Managed Print Services – Are You Buying Hardware or Pages?

I recently participated in several client engagements that in my opinion predict the direction of managed print services. The question “are you buying hardware or pages” has been kicking around this industry for some time; with MPS it can and should be finally answered.

The Transition

A number of you are considering entering into a MPS agreement or have already engaged with a number of objectives in mind:

• reduced demand on management and technology resources
• improved access and tools for your user community
• lower expenses for document output

Many MPS engagements require rationalizing your current fleet of document output devices, contracts and vendors to transition to a more cohesive and consolidated environment. You may have investments in technology that you feel you have not fully leveraged or obtained a requisite return on those investments - do not let that limit your vision.

The End of the Rainbow – After the Transition

Some of you have an opportunity for a “clean slate” approach due to an expiring contract or having previously undergone the transition. You have managed your document output environment to the point where you can implement wholesale changes and a mature managed document output environment.

In my opinion this should be the long-term objective of almost every document output environment strategy.

Buying Pages

Hopefully by now both end-user clients and purveyors of MPS have realized that the real objective is to buy pages including the hardware, supplies and support services required to produce them. As stated above I believe buying pages should be the objective and operating principal behind almost all mature managed print service agreements.

So what does this really mean – I will provide you with some suggestions below:

• As a client you do not want to invest large sums of capital in assets (hardware) but rather want to pay for the pages they produce
• You want the ability to expand or contract the overall size of your document output fleet as your needs change without penalties, refinancing of hardware or the exorbitant cost typically associated with co-terminus leases
• It is a requirement that individual devices be upgraded or downgraded to meet the changing needs of workgroups, departments or facilities within your enterprise.
• Your vendor partner is going to make sure the enabler hardware performs to the agreed service level agreements and provide the functionality required to fulfill the application
• Your employees should not have to divert their productivity to making sure the hardware is performing adequately or that supplies are delivered in a timely fashion

When you have the flexibility, productivity and support suggested above I would personally consider that as optimization of your document output environment. Now I recognize that there will be some exceptions to this where an organization for one reason or another wants to or needs to use “capital dollars” to fund technology, but I am confident this is a relatively small sampling of the overall en-user community.

How do You Get There?

The simple answer to the above question is “through thoughtful and strategic planning” of your strategy to manage your document output environment.

Wayne Gretzky once responded to the question why he was such a great hockey player. Mr. Gretzky simply said “I go to where the puck will be not where it is!”

So the question is does your strategy for managing your document output environment take you to where you want to be or just address it as it is today? Have you and your current vendor created a strategy and plan of action to take you there?

Getting “Real”

As I write this post I can imagine a number of participants at all levels of MPS expressing “get real” at their computer screens as they read my words.

My assurance to you, the end-user community who pays the bills that this discussion is very real and being put into action today – I have firsthand experience with it. Even if you feel you are locked into current technology investments explore your options, they are out there. Oh and an important note, you should not have to pay a premium for this level of flexibility.

I also believe it is the future, maybe not of fleet management but of managed print services. For more information please feel free to contact me at (ghawkins@buscomgroup.com ) at your convenience.