Save Time & Money with Managed Printing Services
If you’re running a business, printing is likely an essential part of your daily operations. How you approach office printing has a direct impact on your ROI and operating costs. Did you know that IT staff spends 25% of their time (on average) managing and maintaining output devices such as printers at their companies?!
An efficient solution to improve your workflow, productivity, and ROI is managed printing services (MPS). What is an MPS? Read on to learn more about this useful program.
What is a Managed Printing Service (MPS)?
Let’s start with the basics: Managed Printing Services (MPS) is the oversight and management of a business’ output needs by an outside service provider, such as ManagedPrint. Custom MPS programs can be built around any business need, printing fleet size, and operational challenge.
Dedicated MPS providers create strategies to help businesses manage print costs, gain control, and gain efficiency. In short, MPS saves you money in printer hardware and labor.
How much can I save with MPS?
How much you end up saving by going with a managed printer company depends on the size of your printing fleet. Typically, in a managed printing environment that has been optimized, small businesses can expect to save between 10-15% in printing costs.
Managed printing devices feature remote capabilities and specific components that lower service costs and extend the life of your printer. The scanning features are also more robust in managed printers, so they generally deliver better value all around.
What’s the difference between a regular printer and a managed device?
To clarify, transactional printers are different from managed printers. Transactional printers are sold directly to businesses and do not include management from a service provider.
For example, a business cannot simply go online and purchase a managed printer. Manufacturers of managed devices and printers require that their products are sold by an MPS provider, such as ManagedPrint. In order to buy a managed printer, a business needs to work with a managed printer company.
While transactional printers have the look and feel of managed printers, when you dig down into the numbers, they are far less effective in terms of initial price, printing capacity, and maintenance than their managed printer equivalent (MPE).
Below is a comparison of a managed printer (purchased from an MPS company) and a transactional printer (purchased from a retailer selling printers and other computing hardware). Both are business-grade hardware, but the total cost and maintenance vary greatly.
| Type of Printer | Managed | Transactional |
|---|---|---|
| Product Name | HP LaserJet Managed | HP LaserJet Enterprise |
| Price | $1150.00 | $1249.00 |
| Max Pages Per Month | 420,000 | 275,000 |
| Maintenance / Service Agreement | Yes | No |
| Total Cost of Ownership (5 years) | $3,340 | $4,549.00 |
The numbers speak for themselves. It costs more than $1,000 over a five-year period for a single transactional printer compared to a managed printer. And that’s for a single printer!
Who is eligible for MPS?
As a rule of thumb, any workgroup (defined as five or more people using a device) offers an ideal environment for a managed printing solution.
Most companies use transactional printers for their everyday printing needs. However, every transactional printer has a managed print equivalent (MPE), typically equipped for higher print volume and higher yield (which amounts to a lower cost per page).
If you want to see how your current transactional printer compares to an MPE, contact a dedicated MPS provider to learn more about your options.
How can my business get started with MPS?
At ManagedPrint, MPS usually begins with an assessment of your equipment and needs. From there, existing hardware, such as printers, faxes, scanners, photocopiers, and multifunction devices (MFP), is typically partially or completely replaced.
The service provider will then install and manage the necessary hardware, parts, and supplies. An MPS provider may also monitor and report on usage, problems, and user experience to help businesses improve efficiency.
The approach to MPS at ManagedPrint is to identify areas that will create the fastest return on investment for our customers. We typically look for the following:
- Systems with a high cost of operation located in high usage areas
- Unsecured or unmanaged printer supply cabinets
- High numbers of device types
- Departments and users with printing issues
Interested in learning more about MPS? Want to analyze your cost savings with an MPE? Contact us today!
