Managed Print Services Benefits: Is MPS Worth It?

There are many benefits of managed print services! Managed print services give visibility into your print usage, the health of your print fleet, and costs over time. MPS gives your company greater control over what's being printed in what formats and where. Regular reports bring printing insights and expenses come to the surface so decision makers can change workflows better optimize processes and equipment as needed.

• Automation for print processes and maintenance
• Just-in-time delivery of toner cartridges, ink and other printer-related supplies
• Increases in printing productivity through shared resources
• Better security for sensitive documents and device compliance
• A print usage dashboard reveals opportunities for improved sustainability
• Lower and more controlled printing costs
• Scalable and versatile print management options as your company grows

Let’s drill down into some of main benefits of managed print services a bit further, so you can better understand whether MPS will be worth it for your organization:

It should be fairly obvious how the discounts and free shipping of an offering such as CDW’s Printer Supplies Program can lead to cost savings. However, the program also enables automated ordering when supplies run low, meaning that organizations can avoid situations where they’ve overstocked on ink or toner, only to switch to a new printer or copier and be left with a closetful of costly, unusable supplies.

In a more comprehensive MPS engagement, experts can work with business and IT leaders to reduce the number of printers and copiers in an organization, or set limits on employee printing — leading to further cost savings.

Complex print environments rob IT staffers and knowledge workers of valuable time. Through MPS, organizations can simplify their environments and give this productive time back to their employees.

For example, MPS can help to minimize costly downtime for printers and copiers, ensuring that users are able to do their jobs. Also, employees are likely to become more familiar with print tools when their company standardizes its machines. Finally, an MPS engagement can lead to the automation of print-related business processes (for instance, billing) that previously required employees to spend time manually scanning and copying.

While the security of user endpoints and applications is a top concern in virtually every organization, business and IT leaders sometimes overlook printers, copiers and scanners as potential points of vulnerability. An MPS partner can help companies improve their security posture by monitoring device health, implementing security and control measures, and pushing out updates and patches. A partner can also help to devise and implement policies (such as pull printing or badge printing) that require users to furnish credentials before collecting print jobs—preventing payroll or other sensitive information from sitting for hours in a printer tray.

When CDW experts and vendor partners conduct an initial assessment of an organization’s print environment, it’s common to find that the company has 30 percent to 40 percent more print devices than the IT department even knows about, resulting in unnecessary costs, inefficiencies and vulnerabilities. MPS allows organizations to eliminate these problems and achieve quick wins—all without increasing the burden on internal staff.

Managed print services can be a game changer for your business. Here are a few questions to keep in mind as you consider an MPS provider for your business.

• What precise tasks, services and supplies are provided as part of the MPS program?
• What is the service level agreement on turnaround time for troubleshooting and repairs?
• What kinds of warranties are included on any recommended and installed equipment?
• What kind of document security measures are offered?
• Can employees log in simply by swiping their badge or ID card?
• Does the service program support top brands such as Xerox, Brother and HP?
• What features are in place to track printer usage and identify opportunities for cutting back on waste and unnecessary costs?
• How will the MPS scale to accommodate company growth over time?
• How should employees direct their questions and concerns to the print manager or team?

Learn more about how managed print services from CDW can improve productivity and reduce printing costs for your organization. Putting a print management plan into action can make immediate improvements in your business' print infrastructure spending while maintaining the quality and efficiency of your fleet.