Reclaim the Copy Room with Managed Print Services

Is it time to replace laser printers or upgrade a leasing contract? Consider one more option — managed print services. Traditionally, only large organizations have taken advantage of managed print services, but this model can be worthwhile to any agency that relies heavily on printing.

“Print has always been viewed as a necessary business function, but it hasn’t always been looked at strategically,” says Robert Palmer, director of the managed document practice at Lyra Research. “There are so many print and other devices scattered throughout an organization that are used inefficiently, and these tools provide the opportunity to improve productivity and efficiency while reducing cost.”

Web-based print management tools can provide multiple opportunities to save money, says Darin Stahl, lead research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group. The ability to measure use levels and match them to employee use patterns, for example, can help an IT manager decide how to create default printer settings for various workers within a business. Some users, for example, might be set to two-sided, black-and-white printing as a default, saving color toner and paper.

In situations where printers are leased and have volume caps, IT managers can use print management software to monitor volumes and divert printing to other printers when cap limits are reached, saving overage costs.

Departments that charge back based on time or job can also benefit. “In professional services groups, printing costs, including paper and electricity costs, can be charged back to the customer,” Stahl says. “If you can discover those costs, you can have employees tag jobs with a customer ID when they send a print job to the queue.”