Is Managed Print Services a Good Fit for Your Business?

Managed Print Services isn’t an off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all purchase. In fact, each organization Marco partners with has a custom set of services that align with their organization’s specific needs and business goals. Below, I've outlined the first five areas we assess as we get to know a potential customer’s business. How you answer the following questions will give you a good idea of whether  MPS is a good fit for your business.

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1. Do you have 5 or more printers?

Organizations with only one or two printers typically have a more difficult time realizing a return on investment with Managed Print Services than organizations with larger fleets. Oftentimes, managing one or two printers is a task that could be handled by someone internally, but that's not always the case. Depending on your circumstances, even a print environment with a handful of devices can still benefit from MPS. 

Still, companies with 10, 50 or 200 printers find managing their print environments to be labor intensive, expensive and time consuming. A Managed Print Services provider is capable of managing and monitoring all of your printers, along with providing automatic toner shipment and help desk troubleshooting. If something goes wrong or questions come up, you have a team of experts ready to help. And often, this team of experts can determine if something is going awry and fix it before anyone in your organization even realizes there is an issue.  

2. Does your organization have a history of outsourcing support?

Outsourcing is becoming much more prevalent in today's business world, but it still takes some getting used to. When you outsource support, whether it's for your printers or other products or services, you're effectively relying on external experts to solve problems within your organization. Learning when to use these experts, finding out how heavily you can rely on their service and building trust and rapport takes time; but quality and experienced providers will help make this experience a good one for all involved.

For employees who aren't accustomed to using outsourced support, the initial transition phase can be an adjustment. They’ll need to get accustomed to not always having someone in the office that can help, but rather learn to rely on the experts who are just a phone call away.

3. are YOUR currently using a managed print service?

If you answer, "No," that makes initiating Managed Print Services simple. If you are using a Managed Print Services solution, you might be left with only two options: Wait out the contract, or pay to exit early. Both options can be costly in their own way, and you have to decide what's best based on the overall cost and value of your current services vs. new services.

Compare both the cost of exiting your current contract with the cost of staying with your current provider. If your current provider isn't providing the quality of service you need (and expect), consider what that's costing your business in productivity.

4. Are you willing to provide your current print-related expenses?

In order to determine how Managed Print Services could benefit your organization, specifically related to cost savings, you’ll need to know what you're currently paying for all related expenses—equipment, supplies, contracts, burden rates, etc.

Even if you don't have a true understanding of your overall print costs, as long as you are willing to share the information for analysis, you’re set. Your Managed Print Services provider can help you gather this information and identify areas for improvement. This information, paired with the analysis and assessment, will assist in determining how beneficial managed print services could be for your organization.

5. Do you have a business initiative in place to support the investment?

This last qualification doesn’t significantly affect your “fit” for MPS, but it can help justify and support the cost for services.

If you're looking into a Managed Print Services, chances are you believe you need to cut costs, improve workflow or accomplish both. Although whether or not that is tied to a business objective doesn’t really matter, if your organization already understands the value MPS can provide.

Managed Print Services Checklist

If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, then Managed Print Services is a good fit for your organization.

This checklist is merely a starting point for our assessments; if you are interested in having an expert look closer at your organization’s print needs and environment, request an assessment.