Every organization is keen to effectively cut costs. But there’s one area of your business you may not think about when it comes to expenses… your desktop printers.
Toner is expensive. Printers are often treated like a disposable asset and are replaced rather than repaired. And printers tend to pop up unexpectedly in offices, reproducing like little paper-spewing rabbits that slowly add to your total cost of operations.
To keep that in control, more and more organizations are opting in to a Managed Print Services program.
Maybe you’ve never heard of MPS before, or maybe you’re curious about whether such a program would be a good fit for your organization. Here are the top 10 managed print services benefits that you may want to take advantage of:
Managed Print Benefit #1: Save Time (and be more efficient)
Let’s start with a simple question: what do you do when a printer breaks?
There are three common answers to this question:
- Throw it away and replace it.
- Call in the IT department to try and fix it.
- If there’s no IT department, somebody Googles “how to fix a printer” and tries to do it themselves. All three of these approaches have pros and cons associated with them. But there’s one thing that they all take: time. Whether it’s time spent researching and buying a new device, time that IT could be spending toward more important projects, or time siphoned away from a valuable employee’s primary task, dealing with broken printers can impact the overall efficiency of your office. A Managed Print Services program takes all that time and reduces it to a single phone call. A professional service tech handles the rest so that you can focus on the things that really matter.
Managed Print Benefit #2: Increase Flexibility
Your organization is unique. And it’s constantly changing.
There are plenty of ways to control your printing costs, but not all of them are created equal. Sometimes they require placing restrictions on who can print where, or maybe consolidate all printing to a single, more efficient device.
Any of those strategies might work, but it’s important to not expect magic from a one-size-fits-all solution.
When you have a good MPS program, you have a partner who is willing to work with you to build a solution that can adapt to your needs. Need to add or remove printers? Changing the volume of your printing? Need help determining where to send what jobs?
A good MPS program is flexible and helps keep your costs contained, no matter your changing print needs.
Managed Print Benefit #3: Improve Productivity
If your people are working on printers, they’re not working on something else.
If IT is fixing a broken printer, they’re not working on improving your networks or bolstering your cybersecurity.
If your admin team is constantly running out to the office supply store for toner, they’re leaving other tasks unattended.
A managed print solution can keep your print fleet running smoothly with service and supply without jeopardizing the productive workflow of your team.
Managed Print Benefit #4: Free Up Cash Flow
You want to effectively manage your fleet of printers. You don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to do it.
If you’re tempted to drop a significant amount of cash on a new fleet of brand-new printers, with the aim of reducing your long-term costs, you may want to take a look at a managed print approach before you do.
Many times, a managed print provider is able to take over your print fleet as it sits and still help control your costs without that huge upfront investment.
If you do need new devices, a robust managed print provider can lease those depreciating assets to you at a reasonable monthly cost.
Aside from the investment of devices, consider your maintenance and supply expenses. Are you likely to throw out a printer and replace it? Think of the reduced expense if a service call can resolve the issue.
Like to keep backup toner on the shelf? When supplies are covered by your MPS provider, your money isn’t tied up in those supplies. Keep your cash ready to make investments in other more crucial areas of your operation.
Managed Print Benefit #5: Be More Environmentally Friendly
Looking to make a positive impact on the environment? A managed print services program may help you go greener without making a huge impact on your bottom line.
First, think of the major negative impact that your print fleet has on the environment: waste. Reducing waste, whether paper or toner, can help reduce your environmental footprint. A well structured MPS program can help you monitor your usage and help manage your printing workflows to reduce wasteful printing.
If you’re wondering what to do with your empty toner cartridges, don’t throw them out! There are toner cartridge recycling programs that can keep that extra plastic out of the landfill. A thorough MPS provider will be able to make toner recycling easy and efficient for your team.
Another great way to make a positive impact on the environment through your printing through programs like PrintReleaf. For every 8,333 pages you print, they’ll plant a tree to help sustain and grow the global forestry system. (We’re very proud to partner with PrintReleaf at Applied Innovation.) Ask your potential MPS provider about any environmental programs they partner with.
