In today’s economy everyone is looking for ways to save money and improve efficiency. We download apps to find the gas station with lowest prices. Television shows such as Extreme Couponing demonstrate how to buy $600 of goods for only $2.64. Businesses count every penny and eliminate waste wherever they can. But one area that often gets overlooked is a company’s desktop printer usage.
It is assumed that the printer usage in the company is just the cost of doing business. Nevertheless, it is an opportunity for substantial savings not only in supplies, ink and toner but also break/fix issues and a company’s man hours.
IT research and analysis company, Quocirca, pointed out in their whitepaper Managed print services: An SMB priority that “escalating print costs and demand on IT resources drive the need for managed print services.”
The whitepaper had this to say, as well:
“Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), like larger enterprises, depend on printing for a variety of business activities. Even the smallest office needs a fast, reliable, cost-effective printer capable of professional output. Yet SMBs are faced with limited resources and expertise when it comes to the common tasks of dealing with printer problems and ordering supplies. Today, the vast majority of SMBs purchase their printer or MFP separately to supplies such as ink and toner, with most purchasing these on an ad-hoc transactional basis. Printers can place a huge administrative and support burden on staff, which diverts them from their core activities.
The solution is to use a managed print service (MPS), which combines hardware, service and supplies into a service based on a cost-per-page. A leasing model provides predictable costs as spend is moved from capital to operational expenditure, whilst automatic supplies delivery and meter reads lower the need to stockpile supplies and eliminate time-consuming manual tasks.”
Aside from not having to deal with the challenge of managing printer maintenance, MPS also impacts employee productivity, as well. Quocirca found data to support this:
“Unplanned printer downtime can have a serious impact on any business that relies on printing for business critical activities – whether it is printing out business reports, sales and marketing collateral or just content needed to be read in order to support a business decision. Device failure can be caused by paper jams, paper/ink/toner running out or more serious problems that require a service call. All require manual intervention and so hinder staff productivity. Indeed, device availability and printer functioning problems are rated as the most common problems that impact SMB employee productivity.”
For more information on how Managed Print Services can benefit your small or medium business call us at 757-545-7675.