The Paperless Office and Managed Print Services Providers

by Anna Matthai

The paperless office is an idea that has been talked about ever since the personal computer became a mainstay of the modern office. The idea was raised in a notable 1975 Business Week article titled “The Office of the Future.” Some parts of the article are very prescient and the authors predicted that by 1995 technology would exist that would let users access documents at the touch of a button, eliminating the need for paper. However, paper continues to play a very large part in the workplace.

CompTIA’s Examining the Print and Document Management Market research study found that most companies expect to maintain or increase the level of printing and scanning they do.  Given the expectations of rising volumes of printing and associated costs, moving to a paperless office is a priority for four out of five firms surveyed in our research. It is a higher priority for large- and medium-sized firms as their budgets are likely to be impacted more by printing and document management. Interestingly, firms that anticipate increasing print levels place a higher priority on moving toward a paperless office.

The move to the paperless office is driven by financial, environmental and technological factors. CompTIA’s research on print and document trends found that elements of the paperless office that drive efficiency and reduce costs are most important to companies. New technology, like tablets, has made the transition to the paperless office easier. A Morgan Stanley study published in February 2011 found that the greater adoption of tablets would contribute to the trend towards printing less. CompTIA’s research also found that majority of companies believe that the use of tablets is likely to lead to a reduction in printing in the future. The greater adoption of tablets in offices and the features of tablets such as mobility, screen size, ease of collaboration and resolution all contribute to this trend.

The move to the “less-paper” office does create opportunities for managed print service providers. To facilitate the move to the less-paper office, there is the need for a process that understands current document management protocol followed by companies. Our research found that a little more than 50 percent of companies have a formal document retention policy with 45 percent saying their primary method to store important documents is to save the original paper copy. This indicates that there is the opportunity to put more formal processes in place.  The opportunity is more pronounced in small- and medium-sized firms as a significant number indicate that there are no current formal procedures in place.

An important element of the paperless office for corporations is managing information more efficiently by digitizing it.  Four out of five companies in our sample said this was an important element of the paperless office. This represents an opportunity for companies engaged in document management to digitize archival and current information for efficient record-keeping and document access.

The transition to the paperless or less-paper office is likely to require changes in some ingrained workforce habits. CompTIA’s research on printing trends finds that a little less than half of companies believe that the transition will be easy for their employees. About a fifth expect a difficult transition. Having a managed print service (MPS) provider could make the transition easier.   Among those who currently use an MPS provider, only a tenth said that they expected a difficult transition to a paperless office.  The move to the less-paper office is likely to continue as digital media become more prevalent.  The efficiencies, productivity gains, improvements in technology, environmental and financial impact all point to greater adoption of this trend.

Source: http://blog.comptia.org

Read More

Need to Complete your “Technology Pie”? Piece of Cake!

Not all IT service providers deliver complete end-to-end technology support and services – especially if you have limited resources and increased responsibilities. Like many within this space, you may still believe that outsourcing these may be too costly, too time consuming or not provide sufficient profitability for your business. This couldn't be further from the truth, as the addition of managed print services (MPS) can easily expand your penetration within existing accounts, increase customer satisfaction and retention, create new opportunities for recurring revenue streams, and mitigate the risk of competition through longer-term contracts.

What is managed print services?

Managed print services is the active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes. For managed service providers (MSPs) and managed print providers (MPP) alike, managed print services (MPS) is the last piece of the network “technology pie” to be addressed, although the opportunities within MPS are substantial.

For MSPs, inclusion of managed print solutions will help you boost revenues by 20 percent or more while driving markups of 50 percent with minimal effort and little to no added costs or infrastructure. And the growth potential is remarkable – in 2010, global MPS revenues exceeded $31.5 billion. By 2014, that number is projected to reach more than $68 billion, with 54 percent of MPS revenue generated by small to medium-size businesses. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

The growth drivers for MPS are resulting from the convergence of the MSP and the MPP into the same space. Through the implementation of managed print services, MSP partners can realize the benefits highlighted above (Increased revenue, profit and customer retention), and their customers realize significant savings, achieve predictable monthly expenditures while consolidating the number of vendors they have to deal with.

