Optimizing operational costs is crucial, especially when considering methods like reducing staff or compromising service quality. However, implementing painless cost-cutting strategies is achievable.
One highly effective approach is leveraging managed printing solutions. This innovative solution not only trims print-related expenses but also enhances productivity. In today’s business climate, marked by economic fluctuations and the perpetual drive for cost efficiency, optimizing print management often remains underrated. Managed Print Services (MPS) present a robust solutions for organizations to revamp their print infrastructure, curtail print costs, and bolster productivity.
MPS encompasses a suite of strategies aimed at rationalizing the print environment. By outsourcing print-related tasks to specialists, organisation can streamline workflows, minimize toner usage, and consolidate their printing processes. This optimization doesn’t just reduce costs; it also improves overall efficiency and workflow management.
Investing in MPS doesn’t entail compromising on quality or resorting to drastic measures like layoffs. Instead, it offers a seamless solutions to enhance operational efficiency while trimming unnecessary expenditures associated with print management. By embracing MPS, organizations can navigate economic uncertainties with a leaner, more optimized print infrastructure that fuels productivity and minimizes costs.
What Are Managed Printing Solutions?
Managed print solutions encompass all aspects of office equipment related to printing, including multifunction printers, copiers, fax machines, and scanners.
In essence, organizations employing managed print solutions enlist external managed IT services to oversee and manage their internal printing operations. These experts identify and rectify inefficiencies in processes such as unnecessary printing or misuse.
Through managed print services, you gain comprehensive control over your printing and copying workflow without the need for hands-on involvement, leading to cost savings.
This entails not just printer maintenance and ensuring smooth operations but also monitoring factors like paper consumption, page counts, error logs, and toner levels to optimize resources effectively.
By leveraging managed print solutions, organizations can streamline their print infrastructure, enhance operational efficiency, and benefit from multifunctional capabilities while optimizing costs and ensuring smooth workflows.
5 Benefits Of Managed Print Services
Managed Print Services (MPS) come with a range of benefits that can significantly enhance your organization’s efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Firstly, partnering with an effective MPS provider can minimize the need for time-consuming and inefficient IT support calls. They achieve this by proactively maintaining your printers and related devices, offering training, and providing ongoing support to your staff.
Moreover, managed print solutions enable more precise management of your resources. Professionals actively identify and reduce hidden sources of waste, such as unnecessary overprinting or non-work-related printing activities.
A quality MPS provider monitors these processes in real-time and generates detailed reports regularly. These reports offer a comprehensive overview of your printing operations’ efficiency, helping you identify areas of waste and address issues promptly.
Overall, managed print services not only optimize your printing infrastructure but also enhance productivity, reduce costs, and streamline your organization’s operations effectively.
1. Equipment Always Updated
Updating and upgrading printers and copiers often takes a backseat in many companies’ priority lists, leading them to rely on outdated devices that are prone to failures and expensive repairs.
While these legacy devices may have been a significant investment initially and served the company well in the past, they can become costly liabilities over time. They are more likely to break down, resulting in downtime and increased maintenance expenses.
Moreover, using older devices often necessitates having multiple machines to handle different tasks, which not only takes up valuable space but also wastes employees’ time as they switch between devices to complete tasks.
On the contrary, modern multi-function devices (MFDs) offer high efficiency by consolidating various functions into one device. This consolidation not only saves space but also reduces energy costs, particularly with ENERGY STAR-rated devices. Upgrading to MFDs streamlines operations, enhances productivity, and lowers overall operational costs.
2. Help You Keep Track of Printed Pages
Poorly managed printing can quickly accumulate costs for businesses. Studies suggest that up to 3% of annual revenue can be consumed by printing expenses, and when factoring in hidden costs, this percentage can rise significantly.
On average, a white-collar employee may print around 10,000 pages annually, with a notable portion being non-essential materials. Surprisingly, about 50% of printed pages end up in the recycling bin by the end of the day, and roughly 20% are never retrieved from the printer tray.
