Managed print services is a reseller and SMB opportunity

Louella Fernandes analyses the MPS market in light of Brother's new services offering

SMBs, like larger enterprises, depend on printing for a variety of business activities. Even the smallest office needs a fast, reliable, cost-effective printer capable of professional looking output. Yet SMBs have limited expert resources when it comes to handling common print management tasks.

Consequently, the mundane, day-to-day printer support and administration tasks often fall to a non-IT person with other responsibilities. This is not only about the troubleshooting of printer problems, but also the ordering and stocking of supplies and meter reading.

MPS is an opportunity for resellers to broaden their service portfolio and it tackles the print problem for SMBs, allowing them even more space to focus on their core business.

Although some SMBs may outsource large print jobs such as sales and marketing brochures and collateral, as the cost and performance of colour multifunction printers (MFPs) continues to improve, more SMBs are embracing in-house colour printing for smaller print-runs.

Professional colour printing is therefore no longer an expensive luxury confined to large enterprises. We surveyed the MPS opportunity for print vendors among SMBs recently, and 45 per cent of respondents said colour page volumes were rising, along with consumable expenditure.

Yet 40 per cent of SMBs had no idea how much printing was costing them. Lack of insight can lead costs to spiral, and this can be further complicated as businesses grow in size and start to operate from multiple locations.

SMBs recognise that tackling escalating print costs is a top priority, rating it as the highest concern among all the print management challenges they face. SMBs are also frustrated by the time spent on printer admin and support, rating it as the second highest challenge in managing their print environments.

This is unsurprising given that most SMBs manage the installation, maintenance and support of printers and associated drivers with internal staff. Staff time is also spent on consumables management, including stocking, purchasing and replacing consumables – more often than not, on an ad-hoc basis. Almost 80 per cent of SMBs use such a transactional approach to paper, toner and ink. This often leads to costly and inefficient stockpiling, with some consumables never being used.

In addition to the administrative burden, an unmanaged print environment can hinder employee productivity. Unplanned printer downtime can seriously affect any business that relies on printing for business critical activities, whether it is printing out business reports, sales and marketing collateral or customer invoices.

In our study, device availability and printer functioning problems were rated the most common printing problems for SMB employee productivity.

SMBs can overcome this haphazard nature of print management through the use of simple and flexible MPS. These packaged services include leased hardware bundled with supplies, support and maintenance based on a cost-per-page. Understanding use is the key to gaining ongoing reduced costs. Before embarking on any MPS contract, SMBs should ensure they have an accurate understanding of monthly print volumes.

For SMBs with less predictable monthly output, pay-as-you-go contracts may be preferred to avoid charges for exceeding volume commitments. Larger SMBs that operate a mixed device fleet should consider a full assessment of their printing practice to determine how to optimise their print environment.

MPS is all about moving from a transactional to a contractual approach: buying 'printing' rather than 'printers'. This enables SMBs to avoid ongoing costs associated with ad-hoc supplies purchasing and problems with device availability. Those SMBs using some form of MPS are already reaping the benefits of improved productivity and device reliability as a result of proactive service and print management.

Despite digital communication adoption, printing is likely to remain key in many business processes. It is crucial that SMBs take a close look at their printer fleet and treat printing with the same priority as other elements of their IT infrastructure.

This new research was commissioned by printer manufacturer Brother, which recently launched its MPS, designed the smaller business in mind. This new offering is being introduced to major European countries in the coming months.

With SMBs struggling to control print costs and manage printing with existing resources, resellers should grab the opportunity to deliver a simple and flexible MPS that will help capture ongoing service revenue opportunities in an increasingly commoditised market.

Louella Fernandes is associate director of print services and solutions at Quocirca