Many businesses would be shocked to know exactly how much they spend on printing each year. If you think too much of your annual budget is being sunk into printing expenses, it’s a good idea to have a professional conduct an audit to assess your print spend to gain a better understanding. A Managed Print Services (MPS) provider can perform this task for you.

What does a print assessment look at?

To spend wisely on printing, an organization needs to understand its actual document output needs, rather than rely on decisions based on a lack of knowledge or by simple guesswork. A print assessment considers all of a company’s print assets and seeks to uncover any hidden costs or wasteful printing habits. This includes an in-depth examination of productivity, distribution, workflows, and output. Items carefully looked that include:

• Excessive spending on equipment.
• Inadequate or redundant devices that don’t provide an ROI.
• Outdated or unreliable equipment.
• Wasteful printing habits.
• Badly negotiated maintenance contracts.
• Excess spending on supplies that sit unused taking up space in storage.
• Lax security protocols.

Once complete, your print assessment will help decision-makers identify opportunities for improvement within your print environment.

How to conduct a print assessment

The print assessment process looks at everything from physical equipment in the business to ordering supplies to IT security. To effectively conduct an assessment to see where improvement can be made, an auditor will perform the following steps.

• Analyze - Physically identify each piece of equipment, inventory it, and note its location. Speak to staff about business initiatives to determine if existing equipment meets current and future demands.
• Cross-reference - Look at each piece of equipment and cross-reference it with IT help desk tickets to see which ones had the most breakdowns or negative impact on workflows.
• Plan - Look at how departments and individuals are using the equipment. Can it be done more efficiently? What equipment would be better off replaced or moved to increase productivity?

Once all of the devices in your print fleet are itemized and accounted for, a new print strategy can be developed. MPS can streamline all of your print, copy, and fax needs and bundle it into one solution from one vendor. The final steps are execution and management. Taking your organizational needs into consideration and identifying a solution, your MPS partner can help bring the effective management of your print spend to fruition.

Ways Managed Print Services bring down costs

Many companies don’t realize their print costs can equate up to three percent of their total revenue. While it may not sound a lot, if you break it down, this amount could be substantial. Every company should initiate a print assessment to see where there is room for improvement. By identifying unnecessary costs and employing cost-efficient solutions, businesses can take these savings and invest them into core competencies or put them towards other business expenses. An MPS provider will take care of the following tasks:

• Manage inventory and order supplies through automation so no wasteful spending occurs.
• Provide routine maintenance as a preventative measure to minimize downtime.
• Take over the need for staff intervention when print-related issues arise.
• Relieve IT staff from having to deal with breakdowns, cartridge replacements, and other routine print issues.
• Improve security and reduce risks associated with data loss and breaches.
• Apply security updates and patches as needed.

MPS can bring down an organization's overall print spend and eliminate the hassles associated with its management. The biggest offenders are typically productivity, inefficiency, and security.

Want to reduce your overhead costs while increasing your organization’s productivity and overall bottom line? Contact the Managed Print specialists at All Copy Products today to get started with your MPS assessment!We’ll conduct your assessment and help you to develop a strategy that positively impacts your organization.