Which costs may be sneaking up on you?
As you shop around to determine the printing needs of your company, you’re likely weighing certain costs — primarily device cost and the cost of consumables (replacement ink, toner, paper, energy usage, etc). These are what some would consider the “hard costs” of investing in printing capabilities for your office. There is another number, however, that most fail to fully calculate or even consider during this same shopping process — the soft costs associated with company printing. Let’s take a look at what some of these soft costs are and how you can best mitigate them as much as possible.
IT Department Costs
All office printers, no matter if they are inkjet or laser printers, will eventually require a bit of maintenance. Because your office printers are electrical devices that communicate with your office network, these maintenance and repair issues tend to fall on your company’s IT department. While this may seem like an acceptable strategy to keep your fleet of printers operating, there’s only one problem with it — most IT specialists are not experienced or trained in printer maintenance and repair. This lack of expertise is a grossly inefficient use of your IT department’s time and your company’s money. Still, this inefficient utilization of your IT department is rarely factored into the true printing cost for your company. Changing printer cartridges, reloading paper trays, tending to technical issues such as device network connectivity — all of these tasks rob more productive time from your IT department personnel.
Staff Printer Burden
In many instances, printer maintenance issues waste the time of your office staff. Whether trying to free up a paper jam or reconnecting a printer to the office network, any time a specialized member of your team is tending to issues outside of their job description, you’re losing money. Even if a printer is temporarily out of service, the effort of printing to a less capable or less convenient printer is an incalculable cost you may not be considering.
Device Wear Over Time
Like owning a home means you’re on the hook for a leaky roof or a broken furnace, owning office print equipment means that you’re footing the bill for maintenance of office equipment over time. Though all printers will eventually age their way out of commission, printers whose maintenance is overseen by ill-equipped and under-trained IT personnel, office staff, or even a variety of third-party repair services will age even faster. Owning your own printer devices also means that you’re permanently stuck with the technology you purchased, making upgrading a costly hassle.
How Do You Eliminate Printer Soft Costs? Managed Print Services
The scenarios mentioned above may make you feel like eliminating printing from your office’s operations altogether, but there is a popular remedy for all of these problems in the form of Managed Print Services (MPS). Professional Managed Print Services provide a managed plan designed to handle all of your company’s printing and printer needs. Managed Print Services experts will work with you, developing a strategy that delivers the most efficient company-wide printer system possible. MPS professionals handle network connectivity issues, printer device repair, maintenance, and even provide all of the necessary consumables such as replacement ink, toner, paper, and more.
