THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED PRINT SERVICES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES

Transcription

1 THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED PRINT SERVICES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES

2 INDEX INTRODUCTION THE BENEFITS OF MPS THE BENEFITS OF DMS WHY A LOCAL VENDOR IS KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL MPS PROGRAM ABOUT US

3 INTRODUCTION There is a distinct difference between price and value. Price is the money spent upfront for a product or service. Value is whether the upfront expenditure turns out to be financially rewarding in the long run. As a business, it s easy to get roped in by a best price, and pursue a product that seems to offer the greatest discount at the moment. What s harder to do is evaluate a product or service purchasing situation with the foresight needed to determine if it will have long-term value. In making the distinction between best price and best value, it s best to think about it this way: Best price often leads to immediate but short-lived satisfaction, while best value leads to long-term fulfillment and cost savings. In this white paper, we will be discussing two business tools that provide the kind of long-term quality and value that enterprises need to thrive: Managed print services (MPS) and Document management solutions (DMS). After examining the benefits of each service, we will then explain that when looking for an MPS and DMS vendor, it s best to stay local. THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED PRINT SERVICES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES 1

4 THE BENEFITS OF MPS In a typical office in the United States, an average worker will use 10,000 sheets of copy paper annually. This helps explain why the U.S., despite being home to 5 percent of the global population, is responsible for nearly one third of world paper consumption. Inefficient paper output is an environmental problem across the country, but for businesses particularly small and medium-sized establishments it can also present significant cost and organizational issues. Even as the business world becomes increasingly virtualized, paper still plays a pivotal role in day-to-day organizational functions. In fact, research firm Gartner has found that enterprise paper production is actually growing by 25 percent yearly. Yet many companies aren t doing the work necessary to keep their printing cost-efficient. After all, the cost of workplace printing operations encompasses more than paper. Businesses also must account for the costs of of paper jams, wasted printer ink and the need to re-stock cartridges, among other concerns. But many companies don t look beyond the day-to-day. They ll sooner waste ink and fix jams day in and day out rather than look for a print management solution. That solution exists in the form of managed print services. When a company entrusts its printer fleet to a managed service provider (MSP), it reaps the following benefits: An average worker will use 10,000 sheets of copy paper annually Putting printing into the hands of experts MPS removes the burden of managing print services from employees and puts it into the hands of trained experts. This is important for two reasons. First, it frees up employees time to focus on more businesscritical tasks. Secondly, it ensures that printing equipment is better attended to. After all, the average SMB employee likely doesn t have the skillsets required to effectively maintain office printing equipment. That s one of the key reasons so many offices have inefficient printing operations. New equipment training from industry experts When a business pursues an MPS solution, it guarantees that any new printing equipment introduced into the office network will be accompanied by training from an expert. With printing technology evolving so quickly, this kind of expert training is imperative for businesses. Otherwise, companies run the risk of having their workers not be able to navigate the business printing tech in the office which can quickly lead to wasted time and money. THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED PRINT SERVICES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES 2

5 Consolidation of supply purchases to MPS vendor Without a central management system for printing, the enterprise process of buying printing equipment inevitably becomes scattershot. A new printer here, a box of cartridges there it s no wonder that nine out of 10 businesses don t have a clear idea of the number of printers in their system. An ad hoc approach to equipment purchasing may make a business feel like it s not spending much money, but that goes back to the issue of price versus value. Disorganized supply purchases are always a money burner in the long run. An MPS vendor, on the other hand, consolidates supply purchases and is therefore able to create the most efficient printing environment possible one in which hardware purchases are reflective of analyticsdetermined need. Improved productivity MPS enables several things that bolster productivity. First, it creates a more streamlined office printing system, which saves employees time with printing activities and allows them to channel more time into their work. Second, MPS takes the strain off enterprise IT departments, which in turn allows IT workers to focus on business-critical tasks that improve efficiency and productivity companywide. Significant cost savings Every business leader is constantly looking for ways to reduce costs, and there s the potential for huge savings with the adoption of MPS. The savings becomes evident when looking at what Companies without a printing solution can expect to pay up to 10 cents per black and white printed page, and up to one dollar for a color page. This is the kind of statistic that can sound appealing in terms of price after all, 10 cents isn t much. But in the long run, printing ad hoc has no value on the contrary, it devours business funds without most enterprises even realizing it. In addition, consider that 17 percent of the pages a worker prints annually aren t even used, which means even more money heading down the drain. But this isn t the case with MPS. As ZDNet has reported, the outsourcing of document production ensures that office printing inefficiencies will be exposed and corrected, and that costs will drop thanks to organization and consolidation. THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED PRINT SERVICES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES 3

