Printing represents a significant portion of expenses for businesses every year – and many business owners don’t even know the extent of it. According to Gartner research, most companies don’t know how much they spend on printing. With Managed Print Services (MPS), businesses can take control of their printing expenditures, reclaim lost time from inefficient processes, and raise their bottom line.
What are Managed Print Services?
Managed Print Services represent a suite of solutions designed to cut costs and reduce inefficiencies related to business printing. These services can include:
- Device Management: Using the right tools for a business’ needs, including printers, scanners, and fax machines.
- Printing Software: Monitoring resource management, deploying drivers, handling mobile printing, and more.
- Document Workflow: Streamlining secure document access and distribution while minimizing unnecessary printing.
- Device and Document Security: Protecting your data and securing your devices with user and scan authentication, audit trails, and a customized security policy.
One of the most important managed print services benefits is the outsourcing of expertise. Business owners don’t have to become experts in print management – rather, they can focus energy and resources on their business. While this kind of outsourced service may sound like an expensive luxury, take a look at what companies are spending (and losing) on printing costs today:
How Much Do Businesses Really Spend on Printing?
It’s probably more than you think. In the same study by Gartner, businesses spent up to 3% of their total revenue on printing costs. When combining the direct and indirect costs of printing, these expenses can quickly spiral out of control without companies even knowing.
Business owners often consider the direct costs of printing, such as consumable resource costs and hardware. These do represent a significant portion of spending – after all, the average employee uses 10,000 pages each year. However, the indirect costs are quietly adding up, too.
Consider business flow and hardware management. Any time multiple staff members are waiting around the printer, this is costing a company money. Shredding sensitive documents can also represent an enormous portion of business costs. Whether an organization uses an in-house shredder or a shredding service, they could be spending thousands per year on shredding. With secure document management, businesses can reduce the amount of unnecessary printing of sensitive documents that would end up piling up in the shred bin.
IT departments are also spending a shocking amount of time on print management. For all tickets submitted to IT, 23% are related to printing. The amount of attention required costs hours from IT personnel and users who are interrupted by a printing issue. This combo can result in $9 of printing management for every $1 your business spends on printing.
Once businesses look at what their company is spending on printing, MPS transforms from a luxury into a financial no-brainer. In fact, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), managed print services typically lower businesses’ printing costs by up to 30%.
How Can Managed Print Services Help Businesses?
The first step for any MPS solution is to get a lay of the land for your printing processes. Creating this foundation involves a print assessment that will look at a business’ overall printing habits, document sharing behaviors, existing hardware, and resource consumption.
This print assessment will focus heavily on the most active areas of printing processes, including the location and utilization of printers with the highest volume, ink and toner suppliers and resupply processes, and user type and behavior.
Once the print assessment is complete, MPS providers can design a print management road map for steps to cut unnecessary spending and tighten process inefficiencies. These steps can include immediate responses (such as partial or complete hardware replacement, depending on a company’s needs), and ongoing IT management.
How to Get the Most Out of Managed Print Services
Every business is unique, and print management solutions need to be tailored to a company’s specific needs. For any company to maximize the benefits of managed print services from MPS solutions, it’s important to choose the right managed print service company. This print management business partner needs to have industry-specific experience, understand a company’s business ideas, and most importantly, provide specified services rather than rely on a “cookie-cutter” model.
Are you ready to cut printing costs and stop inefficiency in its tracks for your business? ImageNet is a leader in tailored MPS services. We’ll work with your business to set you up with the right hardware, a customized workflow, the best software, and the right document management services designed to empower your company. Contact us today to learn more about our comprehensive MPS solutions and take control of your business printing.