PRINTING WITHOUT BORDERS

With many employees working across different locations, businesses need to consider how to handle their print requirements – and this is where managed print services can help

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s COVID-19 restrictions were lifted over the summer life returned to something approaching normal for many people - but among office workers, a new normal of hybrid working has emerged, where they split their time between the office and working from home.

While this may help employees achieve a better work-life balance, it does present potential problems for office managers, as Pietro Renda, chief marketing officer at MPS Monitor, explains. “With many companies now adopting a hybrid working model, it’s imperative that companies don’t lose control of their print as this will have cost, security and productivity implications,” he says.

Pietro recommends a managed print service (MPS) to maintain control. “An MPS gives insights into who is printing what and when, and to what device, tracking and logging this information so informed, printbased decisions can be made, wherever that print device is located.

“Pre-pandemic, many organisations had robust print policies in place, with rules enforced by intelligent print management solutions. This, combined with good print discipline and growing awareness of our personal responsibility to the environment, meant that print volumes were starting to decrease. As people return to the office we expect to see a more vigorous enforcement of those print rules – at home and in the office – as part of an organisation’s overall plans to reduce costs and ramp up efficiency.”

Pietro adds that end-users need to ensure that their MPS solution’s security parameters, integration, DCA technology, consumable logistics, contract management and data analysis functions are state-of-theart, and to check that they are compatible with the print demands and requirements of a modern businesses.

CLOUD THINKING

One way of ensuring your MPS can cope with the demands of the business is by using cloud-based solutions, says Elise McFarlane, global product portfolio marketing manager at ECI Software Solutions. “With most businesses adopting hybrid working models in 2021, tracking print, copies, scans and

faxes has become more of a challenge,” she says. “At ECI we have seen our print services customers turning to cloud-based MPS solutions, with teams now split across multiple locations.

“The function to assign every employee and client with their own unique PIN number, as well as giving projects different codes, allows businesses to track output back to a user of the cost centre. Our turn-key hosted printing service has also allowed businesses to make their network printers available to those working remotely in a secure fashion. In the early stages of the pandemic this was useful as teams navigated the move to home working, and it has only grown in popularity since.

“Cloud-based solutions, designed with the hybrid working model in mind, can allow employees to add jobs to a printing queue from home and then print when they are next in the office - while features such as ‘cost recover’ mode help ensure that users have a set balance associated with their accounts. Not only does this provide senior teams with a better overview of the business, it can also help ensure that spend is both reasonable and justified - even when working from home.”

Mike Mulholland, head of services and solutions at Brother UK, says that the cloud can also help to keep printers running. “By enabling printers to be connected to the cloud - feeding in to one portal where diagnostics, repair, usage and supplies replenishment can easily be managed - we’re helping them to keep workers productive, wherever they are, by reducing downtime and enabling secure workflow and document management solutions,” he says.

Mike adds that these tried and tested attributes are now supporting companies and their IT leads as they shift to hybrid working. “Our research found that just 13% of IT managers expect employees to be in the office full-time over the next two years - and vendors are responding by ensuring they can use an MPS to access devices designed for home working, ensuring that businesses can provide remote workers with technology that suits their needs.

“Together with productivity, costefficiency and security are the major factors shaping IT buying behaviours that dealers should consider when speaking to customers about adopting MPS. We found that 46% of IT leads need to make their costs more predictable, which MPS can provide with straightforward plans.”

It’s imperative that companies don’t lose control of their print

SECURITY

Mike adds that security is maintained by allowing IT managers to remotely carry out firmware updates, while ensuring that appropriate security levels are in place, keeping systems one step ahead of hackers.

Michele Mabilia, head of product marketing at Kyocera Document Solutions (U.K.) Ltd, agrees that, for managers dealing with hybrid working environments with a mix of office MFPs and home printers, security is an important consideration. “Print OEMs have introduced more affordable, cloud-native, print management software solutions as part of comprehensive MPS contracts. The new solutions can boost security for home workers, as well as track the cost of printing,” he says.

Michele explains that, with many organisations streamlining their workforce, minimising capital and having fixed labour costs have become key priorities in order to create agile working environments where costs are proportional to fluctuating revenues. “Kyocera Partners has introduced new MPS commercial models with increased flexibility, offering organisations the opportunity to add home printers to existing traditional MPS contracts,” he says.

“Choosing the right MPS partner has become more important than ever, with the increasing trend of outsourcing service and maintenance to keep fixed costs down.”

Make the most

of any printer sale you make.

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