Selling Managed Print Services Requires Attention to Detail

Excerpt from SearchITChannel.com
By Heather Clancy, Contributor

IT solution providers report that more businesses these days are open-minded about managed print services that consolidate printing and related document management costs. Demonstrating those cost savings is a key component of managed print sales.

Few businesses give much thought to their print budgets in relation to their overall IT technology spending plans, say IT solution providers.

“It is fairly difficult at times, because people believe printers don’t need maintenance,” said James Watson, CEO of Northwest Computer Support, an IT solution provider in Seattle. “You have to show them how they will save money.”

For example, Watson relates the story of a client that didn’t realize it had more than $50,000 worth of toner supply sitting on its storage shelves, getting close to its expiration date. Once Watson brought this to the company’s attention, it was much simpler to have a managed print services discussion.

Managed print services typically place each device under a monthly maintenance or management contract that includes all the consumables, pieces and parts that might be necessary to repair it. Data published by technology trade association CompTIA Inc. in September 2011 suggested that more than half of large companies (those with more than 500 employees) are now using some flavor of managed print service. That compares with approximately 20% for smaller businesses. Of those businesses that do not use any sort of managed print service, 35% said they will “definitely” or “probably” consider some level of adoption over the next 12 months, according to CompTIA data.

Blaine Sander, director of the print technology solutions team for WBM Office Systems, a Canadian IT solution provider that makes its headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, said the primary business benefit of managed print services comes in the form of reduced operating expenses.