Managed Print Services – Print Fleet Management

What is Managed Print Services?

The practice of supplying, servicing and keeping at work a fleet of printers and digital multifunction devices in the business world has now evolved into an established service model, which is generally known as Managed Print Services or MPS.

Suppliers apply a management model aimed at cost reduction, no longer acting only on the margins and the purchase costs of the products, but by reducing waste and unnecessary costs, streamlining operational processes and ensuring a direct relationship between printing volumes and operating costs.

All the main market players in the Print & Copy industry have embraced some variation of a general business and service framework that includes printing devices, consumables and related services in service contracts called “Pay-Per-Use”, “Page-Cost” or “Managed Print Services”.

For the supplier, offering its customers a Managed Print Service / Printer Fleet Management service contract, is an excellent investment for its future.

It means that the partnerships with customers become much closer and long-lasting, achieving significant economies of scale in the management of services, obtaining tangible benefits both for their own company and for the customers.

In order to manage the customer services properly and professionally, the supplier needs to adopt an organizational model and tools that ensure operational efficiency, availability of information and process automation.

What advantages are provided by Managed Print Services?

Managed Print services provide both the customer and the supplier with a better and more economical management, with many concrete advantages:

• Visibility: immediate reports on the contracts and the fleet, with concrete data and historical analyses updated in real time;
• Efficiency: simplification of the management processes and the delivery of consumables;
• Transparency: data on costs and consumption always available through the web; clarity regarding charges and invoicing;
• Flexibility: ability to follow the dynamics of the device fleet (IMAC) on a daily basis;
• Loyalty: greater stability in the relationship between supplier and customer;
• Operations: optimal management of the Contract in all its operational and economic aspects.

The tools that the supplier puts in place must provide full support to all these aspects, making available effective and complete features, while keeping them simple and immediate in their use and management.

What is needed to implement Managed Print Services?

Among the various processes and tools needed, a primary requirement for the supplier is to implement a software platform dedicated to the remote monitoring of printing devices. 

The software must ensure the management of data flows on consumption and volumes produced, and the automation of logistic processes for the supply of toner and all consumables.

The MPS Monitor system, leader in the remote management of printers and multifunction peripheral systems, has been designed and implemented specifically for this purpose.

Its main features are:

• Immediate and automatic availability of the data for billing pages;
• Totally automated management of the consumable supply chain;
• Continuous and timely tracking of the status of alert management and supply deliveries;
• No need to contact the user or respond on site to retrieve this data;
• Predictability of volumes and consumption, and continuous comparison between forecasts and actual consumption;
• Constant monitoring of consumable usage and duration, and average toner coverage;
• Integration with the main database products, for a complete automation of the invoicing process.

The solution is available as a Cloud-based web service, entering into a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual contract.

A pay-per-use model is used, without any investment in hardware or software licenses.
The MPS Monitor system can be tested very thoroughly by requesting a demo that can be activated in minutes, with a simple registration.