Most businesses rely on technology to move workflows forward, maintain productivity levels, and enhance productivity. One vital component of this technology is your imaging fleet. From printers to copiers to multifunction printers to scanners, a company’s imaging fleet is often the lifeblood of an office to accomplish daily tasks. One consideration for companies of all sizes is implementing a Managed Print solution to increase security, reduce costs, and optimize business processes. This article takes a deep dive into each of these benefits to clearly explain how a Managed Print solution can truly be a boon to your business.

Why Managed Print Services? Improved Security

Outsourcing the management of your print infrastructure ensures your devices are protected. An initial assessment of your fleet will identify areas where your printers put your company and business data at risk. Your Managed Print partner will leverage the built-in security measures provided by your devices’ manufacturers, rather than relying on your in-house team to implement these measures. Data encryption, hard drive security, and pull printing authentication, whereby users must provide a PIN code or ID card to access hardcopy documents, are all possible with modern printers and copiers. A Managed Print vendor can help you take advantage of these security settings.

Moreover, a networked imaging fleet is often overlooked as being vulnerable to cyber attacks. Data that is processed through your devices is stored on internal hard drives, leaving confidential information at risk of being hacked. Setting up unique passwords for all of your machines is the first step to mitigating this risk. Keeping your printers, copiers, scanners, and faxes’ software up-to-date with the latest security patches also helps to safeguard your fleet, and, ultimately, your business data. Your Managed Print partner ensures these security measures are always in place.

Why Managed Print Services? Realize Cost Savings

Do you know how much your company spends on printing annually? Recent research from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the average employee makes 10,000 copies or prints each year, costing your company up to $1,200 annually. Managed Print is a solution that regains control of your print fleet, ensuring that print costs are minimized, unnecessary printing and copying is curbed, and use of your devices is optimized by implementing printing rules, such as requiring double-sided (duplex) printing, limiting color printing, eliminating personal printing, and more.

Additionally, a report put out by Gartner suggests that printer-related issues make up about 50 percent of IT help desk calls. As IT employees are typically the highest-paid members of your team, it is evident that this use of their time is cost-prohibitive. Managed Print allows your in-house IT team to focus on more value-added work rather than troubleshooting printer, copier, scanner, or fax machine problems.

Device repairs can substantially impact your company’s bottom line. After all, your imaging fleet consists of a variety of machines that must be maintained and, due to regular use, require repair from time to time. Repairs are especially realized when service is neglected and are inherently expensive. Compounding the cost of repairs is office downtime. Time is money, and when workflows are disrupted due to your device needing parts or a technician’s skill, your business is losing money. With a Managed Print solution comes regular service and maintenance to minimize downtime and extensive repairs, decreasing costs and increasing team productivity.

A final cost saving that is realized with Managed Print is the automation of ordering your devices’ consumables. Your copiers and printers require certain supplies, such as ink or toner, to operate, and keeping up with supply availability can be time-consuming. Ordering too many consumables can be cost-prohibitive, as toner and ink have expiration dates, and you may not use the entirety of your stockpile before upgrading your equipment. Managed Print evaluates your toner and ink usage and ensures you have the supplies you need when you need them without having to designate an employee to manage this task for you.

Why Managed Print Services? Boost Productivity & Efficiency

Maximizing your team’s productivity and efficiency is a fundamental goal of most businesses. Surprisingly, Managed Print is a solution that can do just that. As mentioned, your IT team will be freed up for higher-level tasks. But, oftentimes, before reaching out to IT, several members of your staff will attempt to correct and solve the problem internally. Moreover, inefficient or outdated equipment can slow workflows and frustrate employees. This time spent adds up to not only a literal cost but also wasted productivity of multiple employees.

One of the first steps after signing up for Managed Print is an assessment of your current fleet’s placement. Considering how your users employ these devices, your Managed Print team will reconfigure your fleet to a tailored layout that makes sense for your workflows. This new and improved layout ensures users have maximized access to the devices needed to complete their daily tasks, boosting your productivity and efficiency.

Are You Ready to Implement a Managed Print Solution?

There are several advantages businesses of all sizes can reap by employing Managed Print. Still, this solution hits several high notes that most companies value most: improved security, cost savings, and enhanced productivity and efficiency. If you are ready to explore how Managed Print can benefit your Ohio business, contact Modern Office Methods today. We offer a free print assessment and will happily walk you through how this solution can be a boon to your company or check out how much you can save with Managed Print now.