6 THE BENEFITS OF DMS When paired with MPS, document management solutions can be a critical tool that leads business users to greater efficiency and savings. Like printing, document management is often something that proves overwhelming for SMBs. Here are some of the specific ways DMS can help: Stores information digitally Manual document handling is rife with error, and this is something that sets a lot of SMBs back. One of the key elements of DMS is digital storage, which ensures that paper documents are converted into digital form so that they can be safe and don t run the risk of being irretrievably lost. The conversion to digital also leads to far speedier document search and processing time, since digitized files, unlike physical ones, can be converted into a searchable format. This makes them not only searchable, but easily editable as well. Prevents disaster scenarios For SMBs, the inability to recover from the loss of data can be devastating. Approximately six out of 10 businesses that lose their data shut down within half a year. And yet despite the reality that the odds are against SMBs that experience data loss, these organizations often fail to grasp the importance of data retention and retrieval. Fortunately, DMS goes a long way toward storing, archiving and retrieving data. And this isn t just helpful in disaster scenarios it s also valuable in simply limiting downtime in daily data retrieval needs. Boosts employee ease of access and productivity DMS significantly increases the ease with which work can be conducted. That s because unlike paperonly files, documents stored in a DMS are accessible from anywhere provided the user is authorized to view the file. For SMBs, this eliminates the time that used to go into transporting physical files back and forth. When employees have more immediate access to documents, they re able to spend more time actually working with the documents, which in turn boosts productivity. Cost savings It should come as no surprise that, like MPS, DMS results in big dollars saved. When a business doesn t have a system for managing its documents, it s forced to retain files physically. The maintenance of filing cabinets - and the space that takes up - is an unnecessary cost strain for SMBs. THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED PRINT SERVICES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES 4

7 WHY A LOCAL VENDOR IS KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL MPS PROGRAM For businesses, managed print services paired with documents management solutions provides a more efficient and costeffective enterprise. Therefore, it s no surprise that the MPS industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.1 percent through 2019, as a December 2014 TechNavio report found. The adoption of these solutions have a positive impact that reverberates throughout the entire business. But in order for companies to optimize their relationship with a managed services provider, it is best to choose a local vendor. After all, to fully reap the benefits of MPS and DMS like new equipment training from industry experts, you want a provider that s close and accessible. With a local vendor, you can benefit from dependable service as well as the potential for inperson help, which will ensure you get the most out of your print fleet Consider, for instance, a situation where your business upgrades its entire print infrastructure. If your vendor is a bigbox company located far away, the likelihood of getting the individualized help you need in acclimating your employees to the new equipment is slim. However, with a local vendor, you can benefit from dependable service as well as the potential for in-person help, which will ensure you get the most out of your print fleet. THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED PRINT SERVICES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES 5

8 ABOUT US Advanced Imaging Solutions provides print management solutions to local businesses throughout Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan. For over 20 years, the managed service provider has helped organizations across various industries optimize their print fleets to reduce print-related expenses and maximize efficiencies. An effective MPS program unburdens the client by assuming management of the organization s print landscape. Companies using managed print services often save between 3-5 percent on print-related costs within their first year. CONTACT US sales@advancedimaging.net advancedimaging.net