Managed Print Services and the Mythical Paperless Office

Remember when personal computers were a revelation and experts were predicting that we'd be living in a "paperless society" by the dawn of the 21st century? Well, here we are, almost 20 years into the new millennium, and a paperless society still feels as fanciful as personal jet packs and time-traveling DeLoreans.

In fact, as much as 15% of a business' annual budget may be consumed by feeding documents into various machines, be they copiers, printers, fax machines, etc. When you consider approximately half of those documents are thrown away unused, that adds up to a major problem for your business,

The paperless office is a worthy goal to aspire to, but it probably won't be feasible for several more decades, if ever. However, there is a way you can cut back your overall printing costs as well as reducing your negative impact on the environment. It's called managed print services.

Managed Print Services Explained

Managed print services are provided by an outside company in order to handle a company's document output in the most efficient way possible. This involves placing equipment such as copiers, fax machines, printers, etc. in the optimal locations for highest efficiency, tracking and monitoring the amount of document output created by each individual and/or department, maintenance and repair of equipment, and refill of supplies. It streamlines the process so that when there are problems or issues with your print services, you have only one point of contact you need to deal with, and at the end of the month, you have only one invoice you need to pay.

Monitoring Print Output

Imagine the following scenario: Your office or department is way over its copying budget because someone in the office is making many more copies than they should, perhaps even for non-business-related tasks. You've never been able to catch them in the act, so you have no idea of the identity of the culprit(s). Therefore, you have no choice but to punish everybody by implementing draconian limits on copying. Before you know it, your copiers become war zones, with everyone regarding each other with suspicion and hostility, looking to catch the freeloader who screwed things up for everyone.

We've seen it happen before, and it's a frustrating situation for everyone. With managed print services, you can monitor printing and copying on a per-user or per-document basis, so if you do have a copy glutton on staff, you can determine who it is and implement the appropriate consequences without inconveniencing everyone else.

Equipment Replacement and Repair

Right away when you engage managed print services, the company will perform an assessment of your current print fleet, replacing underperforming machines with more efficient devices and placing them where they will be most accessible to the greatest number of employees. When copiers or printers break down, as they inevitably will, call the managed print company directly rather than trying to track down the number for the manufacturer, and your malfunctioning unit will be repaired if possible, replaced if necessary.

Maybe we'll get to that elusive paperless society one day, but until that day comes, managed print services is your best bet for asserting authority over your document output rather than being beholden to it. Learn more about how PrintSmart managed print services from Benchmark can benefit your business.