Seven Benefits of Managed Print Services

7 benefits of Managed Print Services

Managed Print Services are programmes offered by print providers to manage your printing devices, including scanners, faxes and copiers. They enable organisations to improve their efficiency, productivity and information security, typically by monitoring usage, replacing consumables and meeting the organisation’s printing needs.

The features of Managed Print Services vary by supplier, but they can offer many of the following benefits to larger organisations. You can read more about 7 key benefits of Managed Print Services below:

Save time and improve efficiency
Improve your information security
Reduce costs and save money
Improve productivity in your organisation
Reduce capital expenditure and improve cashflow
Reduce your environmental footprint
Be more agile

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1. Save time and improve efficiency

The amount of time your employees spend on printer-related tasks can be frustrating. The process of printing, scanning, copying or faxing documents on old hardware or poorly configured software is just the start.

There is also the time spent fixing device malfunctions and replacing ink cartridges and toners to consider too. A Managed Print Service should identify such problems and include plans to:

Reduce employees’ time incurred on print-related tasks
Free up staff time to focus on other strategic initiatives
Remove day-to-day maintenance tasks

We were looking for a smooth way to manage our printer fleet. Brother’s Managed Print Service gave us the freedom to focus on value-adding work because printers are smarter and require less attention from us.

Markku Anttila, IT Manager at Mäntsälä Municipality

2. Improve your information security

Reducing the amount of paper, electricity and print consumables you use is all part of being a responsible corporate citizen. With a monitoring system in place as part of your MPS package, you should be able to:

Recommend printer sign-in procedures to minimise documents being stolen from output trays
Dispose of waste and document management facilities
Install multifunctional printers with automatic hard drive wiping functionality, and network-level solutions to reduce the risk of information being retrieved by hackers

And, almost by default, having just one print provider implementing an MPS reduces the number of people from outside your organisation having access to your networked devices. This common security threat cannot be underestimated. But be warned – not all MPS providers are the same when it comes to their ability to combat information security threats. Information security requires ongoing audits, improvements and vigilance and a below-par MPS provider is unlikely to offer this.

By implementing a Brother Managed Print Service the practice is now able to store and retrieve its sensitive documents quickly and easily, saving time, space and money from day one.

Steve Rock, Managing Director, K Lowther

3. Reduce costs and save money

A sporadic approach to your organisation’s print setup can lead to inefficiencies in a number of areas. First and foremost, there are maintenance costs. Maintaining individual devices one at a time is costlier than having an automated, cloud-based system for doing so at scale.

Managed Print Services very often connect all devices to one monitoring system to ensure:

Just-in-time delivery of replacement toners and repairs
Better use of economies of scale by allowing you to bulk buy supplies at a discount
Reduces the cost associated with stockpiling unused inventory

A thorough print audit and assessment can also identify ways to consolidate your hardware. After all, having too many devices scattered around your organisation will cost more to maintain and use up space and electricity. A print expert will have the ability to calculate the true cost of an ad-hoc approach and identify ways to make savings.

We wanted a solution that was robust, reliable and offered us very cost-effective printing, but which also had support mechanisms from both our supplier and the manufacturer. Brother had the best solution. The installation process was seamless and Brother went above and beyond what we would expect.

Steve Ford, Strategic ICT Manager, Helsby High School

4. Improve productivity in your organisation

The printing needs of various departments within an organisation can vary. After an initial assessment of an organisation’s current and future needs, the MPS provider should be able to recommend a tailored programme for these departments to streamline processes and improve operational workflows.

This might include:

Printing from mobile devices on or off-site
Printing special types of document sizes and formats which you use regularly
Automatically route documents to specific locations
Creating individual customised touchscreens with shortcuts

The best Managed Print Services usually provide staff training too, which will help get your colleagues up to speed, making them more efficient with new hardware and workflows.

Previously we had to stand next to the printer and turn the pages when we scanned documents, but that’s no longer necessary as our printers now have a 2-sided scan function. We simply place the pages in the document feeder and the machine does the rest. It also ensures that the file is sent directly to the folder where it is to be archived, and we do not have to do anything except starting the scanning process. That represents an enormous time saving for us.

Jens Christian Pedersen, Owner of Skovby Synshal

5. Reduce capital expenditure and improve cash flow

The cost of purchasing an entire fleet of devices can be daunting, but Managed Print Services typically offer flexible payment options such as:

Monthly or quarterly
Fully tailored to your business

Pay-per-page print models with leased hardware are also available and are perfect for companies who prefer to manage costs on an ongoing basis.

Plus, you can enjoy real-time usage dashboards and forecasting tools for your network of devices, which means there shouldn’t be any unexpected costs that haven’t been accounted for.

Brother’s Managed Print Service is perfect for our college. We are heavy print users and it has helped us manage our print more effectively. Brother has recommended the best printers for our needs and we have now reduced costs, cut back on administration time and have a much better support service. Plus, we simply pay for what we print without incurring any penalties, unlike our previous contract to manage your budget.

Matthew Cooke, IT Technician at Ercall Wood Technology College.

6. Reduce your environmental footprint

Identify and track levels of print usage
Track and reduce your environmental footprint

You can also see the results of your paper saving efforts in your Corporate Social Responsibility report.

Brother has its own recycling system. This makes us confident that our used cartridges are handled properly, they don’t end up in the wrong place and they are reused for maximum benefit.

Malin Johnson, Sustainability Coordinator, Resia Travel Group

7. Be more agile

The most successful organisations look to continuously improve their processes to stay ahead.

With the right Managed Print Service provider at your side, you’ll receive ongoing advice and strategic support from experts in the field of workplace technology.

Your MPS provider should offer the following as part of their service to you:

Regular review meetings to ensure you’re getting the most from your print subscription
Flexibility to change and adapt your subscription

Working with Brother, we have been able to understand how our printers are being used and then implement a much more efficient solution. Where we used to have a complicated patchwork of over 700 printers with zero transparency on how they were being used, we now have a well-organised fleet of 300 machines.

Neil Perry, Associate Director for Digital Transformation at Dartford and Gravesham Trust