MPS – Managed Print Services — What is it, what isn’t it?

Many copier companies are pushing Managed Print Services (MPS) these days.  You have probably had your rep stop by and pitch the advantages of having all of your devices under one plan.  So, you have had the Fleet Management talk, but do you know what you are actually signing up for?  This blog post deals with what “should” happen with a Fleet Management assesment and what should not happen…

What should happen … Appropriate steps to have your Print Fleet managed well…

1) Agree — Agreement is needed first.  If you are not ready to make some changes if they make sense, you are not ready for Managed Print Services.

2) Assess — What does this mean?  A physical walk through should be done ALONG WITH a meter reading of all of the devices on the network.  This would include figuring out layout, device types and costs associated with all of the devices.  It would also look at expiration dates of contracts so if there is a bad contract, it can be purged as quickly as possible.

3) Analyze — Someone needs to take the time and do the work to see what everything is costing.  Beware of reps who will pad their numbers to make their plans look attractive.  We have many customers who were sold a plan by a competitor who promised lower costs, but the actual costs INCREASED after they signed the contract.  Color yields should be analyzed at 20% coverage, black and white at 5% coverage (unless pages were pulled from the printer which would let you know this should be higher or lower)

4) Attack — What should be done after the assessments is to attack the bleeders first and get costs under control as quickly as possible.  Most companies can save $200 or $300 a month by attacking 2 or 3 problem printing / copying devices right away.

5) Audit — Once there is a plan of attack that is executed, there should be periodic audits performed so that the promises made can be substantiated.  The savings promised needs to be realized or you got a bad deal.

If you would like to have a free Printer/Copier Assessment, give us a call and we’ll get busy on it right away!