It has been said that the best leaders know how to surround themselves with the right team, and entrust them to do what they do best, with little or no micromanagement.
This is not only a trait of a good leader, but something that workers seek in an employer. Having the autonomy to make decisions throughout your day kind of makes work feel a little less like “work.”
It takes a great deal of trust for senior managers to rely on their teams this way, and it may even have to be earned. It also takes a leader who is willing to humble themselves enough to accept the fact that someone else might be able to do something better than themselves.
The same can be said for your printer fleet (that is, all of the copiers and printers in your office). You might have a trusty provider who keeps your machines up and running, but have they ever taken the time to understand the metrics behind your printed pages?
They should.
Printer metrics can be a powerful resource in revealing office inefficiencies. Without them you have no grasp of what you are paying for each month. You never blindly use cellular data unless you’re on an unlimited plan, right?
But what exactly could printer metrics tell you that you don’t already know about your business?
A lot!
With a managed print services plan, you hand over the keys to the operation of your fleet. The agreement starts with an assessment, which usually entails some network monitoring for a set period of time to reveal trends in workflow.
The data captured in the assessment then serves as a baseline for printer selection. This way, you get just what you need - nothing more, nothing less. From there, the sky is the limit in working with your provider to identify your printing bottlenecks and resolve them.
Even better, with managed print services, you not only save yourself the headaches you and your IT people currently encounter, but you can also save money.
Many potential customers ask us, how can you maintain service and quality – toner is expensive? Well, we buy toner by the pallet. That, and our knowledge of printers and copiers, provides us economies of scale that individual offices can't match.
If you’re still not sure if it’s right for you, ask yourself:
If you have never thought about these questions, you could be missing out on significant savings.
Let’s be honest, managing your company’s fleet can be complex. If you are a larger organization with a variety of printing devices - copiers, printers, fax machines, desktop printers, and production equipment - don’t forget, not all devices are created equal. Staying on top of their differences might be taking more of your company's time and resources than you think.
Don’t allow you or your IT people to get stuck in the revolving pattern of break-fix printer management - trudging through your work week putting out fires. Fires only result in two things - too much work and not enough strategy.
Relinquishing control of your fleet is possible. Feel good about the tools you use for business and entrust their management to someone who makes it their mission to maximize their capabilities. If there’s one thing you don’t have to micromanage, it’s your printer fleet. Leave it to the experts.