What Services Should Your Managed Print Program Include?

Business owners are becoming increasingly familiar with the premise behind managed print services. However, as the popularity of these programs grows, it becomes more and more important to understand what services an effective Managed Print Services (MPS) program should include. That way, businesses won't entrust their print management to a provider that offers an incomplete program. For more clarity, I've outlined four necessary services any MPS program should include.

What Should I Get With Managed Print Services? 

#1: A Simplified Purchasing Process

Inside the average office space right now, there are probably printers, copiers, fax machines or MFPs from various vendors. One department might have HP devices, while another uses Lexmark, and so on. On top of managing supplies and maintenance for different devices, there is the cost of paying invoices to different providers of those supplies and repair services that might specialize in devices from different manufacturers.

With a Managed Print program, businesses enjoy a streamlined purchasing process and a one-stop-shop for printer fleet management. 

#2: Usage Monitoring

An MPS program uses the results of a print audit to help identify potential cost-saving opportunities in your print environment and balance out the print volume per device in an office, which extends the print life of equipment.

After implementation, your usage will be monitored by your provider. This information allows your MPS provider to point out ongoing cost-saving opportunities, as well as make adjustments to your program. In this monitoring, toner usage is tracked, so supply replacement can be automated. Your replacement toner cartridges will arrive at your office shortly before your existing cartridges are empty.

#3: Equipment Maintenance or Replacement

Maintenance, parts repair and equipment replacement all have a significant impact on the effectiveness of employees and the efficiency of operations throughout the company. When a printer goes down for maintenance or needs a part replaced, there is a cost associated with its downtime. The longer that downtime drags on, the greater the cost of the lost operation time.

If a printer or other MFP device needs to be replaced, you have to deal with decreased printer functionality and lower productivity levels. There is also the cost of a capital expenditure to purchase new equipment.

Managed print providers should offer support from certified technicians as part of any managed print program. When printers go down, the program covers the cost of travel time for a technician, on-site maintenance, repair and even the cost of replacement parts or full equipment replacement as a result of normal use. 

#4: Help Desk Support

Even with the greatest installation and maintenance support available, a reliable Managed Print Services program needs to offer help desk support to assist when end user questions or frustrations arise. A managed print provider’s program offers support during normal business hours to address issues of functionality and performance.

Partnering With Marco on Managed Print Services

Now, anyone can buy print management software, and they might even be able to install it. But actually implementing it and configuring it correctly is not easy. We see a lot of clients who get frustrated with it and don’t get the results they were hoping for. That’s when they call us for a print audit.

Marco has the resources to install, implement and monitor the print environments of businesses of all sizes. A few facts about us:

• We have 95 percent retention rates for our clients
• We maintain 94 percent client satisfaction
• We have more than a decade of experience in MPS
• We have 700+ service technicians
• We do not outsource our support desk function

MPS Software Capabilities

There are several different types of managed print services software, and a print audit will help determine which software is best for your business. One type of print management software is a data collection agent. It scours the network, finds all the printers and monitors them. This software can find out page counts for each printer and supply levels on the cartridges. This software also automatically generates an alert to Marco’s support desk when the toner cartridge is getting low. That will trigger an order to automatically ship the cartridge with all the relevant information about which printer the cartridge is for.

Another type of software digs deeper into the print environment and can assist with behavior modification. In an educational institution, for example, a program like Papercut can track the printing of a single student for the year. If they go over their limit, the college can send them a bill for the extra costs.

This more sophisticated software also gives the ability to do secure printing. That’s particularly important in places like hospitals and law firms. It also gives you “follow me” printing so you can send a print job to any printer location knowing it won't print until you release it from the queue.

Your Managed Print Services Team

In addition to a large pool of resources, we also have teams of professionals dedicated to supporting our managed print services offering. These are the ones who get up every morning thinking about how to better serve our clients' printing needs. 

• Installation Team: These technicians ensure you have an efficient, functioning print environment and understand how to use it.
  
  
• Help Desk & Service Team: These individuals respond to your day-to-day support needs and troubleshoot issues as they arise. On-site technicians are dispatched when necessary.
  
  
• Account Management Team: These Marco representatives maintain the relationship with our clients and act as a customer advocate. They will also conduct a regular business review to ensure optimal performance is maintained.

The Goal of MPS Programs

A managed print program's goal is to help remove printing obstacles that stand in the way of productivity and profitability. By offering equipment relocation advice, device recommendations and usage alterations, a Managed Print Services program can help businesses improve office workflow and save money.

You can also look to your managed print provider for advice in selecting new devices offering the functions or features that make it easier for employees to do their job. Now that you understand which MPS services are most important, you might be ready to speak to a Copier/Printer Specialist.