Historically, print purchases, management, and configuration were accomplished at the departmental level resulting in “printer sprawl” or “break-fix delivery,” as industry experts call it. In this scenario, equipment fails and is quickly replaced in order to prevent staff downtime, but there isn’t a cohesive strategy to inform buying decisions. With cohesion and strategy missing, the organization’s printer fleet adopts an ad-hoc appearance with a wide variety of manufacturers, vendors, and capabilities.
IoT changed everything
Today’s smart, multi-function printers have a spot in the IoT evolution. With that shift, printer fleet management grows more complex. In an attempt to streamline, organizations moved troubleshooting and maintenance to the IT department. While this seems like an obvious fit, many IT organizations are overloaded with projects and thus, print-related tasks are often put on the back-burner and addressed on an emergency basis rather than incorporated into day-to-day routines.
A complex problem
What started out simple has grown more and more complex over time. With little to no planning in a break-fix environment, equipment is still being replaced hastily based on downtime prevention. When hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per year can be saved, printer fleet management becomes a hot topic of conversation, fast.
The question is…
Where do IT departments in enterprise organizations focus in order to streamline their services, save time, and get or keep a grip on inventoried supplies while providing the best print environment for end users?
Fleet audit – no easy task
Before IT departments can proactively implement a print strategy, they have to know the equipment in their fleet through their first step: an audit. Start by taking inventory: (1) how many print capable devices are sitting on desktops and how many others are networked and shared? (2) When was the equipment purchased or leased, and from which vendor? (3) How much, if any, time is left on the warranty and other contracts? (4) How old is the hardware? (5) Does it have software and programming capabilities? And if so, what are the specs?
Use case audit
Once equipment types are inventoried, it’s time to determine the use case for each device. Ask users what purpose the hardware serves. Find out which features made this equipment the best choice for the situation. Doing so helps inform the types of printers required and eliminates spend on unnecessary functionality.
New printers - lower costs - impossible?
Contracting a third-party for the purpose of reducing costs seems counterintuitive to many organizations until they develop a print strategy and look at specifics. Each enterprise’s print-related cost-saving opportunity is as unique as the enterprise itself. However, one thing is certain; a smaller, yet up-to-date and well-integrated fleet costs less and does a better job of meeting the needs of enterprise organizations.
Managed print services to the rescue
Managed print services include the sum total of software and hardware capabilities, and a print strategy tailored to the unique needs of the enterprise organization.
Managed print services also includes planning, analytics, reports, network monitoring, cost-saving configurations, network integration, and maintenance and support. Through these services, print environments are optimized, user experiences enhanced, printing functionality increases, and maintenance, service calls and inventory costs are reduced; most importantly, managed print services lead the way to reducing print costs.
TIG works with enterprise organizations of all sizes, worldwide. We are experts in Samsung print solutions, managed print services and other IT services and solutions that help businesses streamline and manage IT functions to save costs. Interested in learning more about reducing print spend by 10% to 30%? We’re here to help.