For business leaders, the thought of developing a Managed Print Services (MPS) strategy for their organisation can be a somewhat daunting task. In all the weighing up of pros and cons, how does one not get overwhelmed at the thought of transferring over the whole organisation’s current print system into a newer, sleeker operation that can save time and money?
For organisations of all shapes and sizes, the implementation of managed print services varies. And for those with complex operations, fear not, because there are sophisticated solutions that can be fully customised to your current system.
Supol Leng, Product Marketing Manager at KYOCERA, says implementing a managed print service solution can be seamless, with little or no real downtime to the organisation’s day-to-day operations. We picked his brain to find out what good managed print services implementation really looks like.
How do you know if it’s time to develop and implement a Managed Print Service strategy in your business?
S: The real question is ‘do you want to save money?’. A lot of businesses don’t realise that printing is the third biggest expense to organisations behind staff and rent. You'd be surprised there are businesses out there where it's a set and forget thing and they have no real idea about what their printing fleet is like and at what volumes their company is printing.
That’s why we often do an assessment and audit to see who’s printing what in the business before we develop a Managed Print Service strategy because printing is the thing nobody thinks about. Once the business sees the expenditure and can see how these expenses can be curbed through MPS, then it’s a fairly straightforward decision for them.
What steps are involved in implementing MPS?
S: MPS implementation can be broken down into the following steps.
1. Audit
First, we do an assessment and audit of the current printing environment so we can clearly see the volume of printing that is generated and by which departments. We’ll provide a full report highlighting areas for improvement for cost and waste reduction.
2. Get to know the business
We get to know the business so we understand what the end game is and where they want to go in terms of what their current and future needs are. For example, some of the questions we ask include:
- Are you expecting to print more in the future or less?
- Will you digitise?
- Is one of your goals to increase productivity?
We will not only focus on print output but will also familiarise ourselves with the customer’s organisation, identify opportunities for process improvements and workflows and use these to help the customer clarify the scope of activities. This way, nothing gets missed.
Every company has different needs, there can be some cases where a client just wants to optimise and monitor their printing where an out-of-the-box MPS is implemented, or cases where they would like a full end-to-end solution with the addition of document workflows and document management systems. We will design based on the customers current and future needs and their business objectives.
3. Prepare for takeoff
At this phase we prepare for implementation, build a test environment and identify any edge cases or anything extra that is needed. In some situations, this phase requires buy-in from stakeholders.
4. Full implementation
This is where we fully roll out the implementation of MPS into the business. From installation to training, we’ll ensure there is minimum disruption and downtime.
5. Ongoing support
Once MPS is implemented, we work closely with our clients to continuously reassess their requirements and needs to make sure they’re met. This is a huge differentiator between us and other providers; we don’t just implement the MPS and walk away. We continue to deliver on our promise and we get great feedback on our post-implementation support.
What happens if we have a complex business model, and how does it work with the software we already use?
KYOCERA has a full suite of document management solutions that complement a Managed Print Service strategy and implementation. For customers that have a unique or specific requirement, we can also assess and customise solutions to meet their needs. That’s what separates us from everyone else.
For example, we had a customer who had certain requirements around scanning sensitive, confidential information, but there was nothing out there anyone could provide. So we built their whole scanning feature from scratch, from the ground up. We scoped it, we told them what the expenses were around that, that we have direct support and we have a lot of developments for adapting changes with the software. It was a very successful customisation.
Requirements and technology change all the time - so if a vendor can’t keep up with software on a customer's premises they can look to us to expand or we can accommodate newer needs.
Managed Print Services is a flexible and scalable print solution that can meet the changing needs of your organisation in the new era of work. To learn how you can reduce your costs, minimise risk, improve your environmental footprint and gain greater control of your print environment, download our Managed Print Services Fact Sheet.
