn brochures.”
“Can’t they print them some other time?”
“We’re trying to get some business done here!”
Not only is this a pain, but it may not be the most cost-effective solution for your company.
Have you ever heard of Managed Print Services? If not, maybe it’s time you did. Managed Print Services is something to consider. But why?
In a few words, it’s a service provided by many copier and printer providers to assess, monitor, and manage your printing needs by a third party to offer you better efficiency in your document printing.
It’s not just for enterprise businesses either. Allowing experts and technology to manage your printing services can create efficiencies in security and costs while also helping to maximize productivity. Here are some added benefits Managed Print Services can provide your business.
The Benefits of Using a Managed Print Service
Ever hear the expression: “You don’t know what you don’t know?” Well, it’s true in this case. You may not know what type of printing is happening in your business because you aren’t in front of every copier or printer.
There may be big print jobs being run on desktop office printers by convenience or due to the inherent difficulty in using a larger printer and the maintenance problems that can crop up. Managed print services can fix all of these issues and more. By using a print service, companies receive several benefits they may not have access to otherwise, including:
- Analyzing Printer Usage: By taking a careful and overall look at your printing usage, paper flow, and the costs of each area of your business printing, you can optimize and increase efficiency.
- Modify Printer Placement: Did you know that adjusting the physical placement of your copiers or printers can make your office more productive and run more effectively?
- Picking the Right Printer for the Right Job: You may eat profits or add undue expenses to your business using printers with higher overall operating costs. A well-run managed print service will make sure this doesn’t happen. Sometimes, they can recommend upgrading or replacing legacy equipment to increase productivity and lower costs. There are so many printers to pick from; you can even find one that matches your particular budget. See our post about, The Best Kyocera Copier For Any Budget.
- Staff Training That Won’t Burden Your IT Team: MPS providers can provide additional training on your printing devices, especially when new devices are added for use, so your IT personnel can stay focused on their projects. Another area that they don’t have to worry about or manage.
- Reporting: Your MPS provider can design customized reports that you can review regularly to ensure transparency and visibility of your printing needs.
- Automated Delivery of Supplies: Although this may seem like a trivial benefit, having your managed print service provider automate the delivery of toner or other supplies can ensure minimal downtime for your machine. Also, by working closely with your MPS, you can identify potential volume spikes over the year to stay ahead with supplies.
- Remote Printing Management: Today, more staff carry and use their mobile devices, even for printing. Your MPS can help you set up and train staff on how to print from their smartphones and tablets, even when they are away from the office.
What to Expect On Your Way to Becoming an MPS Business
Not every business is ready for Managed Print Services, but when you are, or if you think it’s time to take a good long look at improving efficiency and/or you believe your printing costs are getting out of control. Then, speak to your authorized multi-function printer or copier dealer. Here’s what you can expect.
- Analyzing your business: The first thing an MPS provider will do is to analyze all of your printing. This includes your printing and document workflow (printing, scanning, distribution of documents and even faxing), review all of your printing devices (local, desktop and networked), your printer placement, security for your devices, mobile printing, and all supply costs. If you don’t have all of this information, they may even place some monitoring tools on your network for a short period of time so they can get a complete picture of your printing usage and needs.
- Developing a plan: Once they have a good overall picture of your needs, they will create a plan that will streamline printer placement, set print and workflow recommendations for routing to specific devices, identify the replacement of any legacy devices with upgrades to more efficient hardware, endorse the addition and accessibility of remote and mobile printing, while identifying cost savings by automating tasks and the delivery of supplies. They may also propose that some of your documents be moved to off-site printing companies for additional savings. Their plan and proposal will include the cost of their service so there should be fully aware of what savings they can provide your organization now (including their fees) and what you can expect in the future.
- Implementation and Ongoing Monitoring: After your review and approval of their plan, recommendations, timeline, and proposal, your Managed Print Service provider will begin implementation of their program. Be prepared, this may include new processes, vendors, tools, and suppliers. But if you welcome these changes, you should be much better off and much more informed about your business’ printing costs. They may also want to train your staff on new hardware and software. You should also expect to receive and review monthly reporting on your business's printing “health” so you can be better prepared in the future while also seeing the return on your managed print services.
Final Say: Managed Print Services for Your Business
By becoming a managed print service business using an outside service to keep costs down while keeping your efficiencies and productivity high about your office printing, you will begin seeing returns in your annual profits.
At AIS, our clients should be fully aware and well-informed of the costs associated with their office technology, especially regarding business copying, printing, and document workflow. If you want more visibility or think your printing costs are getting out of control, contact one of our technology consultants today. Also, check out our video channel on YouTube, The Copier Channel, for more resources on office technology and solutions.
