Print: The New Managed Services
Just when you started to get your head around the concept of managed services comes another variation on the theme—managed print services. In fact, a managed print services agreement can save your customers a lot of money—and make some for you too.
A basic agreement might include your preliminary assessment of the client’s printing environment, recommended changes, implementation of the new configuration, and provision of consumables— ink, toner, paper, and so forth—as well as ongoing service.
According to Angele Boyd, group vice president of Imaging/Output and SMB Practices for IDC, clients can reduce costs by as much 10 to 30 percent by revamping their print infrastructure. “Ink and toner, for example—those alone can be prohibitively expensive,” she says.
Ken Weilerstein, a vice president of research at Gartner Inc., cites similar savings opportunities. “Many smaller companies have a penny-wise, pound-foolish attitude toward these kinds of expenses,” he says. “So they hang on to aging equipment.” Such equipment may be consuming toner at a faster rate than would a newer machine, or the cost of its toner may be higher. Old machines can also be energy hogs. Newer “smart machines” can be programmed to power down during lunch hours and on weekends, and printers can be programmed to output two-sided by default.
The sheer number of printers is often a problem: “If you don’t right-size the environment, you can end up with a lot more devices than you think,” says Boyd. High-level executives who believe they need their own printers, for example, may be able to function with security-wise devices that output only when someone wearing the proper proximity badge approaches.
Channel pros looking to get into this business might start by seeing what the large printer manufacturers have to offer. For example, Xerox is one that has been actively recruiting resellers, according to Weilerstein. Working through a distributor such as Ingram Micro is also a good choice, suggests Boyd.
However you work it, managed print services is a great fit for IT professionals who shine at providing personal, one-on-one service to their customers. When it comes to configuring a print infrastructure and working with the machines themselves, says Weilerstein, “there’s some hand-holding involved. Clients need the IT professional’s expertise and know-how.”
—Jenny Donelan
