Are you trying to determine if managed print services (MPS) make sense for your business? Partnering with a leading MPS provider like imageOne can provide a wealth of benefits for companies in many industries.
Are Managed Print Services Worth It?
Many technology leaders consider managed printing solutions for outsourcing printing duties to streamline IT operations and spend less time maintaining the company’s printer fleet. However, they need to weigh the potential benefits and costs to ensure it’s worth it for their company.
MPS aims to make every IT person’s job easier. It helps them spend less time on repairs and maintenance, ensures printer fleet compliance, encourages sustainability, and provides a better employee experience.
To determine if MPS is worth it for your organization, continue reading below as we discuss what this service involves, the challenges it solves, and the long list of benefits that come with it.
What are Managed Print Services (MPS)?
Before we explore the specific benefits of MPS, let’s clarify what this service entails. What are managed print services? An MPS solution is an outsourced engagement in which a third-party provider manages a company’s printing environment. An MPS provider can:
- Right-size the printer fleet to reduce waste.
- Schedule and conduct routine maintenance to prevent downtime.
- Automate printing workflows to enhance productivity.
- Ensure compliance with data security requirements.
- Establish and enforce printing policies for better efficiency.
- Assess your printer fleet to identify cost-saving opportunities.
MPS Benefits by Industry
All industries can benefit from print as a service. Here are some of the specific reasons companies in each industry use MPS:
- Healthcare: Cuts printing costs, ensures HIPAA-compliant secure printing for patient data, and guarantees reliable access to patient records during critical moments.
- Legal: Enhances security for sensitive legal documents, reduces costs related to high-volume printing, and ensures rapid, high-quality prints for court submissions and client files.
- Education: Manages high paper usage within budget, monitors printing across numerous students and staff, and streamlines printing for assignments, exams, and administrative use.
- Finance: Lowers operational costs, secures sensitive financial reports and client data, and aids in digitizing financial documents for compliance and record-keeping. MPS helps financial companies avoid print-related data breaches.
- Manufacturing: Consolidates and standardizes printer use for production labels and barcodes, reduces material waste, and ensures uninterrupted access to printing essential for operations. Device durability and security are two critical print priorities for manufacturers.
- Construction: Strategically places printers for easy access to site plans, supports digital storage of blueprints, and improves efficiency in printing project documents and progress reports.
- Government: Ensures the security of confidential information, reduces the costs of extensive documentation, and complies with strict regulatory requirements for document handling.
- Retail: Streamlines multi-location printing needs for packing labels and marketing materials, reduces costs through digitization, and simplifies supply and maintenance management across stores.
Take control of your printing fleet with Managed Print Services from imageOne.
19 Benefits of Managed Print Services
Companies that use managed print services can enjoy significant advantages over those that decide to manage the print environment themselves. The specific benefits of MPS range from tangible cost savings to an improved employee experience.
Below, we’ll dive deeper into each of the benefits, broken down into a few main categories:
- IT Efficiencies
- Fleet Management Efficiencies
- Cost-Savings
- Security Benefits
- Employee Experience Benefits
- Environmental Benefits
IT Efficiency Advantages
One primary reason for using an MPS solution is to improve the IT department’s efficiency. It helps IT teams spend less time on help desk tickets, reduce printer downtime, and enhance workflows through automation and printer usage analysis.
1. Reduces Help Desk Tickets
Print management is time-consuming. Our experts estimate the average office worker spends about 22 minutes daily dealing with IT issues. Managed print services can reduce IT help desk tickets. MPS providers proactively monitor printer performance, maintenance needs, and toner levels to prevent printer-related IT requests.
2. Frees Up Time for IT Staff to Focus Elsewhere
Removing printer-related responsibilities from the IT team helps save valuable time and resources. Managed.IT Magazine reports that print-related helpdesk tickets take up around 40% of the team’s resources. As discussed above, reducing such requests can save teams significant time.
3. Minimizes Downtime for Better Organizational Productivity
Printer downtime can lead to a loss of productivity, which can be costly for businesses. A recent report from ITIC shows that IT downtime can cost companies a minimum of $5,000 per minute. MPS providers prevent downtime through proactive maintenance, helping to mitigate productivity loss.
4. Enables Monitoring and Analysis of Print Usage Patterns
MPS programs can help companies monitor printer usage patterns with dedicated software solutions. These insights enable them to make informed decisions that optimize the print environment and calculate the true cost of printing so they can identify potential savings opportunities.
5. Drives Innovation Through Automation
Professional print fleet management helps companies automate print workflows. Automation allows them to find new ways to manage manual processes like scanning or copying, making your work environment more innovative and productive.
Fleet Management Efficiencies
Effective print management from an expert provider can help companies evaluate and right-size their fleets for better efficiency and less waste. MPS providers are responsible for continuous monitoring, ensuring your fleet meets your organization’s needs.
