The hidden benefits of a managed print service

Quite often when a business faces the challenge of reducing its operating costs and improving its bottom line, off-and-whence printing is not usually an area which would spring t mind.  Yet, it’s an area where significant savings can be made if an appropriate solution is put in place.  By adopting a managed print service, organisations can achieve significant savings, not just in cost, but time savings, environmental savings, productivity and efficiency.  There is really a raft of benefits that a managed print service can bring.

Uncontrolled procurement

No structure to purchasing of print equipment is common and quite often desktop printers purchased on an ad-hoc, a basis can lead to problems. Desktop printers can be purchased with a little upfront cost, however, the ongoing running costs can be astronomical.   A structured managed print service that provides a balanced deployment of shared multi-functional devices and the removal of unnecessary personal desktop printers will significantly reduce printing costs across a business.

Consumables

Like the issues with uncontrolled procurement, no structure around the purchasing of print consumables can prove extremely costly.  The replenishment of inkjet or laser consumables can lead to higher costs and the hassle of purchasing consumables for different devices which have been procured over a given period.  A managed print service will provide your print consumables as part of the contract at a much more competitive price than purchasing ad-hoc, also there’s no more stockpiling of excessive toner inventory as they are sent through just as you need them.

Alternatives to paper

The debate around the paperless office has been around for some time and print use has not shown any rapid decline as yet.  We are certainly shifting more towards the paperless office, where organisations are looking at how to use technology to streamline the use of documents, but there is still a long way to go.  The latest print hardware provides some exceptional functionality to enable businesses to manage their documents more effectively, even with simple elements like scan to email or scan to folder.  There is also intuitive software which can be integrated into your equipment such as document management or finance automation software to give you a clear audit trail of all your documents for easy access and retrieval.  

Document security

Office printing can be a risky business.  Stacks of paper left by the office printer at the end of the day are a common site across many organisations.  In recent years there have been high-profile coverage of leading businesses being fined due to the lack of data protection around documents.  Shifting away from personal devices to shared workgroup printers often faces resistance from staff who feel like their printing will not be as secure.  When in fact the opposite is true and documents will potentially be much more secure. Pull print solutions can be integrated into a managed print service to ensure documents remain secure as each user has to physically retrieve their prints at the device by either a PIN or proximity card.  Any prints that aren’t retrieved at the end of the day get erased from the print log, which helps to reduce paper waste and increases document security.

Improved staff productivity

There will be certain departments or individuals in your business that are more reliant on paper than others.  Paper can place a real burden on a business, difficulty retrieving documents quickly, human error with processing paperwork, and physical storage of hard copy documents for example.  Managed Print Services have evolved and the more innovative providers now focus on the document and how to reduce the reliance on print to provide solutions which give you improved processes to help you manage your documents in a better way. Multi-functional devices allow you to scan and send documents to specific folders and document management solutions allow you to smartly, capture, store, distribute and retrieve documents at the touch of a button.  This provides better visibility and traceability of documents and improves staff productivity with less time spent on paper-intensive tasks, leaving them to focus on other key areas.

Simplified Management

Management of a print network can become problematic and time-consuming when the IT dept or person responsible for managing the print isn’t sure of all the devices on the network.  Having different types of devices with no standardization across the business can be extremely frustrating and it just makes the day-to-day running harder than it needs to be.  Having all your devices standardised ensures that staff can have access to the same user interface and functionality, irrespective of where they access the device. A managed print service should provide a comprehensive package, proactively monitoring and managing your devices for you, regular maintenance schedules and remote monitoring software will ensure any potential issues are quickly addressed and should the device fail engineers will be on call to visit your site and get the device back up and running as quickly as possible.

So what is a managed print service and how can it help?

According to leading industry analysts, Gartner a managed print service is optimising or managing a company's document output.

Put simply, a managed print service is typically a 3-5 year contract depending upon your requirements, you pay a monthly fee which includes your hardware, software, consumables, management and support, allowing for easy budgeting and greater control over your assets.  A managed print service will help you control costs, increase sales revenue and streamline business processes to become a more efficient and productive business.  Click here to learn more about MPS.

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