Although many businesses have gone digital, printing remains a necessity. While printing has many benefits, it can also be wasteful, expensive, and inefficient. Moreover, printing different documents can also jeopardize a company’s information security.
If you want to ensure printing is your company’s asset and not a liability, you should consider managed print services. Here, you’ll learn all about these services and their greatest benefits.
What Are Managed Print Services?
Numerous print providers offer managed print services. These services involve managing, optimizing, and assessing a company’s printing environment.
A provider will first discuss your printing needs, costs, potential security threats, and policies. The provider will also monitor the usage of printing devices. Then, it will develop a strategy to help you improve your company’s printing processes and enhance efficiency.
The Benefits of Managed Print Services
These are some of the benefits of managed print services:
They Save Time and Improve Efficiency
Although it may not seem like it at first glance, your employees spend a lot of time on printer-related tasks. Scanning, printing, faxing, and copying documents and photos can be time-consuming, especially if employees use old equipment or outdated software.
Moreover, the equipment can malfunction and require repairs, affecting the employees’ productivity. We should mention that replacing ink toners and cartridges also takes time.
With managed print services, you gain insight into the performance and efficiency of every piece of equipment. Carefully designed plans ensure regular and proper maintenance and prevent malfunctions. As a result, your employees won’t waste time with faulty equipment.
They Are Cost-Effective
Many business owners believe they have an efficient print setup. They conduct regular equipment maintenance, and as soon as there’s a malfunction, they tend to it and get a device up and running again in no time. While this can be a good approach, it’s not very cost-effective.
Attending to one device at a time is much more expensive than attending to all of them simultaneously. How can one do that? The answer is managed print services.
A common part of managed print services is connecting all printing devices to a cloud-based monitoring system. Thanks to constant monitoring, there’s no room for unexpected issues like running out of toner or unaddressed malfunctions.
You can buy toner and ink cartridges in bulk with managed print services, thus saving money. Plus, you’ll be able to keep track of your inventory and prevent over-ordering supplies.
They Improve Productivity
Managed print services can significantly improve the productivity of all departments within your company. How? Before recommending a specific plan, the provider will assess the current printing needs of every department. Based on this information, the provider predicts future needs and creates a tailored program This can include printing off-site or from mobile phones, or printing document formats the employees often use.
With regular hardware upgrades, managed print services can also increase your employees’ productivity. Many providers are willing to train your staff to use different equipment and get them up to speed with new workflows.
They Improve Cash Flow
Replacing an entire fleet of printing devices can be costly. That’s why many managed print service providers offer numerous payment options and even lease hardware. Many companies like the option to pay per page, allowing them to manage their budget more efficiently.
They Are Eco-Friendly
Managed print services enable you to track levels of print usage. Over time, you can identify room for improvement and use less paper, thus reducing your environmental footprint. You can record these efforts in your corporate social responsibility report.
They Help Your Team Be More Agile
Managed print service providers can be powerful allies in helping your team be more agile. Since these providers constantly monitor your printing needs, they can offer valuable advice and support.
They can train your staff and guide them through major changes, thus ensuring no one feels left behind.
They Improve Information Security
Perhaps the most significant reason business owners decide to use managed print services is enhanced security. Since information security breaches and intellectual property thefts have, , become common, it’s no surprise that many companies fear them.
As mentioned, a managed print service provider will first assess your company before suggesting a particular strategy. This assessment involves identifying potential security risks the company faces. The strategy the managed print service provider proposes will suggest a variety of ways to mitigate the risks through a print security plan. This plan is tailored to fit a company’s particular needs.
Some of the ways to improve print security are:
- Coming up with printer sign-in procedures
- Waste disposal
- Automatic hard drive wiping
- Network-level solutions that prevent hackers from retrieving information
They Allow IT Staff to Deal With Other Issues
IT professionals have numerous duties within their company. One of them usually involves fixing printers, scanners, copiers, and fax machines. While they may be happy to help, the main responsibility of IT professionals usually doesn’t revolve around repairing the company equipment. If they often deal with repairs, these employees can’t focus on other pressing issues.
By hiring a managed print service provider, you’ll take some burden off your IT team and allow them to take care of other, often more important, duties. Such duties may be anything from maintaining and repairing software to updating computer network systems.
They Allow You to Track Data
A significant part of managed print services is data tracking. This is usually done through software that automatically records data from every printer. There’s no need to waste time figuring out how to get a meter count for every single printer in your office.
Grow Your Business With Managed Print Services
Managed print services can do wonders for your business, but only if you partner up with a reliable and experienced provider. Such a provider will assess your company thoroughly and act in your best interest. Moreover, it will offer constant support, answer all your questions, and create an impeccable print infrastructure.
If you need managed print services in New York, Totowa, Pennsauken, Edison, or Ft. Washington, contact Docutrend.