Managed print services (MPS) are used to gain visibility and control of the printing infrastructure, which helps the organizations to save money and boost productivity. The future of MPS also increasingly focuses on improving environmental sustainability and document security.
Managed print services (MPS) usually begins with a requirements gathering process. The next step includes a partial or complete replacement of existing hardware, including scanners, printers, faxes, photocopiers, and multifunction (MFP) devices. The service provider oversees as well as services hardware and provides parts and supplies. An MPS provider may also monitor and report on usage, problems, and user experience.
The global managed print services (MPS) market continues to go from strength to strength, forecasted to rise from $26.18 billion in 2015 to $94.97 billion by 2024. While large enterprises account for the leading share in the overall market, the adoption of MPS by small- and medium-sized businesses continues to rise, as more people realize the benefits that MPS can deliver.
As printing in offices has become an everyday part of life, Managed Print Services have evolved from supporting hard-copy devices, to supporting the document lifecycle within companies. The Multifunctional Device now plays the role of a ‘smart workplace assistant’ capable of downloading apps to support business processes and advanced workflows.
To understand how MPS might help your business today, and into the future, it can be helpful to know more about the evolution of MPS, starting, of course, with where it all began.
Where has MPS come from?
The fundamental arguments for adopting Managed Print Services are well-established, and they haven’t become any less compelling in the last few years. Most businesses can see the efficiencies of moving CapEx to OpEx, streamlining business processes and reducing the burden of support. This directly impacts the bottom line through cost savings. However, MPS has matured and now offers so much more to businesses looking to improve efficiencies at the core of their organization.
In the past, MPS was solely concentrated on improving the visibility and control of an organization’s print fleet, with the main goal being to drive down costs, while also relieving the workload on the organization’s IT department. Its primary focuses were a business’s cost-per-page, and ensuring consumables were always in ready supply.
But as technology evolved and organizations underwent digital transformation, the MPS industry has had to evolve quickly in order to keep up.
Where is MPS now?
While cost-savings remain a key focus of MPS, the value they bring to organizations now extends well beyond this. Today, MPS providers take pains to understand a business as a whole and how it functions, in order to deliver the best outcomes.
Here are just some of the benefits businesses today can reap with a MPS:
Reduce Costs
By allowing a specialist managed print provider to manage all your document capabilities, costs can be significantly reduced. Your print fleet can be rationalized by removing unnecessary technology, or devices that are not fit for purpose but create inefficiencies for your workforce. Cost reductions of 20% to 30% can be achieved in the total cost of printing.
Transparency
Managed print solutions provide organizations with a clear understanding of their print usage and all associated costs. Traditionally, organizations would be unaware of how their workforce is using print technology or understand print budgets, other than the fact that print can contribute up to 3% of company revenue.
Reduce Your Environmental Footprint
40% of the world’s commercially cut timber is used for the production of paper, and over 30 million acres of forest are destroyed annually to help supplement this production.
By tailoring the most ideal solutions to your document requirements, your organization can reduce its environmental footprint dramatically. The amount of resources consumed will decrease, along with associated power and electricity consumption – all contributing to a better carbon footprint.
Enhance Security
In 2019, an estimated 59% of businesses suffered a print-related data loss. Only one-third of these were due to actions of internal staff, suggesting cybercriminals are more frequently turning their attentions to printers as a way into networks.
With the advent of data protection laws, such as the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), businesses are more concerned about data security than ever before and print fleets are often a key point of vulnerability.
A MPS ensures an organization’s print fleet is secure and helps businesses implement measures, such as user authentication and secure pull-printing, to protect data from malicious attackers.
Control Costs
Managed print solutions enable all your print needs to be delivered under contractual agreements, which can include a one-off monthly fee to cover all remote monitoring, toner and consumables, delivery and engineer maintenance. This allows your organization to have complete control over print costs and be able to budget or forecast accordingly.
Meet Compliance
With the new GDPR legislation being introduced in May 2018, companies need to meet strict data compliance measures or face huge financial penalties. Managed print providers can help work towards compliance criteria by providing bespoke document-related consultancy and tailoring document workflows accordingly.
Reduce Waste
In a year, the average employee prints 8,874 pages and 17% of them will go unread.
Print policies can be introduced into your document workflows to reduce wastage. Mono, double-sided print defaults mean less color and less paper is accidentally used, while follow-me printing ensures print jobs are only released when users log into the device and selects the print jobs themselves. This can save up to 20% of print output which is typically left at print devices, only to be discarded insecurely.
