What is MPS?
Last Updated on Monday, 06 December 2010 13:08 Written by Jake Chaney Monday, 06 December 2010 12:45
What is MPS? And why would it be beneficial to my organization?
Printing is one of the over looked expenses that the typical office doesn’t have a handle on, yet it can make up anywhere from 3-5% of revenues (based upon a recent Gartner Group study). Most offices will have anywhere from 4-8 printers for each copier they are leasing or own. Typical expenses in such an environment are the cost of toner, repairs, replacement printers, cash tied up on toners in the supply closet, IT time to address problems, etc. This would be characterized as a VARIABLE cost.
This is where a good MPS program can be beneficial. MPS, or Managed Print Services, allows for a vendor/customer partnership in the truest sense of the word, taking a similar approach to the entire office's printing that would normally be reserved for a maintenance agreement on a copier. Thus, creating a more FIXED cost of printing.
There are a number of objectives that our Managed Print Services program can address:
1. Can money be saved by incorporating a Managed Print Services Program? This is usually evident after an assessment is conducted. Our staff conducts a “Quick View” in which we monitor usage for a short period of time to see how much volume is being printed and copied by each device in the office.
2. Help Desk Calls - Reduce help desk calls to either the in house IT staff or the contracted IT professional (which is being billed on an hourly or per call basis).
3. Convert an unknown variable cost into a manageable fixed expense - By paying a price per page, expensive service calls are eliminated, toner is available on an “as needed basis” and is covered under the price per page, and the cost of having toners on hand that are not needed any longer goes away.
4. Current Equipment Redeployment within the organization - In some cases, we see that one printer may be making several thousand prints per month while an identical printer in another department is significantly underutilized. This discovery can extend the value of your printing assets and control the additional costs that are being experienced now.
5. The cost of new, replacement printers is curtailed - So many times an IT department will not be able to fix a problem immediately and recommend that a printer be replaced if it is not fixable in a short amount of time. This results in the occasional replacement prematurely of a printer that may have life left in it. A properly run print management program allows a contractor such as WJ Office to promptly fix equipment (which is our strength) and extend the life of the asset. It is OUR responsibility to replace it if we cannot fix it properly.
6. Business Reviews - A good managed print services program also requires periodic business reviews in which WJ representatives and the customer’s management review the results periodically to see how the program is working and what tweaks can be made to make it even better. Where could we direct more prints toward a more cost effective or underutilized device? How can assets be redeployed? What has changed since last time? Are there any troublesome machines? Have there been any customer satisfaction issues?
For those businesses interested in saving money while increasing efficiency, Managed Print Services could be for them. Regardless, the assessment is free.
Neville Chaney
President
WJ Office
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