6. Centralizes and Standardizes Your Fleet
MPS providers can help you standardize your devices, reducing the variations in brands and models in your fleet. A more focused fleet makes it easier to manage toner supplies and coordinate maintenance needs. It also means you can train employees on just one model or brand.
7. Maintains Your Print Environment Proactively
MPS providers frequently establish maintenance schedules and service printers to keep them in good condition. Routine maintenance can extend printer lifespan and control costs, as Processing Magazine reports reactive maintenance costs for equipment are usually 50% higher than planned maintenance.
8. Can Support and Troubleshoot Remotely
Managed print partners can provide device support and troubleshoot issues remotely using dedicated software. Data from Quocirca shows that 64% of IT decision-makers believe printing is critical or very important for their business. MPS partners can quickly resolve issues and provide support remotely without requiring a tech to travel to the site.
9. Scales and Adapts Your Fleet as Needs Evolve
A company’s printing needs will evolve, meaning its fleet must adapt accordingly to handle higher or lower print volumes without impacting productivity. MPS providers can ensure the company’s fleet can accommodate changing demands, ensuring the proper allocation for optimal efficiency.
Avoid these six mistakes businesses make with their printers.
Cost-Savings Advantages
Though MPS providers charge for their services, many companies can reduce costs in the long run by partnering with them. As experts in the industry, MPS providers know how to configure the print environment effectively and establish and enforce policies that drive cost savings and organizational efficiency.
10. Optimizes Printing Costs
MPS partners can help companies reduce hardware costs, waste output, energy consumption, and toner usage, all of which our experts estimate will save companies 20-30% on print-related costs.
11. Provides Trustworthy Guidance for Printer Leasing
Companies can also get expert guidance from an MPS provider when buying or leasing devices, ensuring they make the right decision for their budget and printing needs. For instance, leasing a commercial printer can cost $140-$180/month per device, while our estimates show a one-time printer purchase can range from $400 to over $70,000.
12. Consolidates Billing
MPS providers can consolidate billing and combat invoice fraud. Based on one poll, 89% of accounts payable teams have received a spoof invoice. Rather than managing multiple vendors and contracts, the MPS partner will handle these tasks, ensuring your bills are for legitimate services.
Security Benefits
Given the vast amount of information processed through these devices, a company’s print infrastructure is often a prime target for security breaches and hacks. MPS partners can help businesses bolster their printer security mechanisms for compliance and data protection.
13. Improves Document Security
70% of companies plan to increase spending on print security in the coming year. An MPS partner can implement the appropriate authentication mechanisms, encryption, and access controls to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive documents stored in print technology.
14. Ensures Fleet-Wide Compliance
With MPS, companies operating in highly regulated industries can ensure compliance with data privacy requirements. For example, healthcare companies with a managed print strategy can support HIPAA compliance by ensuring organizations have the proper security protocols and software.
15. Enables Auditing for Potential Breaches
68% of companies surveyed reported at least one print-related data breach within the previous year. Your MPS partner can provide a clear paper trail for companies to audit in such cases. Advanced software that maintains accurate logs of device access and print jobs is often among the services MPS providers offer.,
Employee Experience Benefits
Workers across all industries need to copy and print documents to perform their regular jobs. Managed print services improve the employee experience by ensuring reliable and convenient access to printing devices so that your workforce can remain productive.
16. Minimizes Interruptions
By helping reduce device downtime, MPS providers minimize employee work interruptions, ensuring they can print and copy documents as needed. With fewer printing equipment issues, your organization can benefit from improved productivity.
17. Improves Employee Satisfaction by Reducing Frustrations
Print devices properly maintained by MPS partners can help reduce employee frustrations. MPS providers monitor toner and paper levels, replace them as needed, and ensure the devices remain in good condition.
Environmental Benefits
MPS can also help a company achieve better sustainability by enforcing policies and implementing strategies to reduce waste and energy consumption from printing activities.
18. Reduces Paper, Ink, and Toner Waste
Paper accounts for an estimated 26% of landfill waste, and MPS can help companies implement and enforce printing policies that reduce the use of paper, toner, and ink.
19. Implements Sustainable Printing Practices
MPS partners encourage better sustainability and a lower carbon footprint by helping companies go paperless where possible, reducing resource usage and energy consumption.
Discover Print Management Services Benefits with imageOne
MPS offers countless benefits for financial companies, healthcare organizations, manufacturing businesses, legal firms, schools, and more. From environmental advantages to an improved employee experience, MPS partners expertly manage print, taking the responsibility off your plate and allowing IT teams to focus on more strategic work.
When evaluating the managed print services industry for a potential provider, find a trusted partner like imageOne. We serve businesses in Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and across the country, helping them optimize their print environments with a custom-managed print program.
”The team at imageOne actually cares about us and our success – and it shows. I would recommend this company to anyone.” – Tiffany VanDenBerg, Edward Rose & Sons
Want to learn more? Explore imageOne’s managed print services or talk to an MPS expert.
