Lots of businesses make the mistake of assuming that the implementation of managed print services (MPS) finishes once expenditure drops and detailed reporting emerges.
This really isn’t the case. In fact, businesses that reach that stage are only scratching the surface of MPS.
This is a common mistake made by organisations, but the reasons are understandable. Once MPS has been put in place and begins to provide tangible benefits, many believe it’s a case of ‘job done’, but a true next generation MPS represents the start of an organisation’s journey to a more effective, efficient document workflow.
Data gathered by print management software is rather static and generally requires a manager to run reports on a regular basis in order to review the findings. Unfortunately, few managers have the time to do this, which means the service is usually left to run by itself, with issues dealt with as and when they arise.
Harnessing MPS analytics
MPS analytics can go much deeper than just telling you when the toner needs changing in a printer, or when to add more paper. With an advanced analytics implementation, MPS analytics can actually be used to improve and optimise business operations.
To start with, there are 5 types of MPS analytics that can all offer value and benefits to the business, from increasing user productivity to reducing costs and increasing sustainability.
The trouble with printing, and therefore MPS analytics, is that it’s not always seen as a driver in business and can even be considered a necessary evil that someone has to deal with.
Proving that print is more than this and can add value to the business is a difficult argument. However, beyond the many business benefits of MPS analytics comes digital transformation - a journey that many companies strive to take but aren’t sure how to start.
The data and findings from reporting on intelligent MPS analytics can actually help start the journey to digital transformation through recognising which printing processes can be digitised - whether it’s stopping people from printing emails or learning where the most print activity happens and why, it’s a key stepping stone to digitisation.
With a next generation MPS, managers can delve deep into the data provided and dispense with traditional plain text reports. Instead, they’re greeted with engaging, visual representations of data that enables them to make decisions quickly based on real insights.
Nothing should ever be assumed when it comes to the printing operation of your business. With MPS analytics, stakeholders can visualise when, where, why and how printing happens.
Data gathered by print management software should enable businesses to start turning hefty documentation into actionable data that can be captured by the information systems they rely on.
Taking Action
In modern print management services, analytics are never more than a finger tap away on a smartphone. They shouldn’t be any more difficult to access and interpret than your marketing team accessing web traffic and conversion data.
It’s how the data is then actioned that makes the real difference - when you can see high volumes of printing, what can you do about it? Find out what’s being printed, who’s printing it and why? From here, an actionable decision can be taken as to whether as to whether it needs to be printed.
It might become clear that the process can or can’t be digitised, and if it can’t, why not and how can you reduce the cost of this printing process?
With a next generation MPS, you can dig into the data, making it far more useful and less likely to simply be stored and forgotten somewhere on the company server.
So, is MPS intelligent? Absolutely - but it still requires proactive human input if it’s to offer measurable organisational benefits.
Intelligent documentation and powerful analytics are just the start. The next growth area for MPS is clearly the emergence of suppliers who combine the provision of hardware with a desire to help businesses use technology to continually improve and reduce document printing.