What you need to know will be a recurring theme on my blog. I believe the majority of business owners, executives, and managers are interested in IT - but only to a point. All they want to know is the need to know. So that's what I'll give you - no fluff, no filler.

Managed Print Services (MPS) has been getting a lot of attention recently. What is it? Why should it interest you? And how can you find a good MPS?

What is it? Managed Print Services is basically outsourced IT (what Mother does) but for printers. Whereas we provide network management and maintenance for your servers and PCs, an MPS does this for printers and multipurpose devices (like a printer/scanner/copier combo). The MPS firms we work with generally offer clients a quarterly rate based on projected monthly usage. This rate will include the projected "clicks" (prints or copies you make), service for when the printer breaks, toner and other supplies, paper, and even the lease for the actual printer. It's a flat rate for all you need for printing, copying, and scanning. Pretty cool!

Why should it interest you?  Do you know how often you print? How much money you spend? Would you like to only allow certain employees to print color or on certain machines? Are your printers spread through your office haphazardly? A good Managed Print Services firm will help you understand how much money you actually spend on printing and what you can do to reduce that (bonus - that's good for the environment). They will also reconfigure your printers so you only have what you need and what people use (so you don't waste money on toner for printers that aren't being used). Plus they can offer you tons of ways to help monitor and restrict how much printing you do - everything from only giving x amount of copies to an employee to requiring a job code be punched in at the printer before it will print. Of course, these aren't required, but it is nice to have the option.

How can you find a good MPS? Your outsourced IT provider (like Mother) should be able to recommend a good partner. We go through the rigors of finding good IT vendor that we can confidently recommend. Then, if you decide you like them too, we will help manage your relationship with them to make things easier for you. If you'd like us to recommend someone, you can contact us here.