By now you have heard all the great things about managed print services. You may have even gone as far as to have your print and copier fleet analyzed by a managed print service provider. You have been made aware of the great savings that lie ahead, but there is one major problem, who has the time to make the transition?
In this article, Brian Harris, Director of TotalPrint USA, uses his ten plus years of experience in managed print to lay out an easy implementation plan, while maintaining your investment and not disrupting the end user community. In this article, we are going to assume your company is like most, you lease your copiers, and you buy your laser printers and supplies.
5 Simple Steps to Implementing a Managed Print Service
1. Start Saving Immediately… Simply put your existing laser print and copy fleet on the program.
Leave everything where it is, regardless of the cost to operate the device. Get the savings started right away. In all cases, your cost to buy toner will cost you more than a fully managed print service program that includes toner, parts, maintenance kits, and on-site service.
2. Now that your laser printers are on the program, identify end of life & inefficient machines
As devices reach end of life, or if there are new devices needed or inefficient ones are identified, slowly start migrating to the newest in HP’s security, technology, and the most efficient equipment and putting them into the right places.
3. After 6 months of savings on a print program, optimize through analytics
Analytics will start to show where simple readjustment of equipment will increase savings and this is exactly what you should expect from your managed print service. If you recall, we put everything on the program to start the savings immediately. Now we are at the point where we start suggesting areas that would benefit from new, more efficient equipment. In high volume areas, downtime can equal massive expense. Let’s take older equipment that is still efficient to run, and move it to less critical areas so you can still retain your investment.
4. By now you should be comfortable with the new process.
You have stopped buying toner, printers, and your service and maintenance on all your print and copy devices is being handled. The value in the program is evident and is felt across every department. Equipment is in the right place, your print spend is identified, and downtime is minimal. With detailed billing per device, you can start distributing print costs instead of purchasing or IT bearing the brunt of it. There is one thing left to do…
5. Copiers – That traditional and inflexible lease is in place and the bank owns the equipment, nothing is going to change this.
At this point, you are comfortable with the process. You like your Manage Print Services provider. So give them a chance to manage all your Copiers as well. As you need a new copier, slowly let them ease new HP copiers into place. And when the lease is up on the rest of your copiers, complete the managed print journey by never leasing copiers again.
In summation, my experience implementing managed print services is extensive. The pain of a doing a forklift upgrade to replace all of your print and copy fleet at one time is definitely worth the instant savings. Plus you are getting a complete fleet refresh all at once. However, it is not realistic for companies that are busy with day to day operations. That's why we use the 5 steps above to ease our customers into a Managed Print Services program and make it much easier to make the transition.
Print is something everyone runs from, nobody really wants to deal with it, and quite frankly, what I hear a lot out there is, “well what we do works good enough”. At TotalPrint USA, we tackle print head on and put in an amazing program that you well reap huge benefits from. Start saving today and sign up for our Managed Print Services program.
If you would like to explore the potential of a managed print service at your location, please visit us at TotalPrint USA or contact us at info@totalprintusa.com or 855-915-1300