Managed print services provide visibility into printer and copier usage, allowing you to track who uses them and for what purpose. This transparency reveals inefficiencies in printing practices and enables you to optimize the process effectively.
3. Improve Data Security
The risk of data breaches due to unsecured physical documents or uncollected prints from printer trays can expose businesses to significant liabilities and potential civil penalties.
By investing in managed IT services and print solutions, companies can mitigate these risks effectively. Professionals in this field can enhance digital infrastructure, bolster network security, and implement advanced cybersecurity protocols.
Compliance with data security laws and regulations is also crucial. Managed print services can assist in conducting audits on risk mitigation strategies, controls, and processes to demonstrate compliance. This proactive approach significantly reduces the costs associated with compliance.
Utilizing a document management system and integrated fleet of managed multi-function devices further enhances data security and compliance efforts. Automated workflows and data management systems create an audit trail of staff interactions with company records, enabling precise tracking and accountability in case of a potential breach.
In essence, managed print solutions not only improve data security but also streamline compliance efforts, reducing costs and enhancing overall risk management strategies for businesses.
4. Provide Considerable Savings On Supplies
While printers and copiers are significant investments, their operational costs, especially due to inefficient imaging transfer systems in legacy devices, can be even higher.
For instance, printer ink costs approximately $12,000 per gallon, highlighting the potential savings from reducing printer supply usage.
Running out of supplies during critical times can disrupt productivity and incur substantial costs. Managed print solutions providers ensure consistent availability of ink, toner, and paper, preventing such disruptions.
By partnering with a managed print services provider, businesses eliminate the need to rush to commercial suppliers and pay premium prices for supplies. Everything is included in the program, providing cost savings and peace of mind.
5. Help to Streamline the Working Environment
Effective managed print services providers can assess and streamline your printing workflows. In addition to cost savings achieved by upgrading outdated printers with modern solutions, using appropriate devices for specific tasks significantly boosts staff productivity.
MPS providers optimize your printer fleet, ensuring maximum return on investment by aligning usage with actual needs, minimizing unnecessary expenses.
As more employees seek flexible remote work arrangements post-pandemic, managed print solutions are poised to become integral to modern work environments.
Why Is Printing So Complicated?
High-volume printing has many moving parts. Printing equipment must be kept in peak condition; delivery must be handled in an organized and timely fashion. Maintaining optimal print quality is also critical as this can have an enormous impact on a company’s reputation. When we address the issue of quality, however, we have to take into consideration the delicate balancing act between cost and output. The key is knowing how to produce a stunning product without maximizing costs.
An end-to-end managed printing service program that tackles each and every step of printing production can be instrumentally helpful for businesses in this aspect. You can focus on what you do best while letting the printing service focus on ensuring that your needs are managed according to your company’s unique workflow.
The True Cost of Mismanaged Print
As much as we’d love to live in a paperless world, businesses continue to rely on the printed word out of necessity. When printing tasks are delayed or mismanaged, employee productivity is reduced and essential information fails to reach its destinations. Most businesses are ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of large-scale printer maintenance and support, and the costs associated with these tasks can eat into your bottom line. That’s why managed printing services are such a lifesaver. They enable you to allocate all your printing needs to a single expert source, thereby freeing up your resources and finances.
If your printing tasks have become overwhelming and are now hindering your productivity, consider how managed printing services can get you back on task.
Conclusion
In conclusion, investing in managed print services (MPS) offers multifaceted benefits to businesses. Beyond cost savings achieved through efficient supply management and optimized workflows, MPS providers enhance productivity by aligning the right devices with specific tasks. This not only streamlines operations but also improves the overall working environment, catering to the evolving needs of a post-pandemic workforce seeking flexible work options.
Moreover, the expertise of MPS providers in analyzing and optimizing printing processes ensures businesses get the most value from their investments. As technology continues to advance, embracing managed print solutions becomes imperative for organizations aiming to stay competitive, cost-effective, and responsive to changing work dynamics.
