How Much Does Managed Print Services Cost?

Maybe you are a business owner looking to cut costs, or an IT Director that has gone through great pains to provide remote print or just someone that has jumped on the digital transformation bandwagon.  Regardless of your intent, experience has taught us that a well-orchestrated managed print services program can significantly reduce your costs. In this blog, we will quickly outline your path to understanding what managed print services cost and the factors that affect your ability to save money.

If you have arrived at this blog, you may already know most of what you need to know about a managed print services program and are just looking to get some facts and figures to make your financial decisions. If not you may think about reading “How Managed Print Services Can Help Your Business (5 Benefits)” or visiting the LDI Connect Manage Print Services web page for more information.

How does Managed Print Services (MPS) Fit into Your Overall Print Costs?

Employing a Managed Print Services program enables you to proactively understand where print is occurring, who is responsible for the usage, and how your environment or enterprise can be print optimized. Imagine being able to forecast and control the cost of print – absolutely game-changing!

What Are the Factors That Determine the Cost of Managed Print Services?

Managed Print Services can cost anywhere from $.003 cents per page to $.05 cents per page. To arrive at an accurate managed print services cost, you need to know the basics about your print environment, including:

• The Average Monthly Black and White Print Volume

Generally, print in an enterprise or production print environment is at the lower end of the spectrum due to the volume generated and efficiency of the print devices.

·       The Average Monthly Color Print Volume

Though business color, colored text, and hyperlinks represent minimal color usage, some graphic environments have extensive color requirements leading to higher service costs.

·       The Size of Copies and Prints

Though the majority of print is letter size, environments that are generating legal, ledger, or mechanical and engineering drawings can impact the total cost.

·       The Manufacturer(S) and Model(S) of the Units Responsible for The Prints

There are many manufacturers in the office technology industry producing print devices. Print costs vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, device to device, and can increase or decrease based on intelligent selection, matching the right equipment to the right print area, and streamlining the products that are responsible for print.

·       The Average Coverage or Print Area on Each Page

While most documents average between 6-10% of the total page, areas that are printing design graphics and presentations have considerable coverage and can increase the overall cost of print.

·       What Does Your Manage Print Services Program Include?

While some users are only interested in the cost-per-page based on the number of prints, others look to include the break/fix and replacement of devices in a more comprehensive manage print services program. Having an all-inclusive program generally optimize performance, uptime and long-term costs.

You may already have collected information about your environment, but if you are like most of the prospects and clients that we speak to, your fist step to wrapping your arms around this category is to do a print assessment.

A print assessment is basically your first step in a managed print services process. It’s the information-gathering process where you gain insight into your print behavior and device usage.

LDI Connect uses a print management software application to monitor your device speeds, feeds and meter reads. Our data collection is non-evasive and is easily installed on your network. It is coupled with a physical walkthrough to provide visibility into your printer locations and possible redundancy of devices, and generally records data from two weeks to 30 days.

What are the next steps to having a Managed Print Services Agreement?

At this point, we hope that we have answered your questions about how much Managed Print Services Cost. To move forward in the process, and to make sure you have addressed all of the important evaluation criteria, please contact LDI Connect for a conversation, meeting or free print assessment.