Almost every business has some level of printing needs, but these days, you don’t necessarily need to own and operate your own printers to meet those needs; you can outsource your printing responsibilities to a managed provider. Many businesses are making the switch to managed print services (MPS), and it might be the right move for yours, too.
An Overview of Managed Print Services
Managed print services are comprehensive printing service packages offered by specialist providers. Often, you can negotiate a custom service plan to suit your needs, and your provider will be able to take on all of your printing responsibilities. That includes:
- Conducting audits of your existing printing hardware to assess how well it meets your needs
- Making recommendations, if necessary, about printing upgrades that may improve efficiency
- Handling printing software installations, configuration, and optimization
- Taking care of printer maintenance and repairs, as issues arise
- Proactively ordering printing supplies, i.e., ink, toner, paper, so you always have what you need
The aim of managed print services is quite simply to ease the burden on the client, removing some of the more tedious IT-related elements from their workflows and striving to make their printing processes the fastest and most efficient they can be.
The Benefits and the Downsides
The benefits of managed print services are numerous:
- Optimizing Printing Workflows: Arguably, the No. 1 benefit of using a managed print provider is that they know what is needed to make your printing processes flow smoothly and smarter. They can make the changes and recommendations needed to save time and minimize waste.
- Taking Tedious Tasks Out of Your Hands: Looking up printer error codes and ordering more toner aren’t exactly the most engaging of business tasks. Managed print services take care of these day-to-day chores for you.
- Saving Money, Time, and Resources: While managed print services do come with up-front costs, you can often save a lot in the long run. They’ll find ways to make your printing more efficient and keep downtime to a minimum, which can improve productivity and even morale.
- Strengthening Security: Many business owners invest heavily in cybersecurity services but are blissfully unaware that their office devices, like printers, could expose their entire networks to infiltration. A managed provider will be able to address any vulnerabilities.
- Improving Sustainability: Business owners are increasingly seeking ways to become more sustainable and reduce their energy consumption and waste generation. Managed print providers can help you cut down on wasted paper and use less energy.
At the same time, there are some potential downsides to consider:
- Not for Everyone: Managed print services tend to work best for businesses that have reasonably high printing and copying needs, and may not be entirely relevant if you only use your printers infrequently.
- Loss of Control: If you hand your printing tasks over to a provider, you may feel like you’re less in control of business operations. Fortunately, this doesn’t tend to matter so long as you choose a trusted, reputable provider.
An Overview of Unmanaged Print Environments
Unmanaged printing is the conventional model. This is when all of your business’s printing responsibilities fall on your shoulders (or those of your IT team). You have to understand your printing needs and respond to them by buying the right hardware, maintaining your printers, ordering any toner and ink or other printing supplies you need, etc.
The Downsides
- Everything Is On You: Without a provider to assist you, it’s up to you and your in-house team to take care of all your printing needs. That means you have to employ and train IT professionals to manage your devices, make time to maintain and optimize printers, etc.
- Spiraling Costs: While it may seem cheaper to do things in-house, the costs of printing can quickly spiral out of control if you don’t have a provider in charge of them. It can cost a lot of money, for example, to pay for repairs, or you might waste funds on devices that aren’t a good fit.
- Needless Waste, Downtime, and Errors: If your printing processes are not properly optimized, they will invariably cause waste. You’ll waste paper, ink, toner, and time dealing with recurring errors that could have been avoided with the aid of a managed print services provider.
Which Is Best?
Overall, when comparing managed print services and in-house side-by-side, the winner is clear to see. Managed services are overall more efficient, more cost-effective, and quite simply the smarter choice for almost any modern business.
They also ease the burden on your staff. Unless you have minimal printing needs or an extensive, established IT team already on board, ready to take care of your printing needs, it generally makes sense, economically and efficiency-wise, to consider the switch to a managed provider.
Enjoy Managed Print Services From Metro Sales
If you feel that something isn’t quite working with your existing printing setup, or that it could be improved with the help of a managed print services provider, now is the time to make the change, and Metro Sales is the company to turn to.
Our team regularly aids businesses around Burnsville, the Twin Cities, Fargo, Duluth, and St. Cloud with managed print services and other managed services to help them make the most of their IT infrastructure. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can do the same for you.