“Is my printer meeting my needs?”
This is a question few, if any, small business owners will ask themselves when thinking about ways to change their company’s infrastructure to meet their needs. While at first glance it may not seem like printers demand much attention, they do make up a significant part of your infrastructure and can go a long way toward making your organization work more efficiently.
When the time does come to consider how your printers can enhance your business, consider Managed Print Services.
Managed Print Services is a service that’s designed to help businesses streamline their printing operations by reducing operating costs and waste, and increasing productivity. It works much the same way as Managed IT Services, in that you have a company work with you to develop a printing solution tailored to meet your needs. This could include consolidating print, scan, copy and fax into one machine, or, upgrading systems to connect to the network to allow for virtual printing.
The benefits of doing this can be far reaching and could include:
- Decreased IT costs. Many office printers and copiers are closed systems that require a qualified technician to fix, or at the very least take up the time of your IT staff. If you have a managed service, maintenance for your machines is usually a part of your service contract, which saves you money in repairs, and your IT staff will be freed up to focus on priority tasks.
- Decreased material costs. Many managed print services use new technology that might mean a larger investment in the short term, but this technology can quickly pay for itself through increased output, decreased material cost and lower maintenance costs.
- Helps the environment. As managed print service companies use current technology, which itself uses less energy, you’ll find electrical bills to be lower. The technology also uses less ink and can reuse paper, thus reducing harmful waste and helping the environment.
- Increased productivity. By making printing systems more efficient, a company will see an increase in physical output, because workers are not constantly waiting for the printer to do its job.
If your company is looking for a new printing solution, you should ask yourself these three questions:
- Will we see ROI? Many companies will see upwards of a 30% savings in printing costs with an optimized printing solution. It’s important to work with managed printing providers to ensure that you will actually save money with their systems, or at least see a return on your initial investment.
- Can our technology support growth? Many small businesses are constantly changing and their current solutions may not meet needs in the future. You should analyze your current technology and see if it will be able to support you in the future.
- How much does printer downtime cost you? If you’re using older technology that’s constantly breaking down, the cost of downtime can be quite high. This is a good indication of the need for managed print services.
- Do you want to focus on printers? If your business is in need of a printing solution to help operations, and doesn’t focus on printing, or you want to spend less time thinking about printers and more time focusing on tasks, then going with a managed print service is a good choice for you.
If you’re looking to upgrade your printers, or are looking for other ways to make your business more efficient, we’re here to help.
