We may be in the midst of digital transformation, but printing continues to be an essential function in the modern office. An average worker prints more than 10,000 pages per year and printing is among the largest operational expenses most companies have.
It’s easy to see why a growing number of businesses are turning to managed print service (MPS) contracts to cut costs and improve efficiency. The MPS market is thriving and is expected to reach US $49.7 billion by 2025.
What are Managed Print Services?
At this point, you might be wondering, “What is MPS?” Let’s start with a definition from the Managed Print Services Association: “MPS is the active management and optimization of business processes related to documents and information, including input and output devices.”
Under MPS contracts, companies hand over the maintenance of their printing fleet to third-party print providers that offer a full range of services tied to keeping printers, scanners, copiers and fax machines running efficiently and ensuring they’re always well-stocked with toner and ink. The third-party service provider then owns, supplies, services and updates the fleet as per the terms of the contract in exchange for a predetermined fee, most commonly structured as a price per page printed.
MPS programs have grown in popularity in recent years because an MPS program has the potential to lower overall printing costs, provide better insight into usage, use IT resources more efficiently, increase data security and reduce the environmental impact.
5 Reasons to Choose MPS
Managed print services are about bringing efficiency and clarity to what is often a costly but poorly understood business process. Here are five of the top reasons to put your printing services in the hands of an expert:
1. Lower Printing Costs
One of the big reasons MPS solutions are so popular is that they reduce costs. More and more companies are looking for ways to optimize and streamline costly or inefficient business processes. By outsourcing printing services to an MPS, provider businesses can save up to 30% on printing costs.
At first glance, it may seem that managing your printers in-house would be the cheapest way to go. But that’s not the full story. There are hidden costs created by hanging on to older devices, which are more prone to break down. This results in more equipment downtown and places a more significant burden on busy IT teams.
An MPS provider can also assess your entire range of printing resources and look for ways to consolidate and optimize your printers, which saves money in the long run.
2. Better Insight
Although printing is a top business expense, 90 percent of companies don’t know how much it costs. That’s due in part to the fact that, in most companies, responsibility for managing printers mostly falls on the IT department but other departments often look after things like setting up authorizations and ordering supplies.
This can make it challenging to get a clear view of what’s really going on. It’s hard to make informed decisions without knowing how much you’re spending and where. Centralizing services with an MPS provider ensures you get the complete picture as well as the data you need to make better choices.
3. Greater Efficiency
Equipment breakdown is irritating for your workers and costly for your business. It also ties up your IT team who must diagnose problems and manage equipment maintenance and repairs.
An MPS solution takes the burden off the shoulders of IT, allowing the team to focus on its principal work. It can also minimize printer downtime by replacing manual processes with automated ones that send alerts and notifications about supply needs and service issues.
4. Increased Security
Data security and information privacy are growing concerns for businesses and their customers. According to a 2016 report, 70 percent of organizations said they experienced a print-related data breach in the past year.
New printers have sophisticated security features that help protect confidential data and privacy. For instance, software that enables locked or “follow-me” printing allows users to control precisely where and when a printing job takes place. This reduces the chance of confidential information being left in the print tray for others to see.
As well, MPS providers actively monitor and install updates to ensure devices are equipped with the latest security capabilities.
5. Improved Sustainability
In an effort to reduce their impact on the environment, many companies are looking for ways to become more sustainable. Eighty-one percent of companies say they chose MPS to decrease environmental waste.
If not managed properly, printing can be a significant source of waste. Good planning and a strategy to consolidate devices can significantly reduce the amount of paper and toner that’s wasted. Smart devices can help businesses make better sustainability choices.
For example, data from these devices can be used to track paper and colour usage and make sure toner cartridges are only changed when they need to be.
Is MPS Right for You?
If your company has a large fleet of printers that it’s struggling to maintain, managed print services would be an excellent way to manage it more efficiently. Mid-sized companies are the fastest-growing segment of the MPS market because they tend to have small IT teams but may have 100 or more printers to maintain, but companies of all sizes see the benefits of handing over key business processes like printing to a third-party.
Not only are there cost and efficiency benefits, but MPS also frees up valuable IT resources to focus on things that are more critical to the success of your business, such as security and digital transformation.
If reducing your printing costs is a priority for your organization, take a few minutes to read our Complete Guide to Controlling Printing Costs. It breaks down the questions you need to answer and the tactics you can use to take control of your print costs.
Cory Porteous
Director of Marketing & Inbound Business Development
Office Interiors
