If your organization is in need of a unified and coordinated system of managing printers, copiers, fax machines and other multifunction devices to minimize cost and improve productivity, then one of the managed print services offered by printer manufacturers is what you need. Although the phrase has no universally accepted definition, it can generally be understood to mean a service offered by printer manufacturers that is designed to streamline the management and minimize the cost associated with printing and imaging.
When setting up a computer network, an organization is faced with several issues. There will be expert manpower to hire, computers and accessories to be bought, software and networks to set up, staff members to be trained, and repair and maintenance contracts to be signed. All of these demand manpower, resources and money that many startup businesses can hardly afford. In view of this, many big-name manufacturers like HP and Xerox have come up with managed print services, also called printer management services, to help businesses cut ownership cost, reduce energy consumption and enhance productivity.
Even with total office automation, many organizations still produce a a considerable amount of hardcopy output on a daily basis. Therefore, the main focus of managed print services is efficient management and optimization of hard copy output. To this end managed print services are designed to assist the businesses starting from the planning and system design phase to implementation to operational phase. Experts from the manufactures assist in every step of the way as given below:
- Assessment of Requirement: This involves determining the specific requirements of the organization such as the type, make and number of hardware to be purchased, type and size of network to be set up, software to be installed and manpower to be hired.
- System Analysis and Design: This involves analyzing the requirements and designing a system tailored to the specific requirements of the organization. System analysis and design is a highly specialized job that would otherwise make a big dent in the budget.
- Implementation of the System: This involves purchasing the required hardware, software and accessories, and installing the system according to the design.
- Human resources training: This involves training office staff to operate the hardware and software with focus on using the printing devices in the most economical way.
- System Operation: This involves operating the system smoothly without any glitches to minimize cost and maximize productivity, with focus on hard copy printing.
- Repair and maintenance: This involves repair and maintenance of both hardware and software components of the system, which will be the responsibility of manufacturers until the end of the contract.
- Upgrade and Optimization: This involves upgrading and optimizing the system throughout the life of the contract, which will be the responsibility of the manufacturer.
The following groups of software are at the heart of managed print services:
- Print Management software: This is a group of software that manages the volume and nature of print and also authenticates users.
- Device Management software: This is a group of software that monitors and manages the print devices.
- Discovery and Design Software: This is a group of software that is used to analyze and plan for the changes required in the system.
- Scan Routing software: This group of software route scans to various destinations such as print servers, fax servers, network folders, emails or workflows.


































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