Managed Print Services: The New Cost Reduction Strategy

Documents are the key vehicle by which information flows through any organization, and printing documents can be a very costly endeavor.

A recent InfoTrends market research study indicates that the output costs for printers and multi-function systems in an average company account for about 2% of that company’s annual revenue.

If you take into consideration all printing related costs such walking to the printer, finishing or delivering the printed document and storing the printed document, a company can spend as much as 6% of its annual revenue.

Let's put this into perspective: a $10 million company can spend as much as $600,000 per year managing printing and print related processes.
 

With the cost of printing so high, the easiest way to cut these costs is by developing a more effective way to manage your fleet of printers and multifunction device. By developing an effective print management strategy, your organization can save up to 30% on your in-house printing operations.
 

Managed Print Services
The key to developing an effective print management strategy is to increase productivity while lowering total operating costs. How is that accomplished?

Standardization
Simply put, in a mixed environment of old and new devices, the management of each of those devices can be very different. By standardizing to one device platform, the management of the device can be made easier, end-users won’t be required to learn different devices and supply management can be simplified.
 

Consolidation
It is no surprise that employees prefer the personal convenience of desktop printers. More often than not, the cost of personal convenience is higher print production costs. Usually, print devices are lower in per print cost as the device gets larger. That means that the small desktop printer can be significantly higher in cost than the larger workgroup printer. In fact, the small desktop printers can be as much as five times more expensive to operate. Reducing the number of desktop printers and consolidating to larger workgroup printers can still provide your employees with the convenience of a print device close to their desk but can provide a significant cost savings in toner, parts and maintenance.
 

Other Benefits
The most significant hidden costs in managing a print environment are the management of the devices themselves. With one simple cost per print, you can have your entire printer fleet managed for you. You can receive automatic notifications of low toner, printer maintenance issues and even receive a detailed report on device usage by user or group. Many issues that arise can even be resolved before you even know they are issues.