Q&A: a guide to smart managed document solutions

Despite the economic recovery slowly gathering pace, times are still hard for the majority of companies and many are finding it difficult to balance the books at the end of each month.

That’s why saving money wherever possible has become increasingly vital for organisations, no matter what sector they are operating in and how large or small they are compared to rivals.

Reducing waste is towards the top of the agenda for lots of businesses in 2014, but with so many approaches to doing so it can be difficult to know where to start.

Printing might not be the most exciting area of a business, but it can be a large cost, especially for any company that relies heavily on paper print-outs of documents for any reason.

One method lots of companies are now starting to use are managed print services, but what is this, how does it work, and is it right for any type of business?

So what is managed print services?

Managed print services helps companies to reduce waste and improving efficiency in their print strategy. It might sound complicated, but they are the main aims of this type of product.

One of the main ones on the market at the present time comes from OKI Systems and is called Smart Managed Document Solutions.

How it works

Any firm concerned about its print spending can find it can achieve great savings as a result of signing up to Smart Managed Document Solutions. In fact, research shows that those who use this tactic are typically able to reduce their print bills by as much as 30 per cent, which can be a significant amount of money over the course of a year.

Those who sign up have a full audit of their offices carried out, which examines how print equipment is being used. From here, data is produced to show where the waste is happening, which can contribute to a lack of productivity in workers.

For instance, if members of staff are having to walk across an office to retrieve documents they have printed out, this could be a waste of time and ultimately money for the company.

What happens next

After the audit stage of the process has been completed, the next stage is where recommendations for changes and improvements to print strategy are made to the firm.

This may include getting rid of old and inefficient print equipment that is not being used, or simply relocating it to a part of the office that makes more sense in terms of the workplace’s layout.

Typically, it may be the case that a recommendation is to invest in a smart printer that can do the job of various other devices – for instance scanning, copying and faxing.

Does it work?

There are countless success stories from Smart Managed Documents Services from OKI and it would take a long time to list them here. However, most of those who do sign up to the scheme find it is a useful way to get a grip of their print spending.

That 30 per cent saving is an average figure produced by OKI’s own research, so some businesses will be able to cut their print bills by an even greater amount, especially if their current strategy is particularly inefficient and in need of an urgent revamp.

At the very least, all businesses ought to be keeping a close eye on all outgoings with the economic recovery as slow as it is, so it would be a dereliction of duty for a company to dismiss the benefits of managed print services out of hand.

Q&A: a guide to smart managed document solutions