How managed print services are transforming workplace productivity
Managed print services reduce staff downtime, ease the burden of IT administration, and make print costs predictable by shifting printer responsibility to outside experts.
Pretty much every office in the United States has printers, and peer-reviewed research from Jonathan Lazar at the University of Maryland found workplace professionals lose roughly 42 to 43 percent of their time on the computer to frustrating tech episodes like printer failures, software crashes, and document errors.
Printers tend to break down at the worst possible moments and run out of ink mid-job. Often, these difficulties are compounded by the fact that no one seems to know whose job it is to fix it.
Managed print services involve outside companies taking complete responsibility for every photocopier and printer in your office. Let’s look at what these services provide in some more detail.
Effective Print Management Solutions
Essentially, managed print services are about providing full supply and monitoring solutions for all your printers and photocopiers. The company doesn’t just provide the printing hardware. They also use remote monitoring solutions to automatically detect errors and lower ink levels.
This means they can dispatch a technician when something goes wrong without anyone needing to report it. With a leasing and supply focused approach, you won’t have to deal with empty ink anymore because managed print services proactively monitor ink and toner levels and refill them before they run dry.
You pay for these services with one simple monthly bill for a fixed amount, and you have peace of mind that your office printers will work when you need them.
Boost Workplace Productivity
Print disruptions can create a massive time sink. According to research by Quocirca, the average office worker loses around 25 minutes a week to print-related problems like the following:
- Looking for a working printer
- Waiting for the toner to be changed
- Dealing with paper jams
When used to account for a team, it’s easily hundreds of hours of lost working time every year.
Managed printing services eliminate almost all of this wasted time. Problems are addressed proactively. The company takes a preventive maintenance approach, meaning the problems are often dealt with before your staff even notices them. With managed printing services, the frustrating deadline delays and chaos around the printer simply don’t happen.
Enhancing Business Operations With Specialized Support and Cost-saving Strategies
Without managed printing services, it’s not always clear who’s responsible for a printer problem. It usually ends up being the responsibility of IT or office management. For people working in this role who were not necessarily hired to troubleshoot printers, they may need to take on the following responsibilities:
- Booking engineers
- Managing the supply orders
- Chasing up machine warranties
- Handling invoices for toner, ink, and paper
These tasks can take up a lot of time, preventing workers from doing the job they were hired to do. With managed printing services, your IT team gets those hours back, and you can focus on the core mission.
Avoid Printer Chaos With Managed Print Services
Managed print services establish clear responsibility for printers, and their associated responsibilities mean your staff loses less time dealing with technical problems. Your IT team can focus on the core mission, and your printing becomes secure with predictable costs per month.
If you’re interested in learning more about similar business-related topics, such as office efficiency improvement, see our other blog posts for more.
