Managed Print Services (MPS) is about more than placing a shiny new machine in your office and ordering toner on your behalf—it’s a way of approaching your complete print infrastructure. The initial assessment phase is the most critical part of a transition to MPS.
Like any new step for your business, successful implementation hinges on a solid understanding of the issues and objectives. Fortunately, with MPS, it’s not a step you’re taking all on your own. Working together with your partner, the five steps in an initial MPS assessment will lay the groundwork for your new printing strategy. These steps will help you understand where you are, where you’re going, and how you’ll get there.
1. Define your goals. Why make the move to MPS? Is your primary motivation cost savings? Are you looking to reduce the amount of precious office space dedicated to printers and related equipment? You may hope to eliminate redundant machines like multiple printers and scanners, or it could be that you’re taking the first step toward a paperless office and want to optimize your workflow. Knowing what you want out of your MPS partnership will help you and your provider strategize and, later, evaluate success.
2. Understand the current environment. This part of the assessment will build a complete picture of your print fleet’s current usage and location, while developing a deeper understanding for your business’ workflows and unique needs. Your MPS provider will evaluate your current print environment, taking each machine’s functionality, usage, and location into consideration. This information, along with your business’ unique workflows and each of your team members’ current output levels, provides the data your provider needs to optimize your print fleet and ensure your staff’s needs will be met when new recommendations are put in place.
3. Identify areas for improvement. Guided by industry benchmarks, next your provider will help you identify ways to implement best practices in printing. This may include optimizing device type and quantity in order to eliminate wasteful standby devices, or you may be advised to make a few adjustments to printer locations to better suit printing patterns in your office. Additionally, your MPS partner will setup all of your devices to use default printing settings that maximize efficiency and cost savings.
4. Implement strategic changes. Change management can be challenging for any organization, but it’s critical to effectively implement your provider’s suggestions in order to reap the greatest benefit from your new MPS strategy. Communicating usage goals and training staff on each machine’s functionalities and limitations are important steps, and your MPS partner can help.
5. Ongoing management. After the initial assessment phase, you will be provided with ongoing data analysis and evaluation of your print fleet. Working together with your provider, you’ll have the information you need to continue to adapt and make smart printing choices for your business. You’ll also have hard data showing the costs associated with your print environment—as well as your cost savings with MPS.
Don’t worry, you’re not on your own! Managed Print Services is about making printing work for you, not the other way around. Contact Monster Technology to schedule an initial MPS assessment today!
About Monster Technology
Monster Technology is nationwide business technology provider. With sales offices in the Los Angeles & Reno Metro area as well as distribution centers all over the US. We help our clients improve productivity while yielding real hard cost savings through leveraging our muti-phase approach. Our core offerings include Managed Print Services, Managed IT, Document Management and Office Equipment.