Unmanaged print environments represent a huge cost and productivity drain to an organisation, particularly when a mix of old and new technology is used that often requires different service contracts and consumables. This can be an administration headache for any business, with time often being spent dealing with printer problems and ad-hoc, inefficient supplies ordering.

The benefits of Managed Print Services extend beyond simple cost-per-page contracts

Like any utility service pricing (for example, electricity) approach, Managed Print Services contracts are based on a cost-per-page, which requires volume commitments. A recurring charge includes consumables and service and the more sophisticated services use remote monitoring to alert providers to device failure or when consumables are running low. Such proactive support can significantly improve device uptime, supplies administration and reduce the pressure on strained Information Technology resources, as the Managed Print Services provider takes care of installing, supporting and maintaining printing devices.

Lease-based Managed Print Services contracts eliminate the need to purchase new hardware

Often the biggest barrier for many companies signing a new service agreement is the need for capital expenditure to purchase new hardware. Lease-based Managed Print Services agreements overcome this issue by including a lease rental agreement. Therefore, the monthly cost includes the cost of the hardware, meaning capital expenditure is eliminated and the new hardware doesn’t appear as a depreciating asset on company accounts

Services can bring a range of benefits to small & medium sized- businesses that typically lack budget and Information Technology resources. Many businesses operate disparate processes for purchasing hardware, maintenance, support and supplies. Staff time is spent on ordering toner, ink or managing daily printer problems. Printing remains a critical part of many businesses, yet few businesses have a true understanding of print costs. Managed Print Services offers a way of not only reducing cost through more efficient printing practices, but also provides transparency of costs to enable businesses to monitor print usage on an on-going basis.

The Services approach is typically driven by a wider desire not only to reduce costs, but also to improve the availability, performance, resilience and security of an organisation’s print environment without the need for additional in-house skills and resources. While an end-to-end Managed Print Service is relatively prohibitive in terms of cost and scale to all but the very large corporate organisations, a pared down version of the Managed Print Service model makes it ideally suited to meet the needs of the small & medium-sized organisations. Managed Print Service is therefore appealing to those businesses where pressure to deliver on-demand, 24 x 7 Information Technology systems is high, but in-house resources and specialist skills are typically spread thinly.

While many large corporate organisations are focused firmly on reducing costs, small & medium-sized organisations have a wider agenda to address. For them, the challenge of keeping costs to a minimum is coupled with a relatively small in-house Information Technology team, which brings with it additional problems surrounding the shortage of specialist Information Technology skills; the cost of Information Technology training; and the impact of holidays, illness and staff changes on business continuity and competitive advantage. In addition there is the challenge of how to balance the day-to-day Information Technology systems administration, necessary to keep the business functioning, with the more strategic Information Technology development that will help drive forward the business for the future. Quocirca research found that, amongst 50 small & medium-sized organisations using Managed Print Services, the top driver for using Managed Print Services was allowing Information Technology department to focus on more strategic activities

For the small & medium-sized organisation, a managed service can help address many of the above issues by enabling the relatively mundane, yet sometimes business-critical, print management tasks to be taken care of by a third party, thereby freeing up in-house staff to focus on strategic developments that will add real benefits to the business. For the medium-sized organisation, therefore, cost is just one of many compelling reasons to adopt Managed Print Services.

The fact that the print environment has become increasingly complex, regardless of company size, gives rise to another small & medium sized-organisations’ argument in favour of the managed services approach, particularly those organisations at the upper end of the scale. The tools needed to manage the range of printing devices and ensure the high levels of performance, resilience and security required for today’s on demand business often requires specialist Information Technology skills. For large corporate organisations, this is not generally a major issue and most will invest in-house in software and the staff to deploy and run this software successfully. This is something which is not typically a viable option for the small & medium-sized organisation. However the managed services approach means that the service provider invests in the software and skills and simply spreads the cost among all of their managed customers. As a result, the small and medium-sized organisation can take advantage of all the benefits of these tools, without the associated costs.

Coupled with increasing Information Technology complexity is the fact that today’s organisation is now more reliant than ever on its Information Technology systems. Printing continues to be a critical element of most business processes today, and device downtime can have a significant effect on those businesses which are heavy print users. For small and medium-sized organisations, the threat of downtime can, arguably, be more severe for them than for the larger organisations, as they frequently do not have the spare capacity to cope with problems, or indeed the time and skills to pre-empt them. By using a Managed Print Services provider to monitor and manage systems, the small and medium-sized organisation can mitigate the risk of downtime and pre-empt potential problems, rather than trying to fire fight when they have already happened.

So why, in light of all of these apparent benefits for the small and medium-sized organisation, is it that, on the whole, only large corporate organisations are currently utilising Services and not those that could realise maximum benefits from this approach? The answer is simple-a lack of understanding about what managed print services are, how they are delivered and what the costs are. The perception is that managed print services is not an approach that is suited to small and medium-sized organisation’s needs, when in fact the opposite is true and, as a result, small and medium-sized organisations simply do not have managed services on the agenda. Quocirca research, conducted in 2008 amongst Small and Medium-sized businesses in Europe, indicated that the top barrier to Managed Print Services adoption is the perception that it is more expensive than managing printing internally. Clearly there is also a strong lack of awareness of the benefits of using Managed Print Services.

Up to now, Managed Print Services has largely been the domain of larger enterprises. However, small and mid-sized businesses are also waking up to the Managed Print Services opportunity with the emergence of more Managed Print Service packages. These range from device-centric offerings, which are typically inclusive service contracts encompassing service and supplies, to some packages including the leasing of devices and may also include support.

This article was submitted by Simona Rusnakova, Online Marketing consultant of 3r.ie, on behalf of Office Technology who sell copiers, it support and office furniture in Dublin, Ireland.

This article was submitted by Simona Rusnakova, SEO consultant of http://www.3r.ie, on behalf of http://www.officetechnology.ie who sell photocopiers, printers, document management software, it support and office furniture in Dublin, Ireland.

Author Bio: This article was submitted by Simona Rusnakova, Online Marketing consultant of 3r.ie, on behalf of Office Technology who sell copiers, it support and office furniture in Dublin, Ireland.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: managed print,print services,managed print services,managed print service