Increase Productivity
The remote monitoring, automated meter reading and just-in-time consumable delivery service from managed print solutions ensures your document infrastructure runs smoothly, increasing up-time, productivity and overall efficiency.
Scalability
From a single device to huge printer fleets used by global brands, managed print solutions can scale with your organization’s requirements. Independent print providers are able to work with any manufacturer and print software product, to blend the perfect technology to meet your requirements as your organization grows.
Improve Cash Flow
The cost of purchasing an entire fleet of devices can be daunting, but managed print providers typically offer flexible payment options, further reducing your organization’s capital expenditure and freeing up valuable resources.
Save Time
With devices being monitored and managed remotely, many potential faults can be identified and prevented before they even occur. Consequently, time-consuming service calls are virtually eliminated, freeing time of IT staff and allowing your organization to focus on core, more important matters.
Speaking of the IT department, on average, 12% of an IT budget goes to printer care and maintenance. And most IT professionals are not thrilled to have to dedicate their expertise to fixing yet another printer-related issue. With MPS, you can relieve the burden of printer-related issues place on your IT staff and put them on your MPS vendor instead.
Increase Accountability
It is easy for companies to lose control of their print fleet with no real understanding of how much material employees are individually using. Managed print solutions allow organizations to keep track of each department’s resource usage, thereby increasing printing accountability across the entire company. Similarly, print providers take primary responsibility and accountability for meeting your organization’s print needs.
Peace of Mind
Leveraging managed print solutions provides complete peace of mind that your document infrastructure is securely and reliably being handled by leading industry experts. If your printer stops working, an engineer will be sent to fix it, usually before you know the issue even existed. Likewise, when your supplies start to run low, replacements will be automatically delivered to ensure you can always take full advantage of your print technology.
Technological Advancements
Taking advantage of the latest technology enhances the overall user experience and increases the possibilities of your document capabilities. Staff can leverage advancements such as mobile or cloud print functionality, while the organization will benefit from the latest cost recovery and efficiency features.
Sustainability
The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper each year, with 6,800 considered to be wasted. A new Managed Print Solution will reduce your waste and environmental footprint significantly by implementing software to cut waste and misuse, identifying areas to rationalize printing and enforcing best practice printing rules and regulations.
The Future of MPS – What Can We Expect?
As MPS continues to expand to encapsulate more aspects of an organization’s document management, we can expect to see technological advances that are already impacting other areas of business to begin affecting MPS too.
Artificial intelligence, for instance, is already helping businesses classify and process documents. Large enterprises are using AI-powered imaging technology to process invoice and credit memos in not just one, but five different languages, vastly reducing the amount of manual data entry required. As this technology continues to progress in leaps and bounds, expect it to become more accurate, more sophisticated, and more affordable for SMBs.
We will also likely see more applications utilize technologies like machine learning and cloud computing in data extraction and analytics, helping to vastly improve decision-making and optimize business processes.
MPS will also grow in flexibility as more vendors adopt a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, in order to provide more advanced services more quickly.
In 2018, only 23% of businesses agreed that MPS played an important role in digital transformation. In 2020, that number is up to 54%.
One of the reasons for this shift in thinking is that digital transformation; that is, the use of modern tools and technology to streamline operations, aligns very well with implementing a strategy for managing printing.
Objectives and Benefits of MPS
We offer managed print services to optimize a company’s document output and meet objectives (driving down costs, improving efficiency and productivity, and reducing the IT support workload)
MPS is changing and with the technology and connectivity available, it will hopefully change for the better and while we might not be looking at a completely paperless office in the future, we might be looking at a less-paper office, by which digital processes reign supreme and MPS has become even more of a blend of print and document services.
In the future, processes might always start with the document and printing the document will only be necessary in certain circumstances. If you are looking for a new MPS provider in the foreseeable future, maybe consider a provider with the ability to guide you through digital transformation and one that can offer managed document services.
Documents are an organization’s lifeblood and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. MPS play an increasingly key role in document management, helping organizations to capture data quickly and accurately, and integrate that data seamlessly into processes and workflows. If efficient document management is vital to your business’s success, then perhaps it’s time to consider a MPS.
Does your company currently leverage managed print solutions to optimize your print and document operations? If not, then you may be missing out on some of these significant opportunities and benefits.
Get in touch with us today to start your journey to digital transformation and optimize your organizations performance through market leading managed print solutions.
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