Managed Print Benefit #6: Control Your Costs
One of the most obvious benefits of any managed service program is the ability to keep costs under control.
Many times, organizations have no idea how much they spend on their desktop printers. (And are surprised at all the ways their printers might be costing them money.) As anyone involved in managing an operation can tell you, you can’t effectively manage something that you don’t measure.
The major benefit of a managed print services program is the ability to gain total visibility into what you print, and how you use your print fleet. If you can establish a baseline for your printer use, and your spending, you’ll be able to determine how to improve it from there and really leverage your buying power.
Working with a professional managed print provider can help you find ways to reduce your costs, (such as providing reliable high-quality toner at a more reasonable rate than most office supply stores,) and receive service and supplies for your print fleet at a reasonable monthly rate that’s easy to budget for.
In many cases, a well-structured MPS program can provide printer service and supply for an organization at a similar cost to what they’re already spending on toner alone… or maybe even help save them a little money.
Managed Print Benefit #7: Tighten Your Information Security
Information security is extremely important for any organization, but it’s especially important in medical or financial applications. These organizations wisely invest in secure software and cybersecurity solutions to make sure they keep sensitive information safe.
But it’s just as important to remember more analog means of information security, like printing.
If you are sending print jobs to a communal device, is it equipped with security measures to keep just anyone from grabbing sensitive documents off the print tray? Does just anyone have the ability to print checks?
It’s important to wisely implement secure print technology for communal devices, and limit the access to check printers by placing them in secure areas. A good MPS provider will be able to help support your printer security.
Managed Print Benefit #8: Adapt To Your Changing Needs
Your print needs will change.
Whether you’re looking to go paperless, acquiring new departments, or just changing locations, your printing environment will inevitably go through changes.
A good MPS provider will be able to craft a managed solution that can change as your organization changes. If you need to move printers to new locations, add or remove or replace devices, they can adapt to your criteria and not leave you wondering what you’re going to do about Phil’s old printer.
Managed Print Benefit #9: Know You’re Covered
An obvious benefit of a managed program is removing fear of the unknown.
If you’re managing your own devices, there are a lot of unknown variables that can leave you scratching your head:
- Will your toner quality stay the same, and will your supplier continue to stock it?
- Will you be able to Google how to fix that printer when it breaks?
- Will there be parts available for that model? How long will they stay available?
- How much will it cost to call in someone to fix that printer when it breaks? With a managed print services plan, that fear is removed. You can rest easy knowing that service, parts, and even toner are all covered under the terms of your agreement.
Managed Print Benefit #10: Increase Your Device Uptime
It’s important to your operation to have functioning tools and equipment. Stopping to fix something takes away from the resources you need to stay on task and keep productive.
An MPS provider should be keenly aware of this, and do everything they can to maximize your print environment and make sure your equipment isn’t down.
A proactive service team that performs preventative maintenance can help increase the life of your entire print fleet. (At Applied Innovation, our CERTIFY program is put in place to make sure that proactive & preventative maintenance is performed at every service call.)
A truly outstanding MPS offering may also include “hot swap” backup printers at your location, just to have an option on deck in case a crucial piece of equipment were to unexpectedly break. They should be able to loan you devices as well, if the repairs are going to take any length of time.
Are You Ready To Benefit?
In most contexts, taking a managed approach to your print environment is a great way to remove the burden of desktop printer maintenance from IT’s desk, while helping to control the costs of your fleet’s supplies over time.
If you’re considering whether or not managed print services are right for your organization, it’s important to start with the most important step: establishing the baseline of what printers you have in your fleet, how much you’re using them, and how much it costs to do so.
At Applied Innovation, we take the time to understand your print needs and partner with you to make sure you take advantage of all the benefits that an MPS program could offer. Give us a call or fill out the form below. We’d love to get started with an assessment of your print environment, and help you take the first steps toward more efficient and cost-effective printing.