Top 4 Benefits of Managed Print Services

For most modern offices, managed print services are an absolute necessity.

Printing is often the lifeblood of offices. Even with the massive shift towards digital documentation, today’s offices still spend a giant portion of their budgets on printing.

According to the managed print company United Imaging, offices with mismanaged print fleets spend 3% of their total revenue on printing.

As your clients’ technology advisor, you can help by connecting them to a quality managed print provider.

Print Partner works with hundreds of MSPs across the country, actively managing and improving print for each MSP’s client base. We know first-hand how much of an impact good MPS can have on a client’s office.

In this article, we will describe the many perks of managed print services and why your clients should take advantage of this critically important service.

1. Maximize Printing Efficiency

You may not realize how much your clients rely on their print device suite.

An inefficient printing infrastructure can cost businesses countless hours, especially for industries that heavily rely on print, like law offices, schools, hospitals, etc.

To learn about which types of businesses rely on print the most, read: 5 Industries that Use the Most Print

The MPS provider actively manages and tracks your client’s print devices to streamline document workflow.

From the onset of the client’s MPS relationship, the vendor will install a data collection agent (DCA) to gather information on each printer and copier’s performance. Specifically, we use PrintFleet. To learn more about them, read: An In-Depth Look at PrintFleet

Once the DCA is installed, the print vendor can see each device’s usage and error percentage. And gathering this information is the key to optimizing your clients’ document workflow.

For example, an entire office’s operations could slow down if its small copier is pushed beyond its expected print capacity. But, an attentive MPS vendor could spot this with their DCA and suggest a machine that would be a better fit.

Or, if a particular device has frequent paper jams, the MPS provider will give the client proactive maintenance steps, or they may suggest device replacement.

Managed print providers also track toner levels on each print device and automatically replace toner cartridges when needed. Tracking toner internally can be a hassle, and a proactive MPS can lift a massive burden off clients' office administrators.

Tracking printers and copiers increase an office’s print processes exponentially. Fewer device issues mean your clients will have an easier and faster workflow, which means fewer headaches and more money in their pockets.

2. Lower Print Costs

In addition to creating more efficient workplaces, managed print providers also save your client a nice chunk of change. In fact, a quality MPS provider often pays for itself very quickly.

By tracking print-related spending and usage, companies can adequately account for how much print will cost.

According to Impact, another print provider, 90% of businesses do not track their printing costs. They also found that companies that use guesswork to predict print spend underestimate their printing costs by 40%.

When your clients work with an MPS provider, they can identify devices that are eating into your client’s office budget and provide solutions to minimize costs.

MPS consulting will give your clients more funds to invest in other areas of their technology infrastructure.

When considering costs, your client will always be in a better position when they have a print expert in their corner. A better printing device suite means more time and money for your client and their staff to spend elsewhere.

3. Reduce Print-Related IT Calls

We apologize in advance if this topic hits a sore spot; if so, you’re definitely not alone. Many MSPs are swamped with unwanted print-related calls they should not be dealing with.

The truth is, most MSP technicians are not fluent in “printer.”

While clients are quick to lump print devices in with the rest of their technology suite, copiers and printers are entirely different beasts from the services most IT staff are trained to handle.

This is especially true for organizations that don’t standardize their equipment. No MSP can be expected to learn 80 different models of Xerox, HP, and Canon printers for a single client!

But despite this seemingly obvious fact, clients that lack properly-managed print tend to rely on their MSP for print needs, calling them about any issues that arise.

Print calls often end up leaving your clients and your MSP frustrated and will create friction in your partnership, since your team will struggle to troubleshoot their cryptic printing issues.

And these aren’t even your devices, meaning you won’t see a dime for the countless headaches these printers and copiers will inevitably cause.

Clients who develop a relationship with a quality print vendor lift a huge burden from their IT staff. 

Not only will your clients receive specialized support from experts that actually understand the devices, but your MSP’s team will also have more time to deal with the issues you're equipped to handle.

4. Print Device Support

As your team has probably learned from the dreaded “print calls,” handling print devices can take lots of time and effort long after the initial sale.

A managed print provider can offer layers of print support that cover your client's printing needs at every stage.

Here’s how it works:

If the client experiences issues with an office printing device, they will call their managed print services provider to troubleshoot over the phone. The phone operator will walk the client through steps on solving some of the most common problems.

If they cannot resolve the issue during this call, the MPS provider will schedule an onsite technician to visit the office to troubleshoot in person. The amount of time it takes to schedule this visit can vary depending on the company, but most MPS providers specify a guaranteed response time in their service-level agreement (SLA)

Sometimes, the issue can't be resolved during the first visit, either due to the issue's complexity or if a particular replacement part is on backorder. Unfortunately, the client may have to wait days or weeks for the case to be resolved. But some print companies, like our parent company Green Office Partner, will provide a loaner device while the client waits for theirs to be fixed.

For a full breakdown of our support process, read: How Print Partner Handles Your Client’s Support Requests

Print Partner’s MPS Offering

Managed print services can create enormous benefits for your clients. 

MPS can revolutionize your clients' offices with improved office efficiency, decreased costs, lower IT call volume, and much-needed print support long after device sales.

If you have clients that don’t have managed print service but desperately need it, consider referring them to Print Partner.

We work with MSPs to deliver a boutique print experience for your clients. You won’t need to add any services to your MSP’s suite either; make the introduction, and we’ll handle the entire sales process and service that follows.

We will take the burden of dealing with copiers and printers off your shoulders. Say goodbye to those dreaded and confusing “my printer isn’t working” calls!

Plus, we’ll pay you! For each deal we close, we’ll pay the person who registers the opportunity at least $500 for the introduction and an additional $250 per $25K in revenue the deal brings us. For the MSP, we’ll pay $1,000 per 11x17 MFP sold, $100 per printer sold, and 5% recurring revenue on the client’s print allotment. And we’ll provide exceptional client service while we’re at it.

The same goes for any future sales we make with that client down the road; even if we sell them new machines years later, you’ll still be paid because of the initial referral.

The value of managed print is clear. If you want to help your clients while saving your technicians from print-related headaches, then partner with us, a Print Partner you can trust.