Every copier company will tell you that managed print services saves money and boosts office productivity.
It also happens to be true. Print fleets (your office's printers and copiers) are often overlooked as a source for savings.
But let's get beyond buzzwords and bland statements of “we'll help you be more productive and save money.”
Here are five hidden ways MPS can help your office save and also make your teams more efficient:
In many office environments, employees flock to the device that is closest to their desk. This is often inefficient because not all devices are created equal.
Multifunction printers (that'd be what you call “the copier”) come in all sizes. Some can print color, some cannot. Some should only be used for light printing. Others are built for high volume jobs.
Features can also affect the unit’s cost per page. The same black and white document printed on a high-speed device might actually cost LESS per page than a slower MFP that might be more conveniently located for a user.
That’s why copier and printer placement is usually the first thing that is assessed in a managed print partnership. In office equipment installs, devices are usually placed with very little thought about the actual work being done on them.
With MPS, we do a short period of print monitoring, so our MPS specialist can get a good look at your workflows and make recommendations for device placements that make the most sense.
Printing is often something that people do without a second thought. But when your employees are unaware of the actual cost of their haphazard printing, they aren’t doing your budget any favors.
An essential part of the MPS puzzle is print monitoring so you can see exactly who is printing, when, and where. This can help reveal you office’s peak printing times, as well as under-used devices that you are already paying for in a monthly contract.
Preventative maintenance means fewer service calls because you are staying on top of things. Think of a PM visit like an oil change - a certified professional replenishes the basics and at the same time, performs a comprehensive inspection and alerts you to possible issues.
In a typical PM visit, a tech will check over you entire machine for obvious problems (poor copy quality, broken accessories, etc.), and inspect and replace parts in accordance to their recommended lifespan and your meter reading.
Keeping your device on a regular routine for maintenance will help keep it up and running. This means less time waiting for repairs that could have been prevented in the first place.
Like toilet paper and paper-towel shopping, ordering copier supplies is kind of a ritual. If you really think about it, you usually run out of these consumables around the same time each month. With MPS, toner delivery can be setup to arrive right when you need it based off of device alerts from each unit within your fleet.
You get what you need, when you need it.
This way, there is no more hassle, or need to search through your supply closet looking for that toner refill you thought you ordered last time you ran out. Toner delivery is synchronized with your printing needs.
“I love fielding printer problems!” said no IT person EVER.
Just because printers are on a company’s network, doesn’t mean that all of the responsibilities for managing them should fall on your already busy IT department. MPS can help by offloading some of the more mundane fleet management tasks such as help desk support for printing issues, service problems, and reporting.
If you think about it, a managed print agreement is truly a win-win for your office - you save money and your employees print more efficiently. Keep your new year on the right track and get started today with a free assessment of your printing habits.