Too many businesses continue to treat their printers or multifunction devices as little more than a dumb device that fulfils a singular purpose. If that sounds about right to you, it’s possible your business could be missing out on productivity improvements, efficiency increases, and cost reductions.
How? Through a printing solution.
What is a printing solution?
A printing solution is any additional software tools that help you manage your fleet of printers. It can be as complex or as simple as you need it to be, depending on your business.
There are two main types of printing solutions that can potentially help your business:
1. Managed print services
Most people think of managed print services (MPS) when they hear the term printing solution. MPS covers a broad range of services, all of which are designed to help you optimise your printer fleet, manage and maintain it effectively, and control the costs associated with printing. It does this in a few ways:
- reduce costs through right-sizing your printer fleet, setting print controls that limit the amount of colour or one-sided printing allowed, and take on the burden of IT support to free up your IT team
- optimise efficiency by streamlining work processes and ensuring strong governance is in place
- increase security through print authentication, hard drive security features, and device management to help meet compliance requirements and reduce risk
- improve sustainability through providing innovative, environmentally-friendly technology and helping you minimise waste.
An MPS contract usually involves a fixed monthly cost that covers the devices, the consumables, and the service. This lets your business account for your printing as an operating cost rather than as a single large, upfront investment.
2. Print management
Separate from an MPS contract, print management software helps support your print governance requirements. This can include setting and enforcing rules around who can print what and in what format, requiring authorisation to collect printouts from devices, and allocating print costs to specific cost centres.
For example, YSoft SafeQ is a workflow solutions platform that encompasses print management, document capture, and even 3D print management. Some of the benefits it can offer include:
- Centralised Print Management to increase security, reduce costs, and improve productivity
- Advanced Document Capture to automate document workflows and route documents with zero effort
- Complementary Solutions such as card readers, payment machines limits access to authorised users only and makes charge back easy.
- Rule-based Printing allows individual print conditions for different users such as limiting access rights to black and white printing or make duplex printing obligatory
- Reporting enabling the tracking and accounting of all print jobs to keep track of printing throughout the organisation
- Mobile Printing lets users send their print jobs from their mobile devices.
Print management solutions are usually software-based and don’t necessarily include the device itself. However, they can offer significant benefits specific to your industry. For example, a law firm that needs to chargeback printing and photocopying costs to client cost centres can benefit massively from the right print management solution.
To find out more about how a printing solution could help your business save time and money, reduce waste, and run more smoothly, contact us today.
