What is managed print?
There’s quite a bit of noise and confusion around what Managed Print is. It’s not surprising that the term means different things to different people. That’s because companies that provide ‘Managed Print’ can offer very different services. We thought it would be useful to clarify what a Managed Print service offering is and how it drives incredible efficiencies – not just in terms of cost, but also in terms of processes and time.
First let’s start with some rather startling and unnerving facts. The vast majority of organisations have no idea what they are actually spending on office printing. That’s a worry when you consider the following stats:
“As much as 1-3 percent of your corporate revenues are spent on printing costs.”
“Workers print 6,000 sheets a year on average, of which 3,720 are wasted or unnecessary.”
“14% of workers have increased the amount of printing they do in the last year.”
This lack of clarity and awareness is hardly surprising, especially when you consider that most large organisations have multiple vendors for printer hardware, supplies and repairs. They’re having to manage multiple relationships and invoices across multiple departments and budgets, and so there’s simply a lack of awareness and often a lack of ownership.
That’s why, over the years, Managed Print has gained momentum and popularity. Organisations are recognising the need to use an external provider to take control of their printing environments and costs, in order to drive efficiencies and reduce risks through a centrally managed solution.
Managed Print Service
Our Managed Print service can be a stand alone service, or form part of a wider transformational procurement service that we call The Model Office. The Model Office is based around four categories:
Office products
Managed print
Hybrid mail
Document management
We’ve come up with over 50 innovative ways to reduce spend in each of these four areas. For the purposes of this article we’re going to focus on Managed Print, but for the record, the biggest cost savings are achieved when all four categories are reviewed together. That’s because there are huge synergies and cost savings to be enjoyed if you consider the bigger picture. You can read more about The Model Office in our ‘How to save money on office supplies’ blog.
Back to our Managed Print services…
Our Managed Print services are designed to help your organisation control its expenditure on its print infrastructure and usage. That includes your hardware (the purchasing, servicing and maintenance), the software and all consumables, such paper and toner. Where we also add real value is by working with you to improve your printer related processes and workflows, in order to boost productivity.
Here are just some of the ways in which we can help drive efficiencies through our Managed Print Services:
1. Only replace printers when you really need to
Did you know that most printer manufacturers will encourage you to replace a device when it’s five years old? Admittedly some printers will need to be replaced at that point, but most won’t have done enough volume to warrant being replaced just yet.
2. Deploy Approved & Used devices
When the time comes, replace printers with quality, reconditioned printers. It will significantly reduce capital expenditure.
3. Restrict the use of colour printing
It costs, on average, ten times more to print in colour than it does to print in mono. Most organisations give their employees free rein to print in colour. You can save a small fortune by restricting the use of colour printing, without it affecting your output – and there are various methods to do this.
4. Use Premium toner
Your printer manufacturer’s original toner will be the most expensive, so our advice is to switch to a compatible toner such as our Premium toner. You can save up to 60% in toner costs simply by making the switch. Find out more about the benefits of swapping to Premium toner here.
5. Force large jobs to high-volume factory press
It’s far more economical to move very large print jobs offsite to an external factory press, but it’s not something many organisations would look at independently.
Those are just five very simple ways that we could help your organisation to make substantial cost savings on its print infrastructure. We’ve got plenty more suggestions and solutions up our sleeve. You can discover a few more in our ‘10 simple ways to reduce your printing costs’ blog.
It’s important to remember, that what works for one organisation won’t necessarily be the best solution for another. That’s why our Managed Print service starts with a thorough assessment of your entire print infrastructure and environment. We’ll look at your current fleet and each individual printer’s usage, as well as your current processes, costs and challenges. Only then, when we have a comprehensive view of your print requirements and current environment, will we begin the process of looking at ways in which we can improve efficiencies – in terms of spend and processes.
In that respect we see ourselves as cost saving analysts rather than office suppliers. But don’t just take our word for it. We’ve got a whole host of customers on Managed Print contracts that are enjoying significant cost savings, year on year with our Managed Print services. You can read about the 49% savings we’ve delivered for Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust here.
Our typical Managed Print contract is between three to five years. We use specialist software installed on your machines (whether we own them or not) to monitor and record usage. This is also how we know when a machine’s toner is low and we need to dispatch replacement product to you. As part of a Managed Print contract we will provide a quarterly review where we reveal your latest printer usage stats and figures and provide recommendations for further efficiencies that we have spotted.
All that leaves you to do is enjoy the cost savings and the fact that all your printer requirements are being seamlessly looked after. Our proactive service means your machines will be automatically serviced, maintained and replaced as necessary, and your consumable supplies never run dry. We’ll work hard on your behalf to make sure your printer fleet is working optimally, but efficiently, and we’ll leave no stone unturned to make sure we are constantly driving costs down.
We’d love to talk to you in more detail about our Managed Print services and to see what cost savings we can make for your organisation. Get in touch today!
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