How Does Managed Print Services Help to Reduce the Long Term Costs of Print?

Un-managed and poorly managed print environments result in redundant assets, excessive inventory, inefficiencies, and uncontrolled costs. In today’s competitive marketplace, you must control and accurately allocate your assets and related costs. In order to do this, a service provider must be proactive, must gather extensive data, analyze that data, make adjustments to an organization’s print environment based on that analysis, and then do it all over again, and again.

As a Manages Print Services Service Provider, you are seeking to make the costs associated with device management more visible, and reduce them through ongoing analysis and process improvement. In order to provide this level of service, you must have access to meaningful data. You must also establish a baseline to quantify the impact of your managed Print Services program. With access, you’re now in the position to analyze the data and to drive efficiencies and cost savings. This is how you can manage and accomplish a well executed plan of long term reduction in print costs.

Remember, you’re not just concerned about cost savings; you’re also concerned about process improvement and cost avoidance. This can only be accomplished through the ongoing evaluation of the proper utilization of equipment and consumables, by first identifying, then controlling, and subsequently reducing print costs. And, while immediate results will be satisfying, it’s the continuous and long‐term management of print costs that create the greatest and most significant value, and will differentiate you from your competitors.

If done correctly, a well designed Managed Print Services initiative will not only provide the customer with cost savings, but will provide greater efficiencies and opportunities for the Services Provider to manage their own internal cost per print (whether you’re selling a CPP model or not). It will help you to solidify and grow your current business relationships and opportunities, and improve margins. Remember, at the end of the day, you have to understand your internal cost of managing a document; your own per page cost of toner, parts, and labor, at the least. Until you understand your costs, you can’t measure improved processes. A Managed Print Services approach to device management is about continuous process improvement and cost savings. It’s about managing print as a business process.