Printers for rent? 5 reasons there’s more to managed print services than an office printer lease
For many businesses, installing, maintaining and updating printers can be a complex, time-consuming and costly task that few people have the specialist expertise or resource to undertake. You can understand why smart businesses turn to managed print services (MPS) to control costs and simplify their printer management.
What are managed print services?
Contrary to the perceived wisdom within some areas of the IT community, managed print services do not simply offer a printer hire solution with the automated monthly ordering of ink and toner bolted on. Nor are managed print services only suitable for large businesses, an increasing number of smaller, and even remote, businesses are now reaping the following benefits of MPS too:
- Reduced IT workload
- Switch operational expenses from CapEx to OpEx
- Improved print security
- Reduced environmental impact
- Improved print management
Is printer leasing the same as managed print services? Five benefits of MPS over printers for rent
1. Reduced IT workload
Very few businesses have a dedicated print expert on-hand to manage all aspects of their devices, which means every minute spent dealing with print matters is time that could be spent focusing on other business issues. MPS takes away the hassle of managing your printer fleet, automatically outsourcing it to your vendor.
Remote monitoring, automated servicing, and breakdown and toner alerts, ensure you can focus on your day-to-day business - with ink, engineers and parts ordered and dispatched without the need for your intervention. The complete management of your printers - including the provision of a dedicated MPS service desk to manage queries and print-related issues – reduces admin and frees up the time of your IT people.
And, if the worst should happen, on-call telephone support and pre-agreed repair service level agreements will ensure minimum printer downtime.
2. Switch operational expenses from CapEx to OpEx
Technology is advancing faster than ever and it doesn't take long for a business to fall behind. That means, if you invest heavily in owning your equipment, keeping pace with rapidly changing tech can become prohibitively expensive.
MPS is a great way to transform your printing operations from capital expenditure (CapEx) to operational expenditure (OpEx), replacing significant capital investment and the variable ongoing running costs with predictable monthly fees.
Where MPS wins out over simple printer leasing is the incorporation of additional service elements, automated supplies delivery and the ongoing optimisation of your print fleet as part of your forecastable costs.
Plus, as part of the package, your provider will not only recommend the best MPS hardware for your business now, they will also remind you when it’s time to upgrade - so you'll always have the latest technology.
3. Improved print security
A key part of your MPS assessment is identifying potential print and Internet Protocol (IP) security risks and designing a tailored security plan to help protect your business from cyber attacks and breaches of data privacy.
From restricting functionality to implementing new print protocols, smarter print security can close any loopholes. And you should insist that the devices on your network have integrated high-level security functions like swipe-card protection, PIN-protected printing and enterprise-level encryption to protect sensitive information in transit.
4. Reduced environmental impact
If you're looking to reduce your environmental impact, MPS helps you monitor and manage how much paper, power and consumables you use. Collection and recycling of your used consumables can even be added as part of your programme.
In addition to reducing waste, MPS platforms that make it easy to track and control your print usage help you identify areas where you can optimise your printing and implement best practice user guidelines.
5. Improved print management
MPS not only gives you a printing infrastructure that provides the printer availability and volume capacity that your business requires, it also gives you the ability to monitor and manage your printer use in detail, even across multiple sites, including remote locations.
Finding a provider that offers a cloud platform to constantly monitor your fleet of printers is vital to ensuring you have optimum print management capability. From gathering data on everything from user and departmental usage to automated toner and consumables alerts, it gives you unprecedented visibility. And regular reports from your provider will also allow you to identify opportunities to optimise your print infrastructure, and really take control of your print-related expenditure.
This article is designed to highlight the benefits of managed print services over printer leasing. To find out more about the wider benefits of managed print services, view our guide here. Or to find out how Brother can take complete responsibility for your print infrastructure to help you focus on your business and not on your printers, visit our MPS area.
