What Should You Expect From A Managed Print Services Program In Terms Of Initial Lowered Costs?

To begin, the first 1‐6 months of a Managed Print Services engagement should be all about cost containment. However honorable one’s intentions, it’s impossible to contain costs if you don’t understand where they exist, how they’re created, and how a company’s print environment is impacting those costs.

This kind of analysis requires data, which many Service Providers are too lazy to collect, or who collect partial data inconsistently; don’t know how to analyze it, analyze it for the wrong reasons, or who just don’t understand the value of data to begin with.

So the first 6 months can be used primarily to collect and track data. That doesn’t mean that you’re not fully engaged with managing the Customer’s environment. On the contrary, you should be engaged from day one. It does mean that you need to communicate and set expectations. Let your Customer know that the immediate cost reduction will occur through the very act of outsourcing the management of print to a strategic Service Provider who is knowledgeable and 100% focused on managing print as a business process.

Most studies have shown that up to 60 percent of the calls to IT and Facility Management help desks are print related. These help desk calls go away under a Managed Print Services program. They are re‐routed to the Service Provider entrusted with the management of these devices. And now, the Customer’s help desk no longer needs to respond to minor print malfunctions, when they could be focused on more mission‐critical projects. They are now placed in a position of audit and oversight. Outsourcing can be more cost‐effective and efficient for the proper management of an organizations print environment; freeing up IT resources and enterprises to pursue more strategic initiatives; helping to reduce opportunity costs.

With an outsourced approach to print management, both the Service Provider and the Customer will gain access to meaningful data. Remember, real‐time data allows a Service Provider to proactively manage Customer needs, improve service levels, and response times, which can improve employee productivity while lowering costs.

Historical data ‐ collected over a period of time of 6 months or more, will help to provide the most significant savings and long‐term impact on a Customers environment. Whereas the initial stage of a Managed Print Services program is concerned with gathering data, improving performance standards, and cost containment, with available historical data, a Service Provider can begin to focus on process improvements, cost avoidance, and continued, if not more significant, cost savings.