Where do I begin?

There are many MPS offerings in today’s marketplace from which to choose. Finding one that fits into your organization’s current business model and will support your emerging needs is key to your success. It is essential to have an end-to-end, TMP solution that is both turnkey as well as modular, will automate those processes currently being performed manually, is brand and device independent in its analysis and recommendations, and provides for continuous optimization of the client’s environment.

Integration of a MPS program will enable partners to offer a variety of value-added services and proactive solutions to meet the critical challenges that customers are faced with. Together, partners and their customers will forge a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship based on a single MPS platform.

But with these opportunities come additional challenges, namely infrastructure, resources and timing. In order to become a MPS provider, you will need the following: a data capture and assessment tool, a billing system, remote monitoring capabilities, seamless integration into your existing business processes, and, ideally, a national service and support network with the ability to provide automated supplies fulfillment and support for mixed fleets. Easy, right? It can be.

For those organizations that “get it” and desire to enter the MPS arena, the question is not “why?” but “how?” How in the world are we going to develop or acquire all these systems, tools, services and resources; compile all this research and data; and train our sales and administrative staff to handle it all? How long is it going to take us to get this done, and what is it going to cost? The task seems daunting and more than a bit overwhelming, I realize, but it doesn’t have to be.

Ah-ha!

I speak at MPS conferences regularly and meet individuals representing companies probably not unlike your own. Their “ah-ha” moment usually comes when I advise them that there are turnkey managed print services solutions available in the market today and, thankfully, all of the “heavy lifting” has already been done for you.

Such a moment came recently for a MSP organization from California. I was participating in a panel at a conference in Florida just a few months ago. Two colleagues were attending the session; both were curious about managed print services but were reluctant to engage in the process due to (1) uncertainty about their ability to service customers in that capacity, and (2) concern about the costs, in terms of labor and finances, associated with doing so.

As part of my presentation and the panel discussion at this event, I stated, “If you’re providing only one piece of the technology pie to your customers, not only are you leaving money on the table but you are doing your customers a tremendous disservice.”

I went on to describe how MPS is the solution for providing a more comprehensive and holistic suite of services to your customers, and that by doing so, companies will realize immediate and long-term revenue streams. Furthermore, I assured the attendees that if they were not inclined to move toward this business model, their competition surely is. That was their “ah-ha” moment.

Following the presentation, we spoke off-line, and they began providing managed print services to their existing clients – both large and small. With little investment in terms of training and resources, they began implementing the OKI Total Managed Print MPS solution, and within a very short period of time, realized immediate rewards – not only in terms of increased margins and revenue for themselves but also in terms of real and quantifiable savings for their customers. It was a win-win situation born of an “ah-ha” moment just 30 days beforehand.

So if you’re not offering managed print services, you’re missing an important piece of the pie.

Contact Tim Brien at tim.brien@okidata.com.

Tim Brien

Tim Brien is the director of Managed Print Services (MPS) at Oki Data Americas, Inc., headquartered in Mount Laurel, N.J. OKI has recently launched an enhanced, modular MPS offering – Total Managed Print™ – that offers a suite of nine customizable MPS modules free of charge to channel partners. This cloud-based MPS portal delivers brand- and device-agnostic MPS services that can be customized to easily integrate into your existing business model. Our fully automated sales and service tools are built on industry best practices for assessing, monitoring, managing and optimizing print fleets for organizations of all types and sizes. OKI provides all of the systems, tools, software and processes needed in a single, scalable solution that enables you to quickly and effectively start managing your customers’ print and imaging fleets to drive long-term retention while building an annuity revenue stream to grow your business.

Source: http://theimagingchannel.com

Read More