It's not just large organisations that rely on outsourced print solutions. In fact, businesses of all sizes, including SMEs, could reap the benefits of managed print solutions. 

At Copy Print Services, we have years of experience helping a variety of different sized businesses achieve their printing goals, including SMEs. 

SMEs and printing: How it works

No matter what kind of SME you own, it’s likely that your business will in some capacity rely on printing to communicate with clients and get your business name out there. 

From printing professional letters with high quality letterheads to creating leaflets that you’re going to hand out, if your print strategy is not well thought out, you could be wasting money and time.

The vast need for printing means there are numerous SMEs managing their printing processes with small, and usually inexperienced, teams. Oftentimes, they’re surprised to hear how Managed Print Services (MPS) could benefit their business.  

What does a Managed Print Services do for SMEs?

There is always a demand for printing, despite the fact everything is slowly being digitised. Managed Print Services are an effective tool for optimising your businesses daily printing requirements, which can have a major boost in your productivity, cut costs and reduce your carbon footprint. 

MPS will take care of paper jams, fixing any malfunctions for you. Our MPS experts at Copy Print Services will make sure all the printing needs you have are fulfilled, allowing you to focus on growing your business. 

With MPS, you can keep track of your printing and print supplies with no worry about when they need to be replaced. This is because your supplier will take care of the matter for you. 

Tracking your print expenses allows you to devise a strategy to reduce costs without compromising on the quality or demand for printed materials, which is vital for many SMEs.


Pros and cons of Managed Print Services for SMEs

Managed Print Services for SMEs has its upsides and its downsides, and listed below is a summary of each. 

Pros of MPS for SMEs

There are many benefits to MPS for SMEs, including:

  • Optimise print efficiency - Manual printing solutions can cost your small to medium business a lot of wasted hours and time spent fixing print devices can be massive. MPS solutions offer a layer of protection against such challenges by optimising your printing structure, installing appropriate print devices to maximise efficiency and fixing any potential issues for you. 

  • Cut printing costs- Managing every print system by itself can be costly, which can have a negative impact on your business as a SME. Enlisting performance-oriented services can reduce your costs of maintaining the print device, and therefore cut down your overall printing costs

  • Increase data security- Another benefit of investing in MPS is the assurance of  minimised breach of security. MPS allows you to monitor and manage your team's ability to print out sensitive information, such as contracts and customers' personal details. 

Cons of MPS for SMEs

While MPS can work for many small to medium businesses, for some, it doesn’t seem like a sensible option:

  • Convenience - Depending on the size of your office, having individual printers in strategic locations might make sense. For example, as an executive, it may make more sense to have a dedicated printer in your office and a centralised printer in the office for your team. This way, you can print sensitive documents without a concern of misplacing them at a centralised location. However, there are lots of ways a centralised device can print securely (with pin access/card access for instance), and we can help with this too.We often include smaller ‘directors’ machines with an MPS contract - it’s not just about one big device, we look at the layout and workflow of the workplace. As well as cost, it's about individual efficiency.

  • Paperless office - The less printers that are available, the more likely your team will adapt to a paperless process. 

This doesn’t work for every SME model and many do still rely on a lot of printing, which can be made difficult if there is only one print device.

  • Cost - As a SME, you may think that MPS is outside of your budget and will cost more than maintaining your own printers. In 75% of cases when looked at, there is a cost saving by taking on a MPS! The main concern of an MPS for most businesses is the commitment to the contracted agreement.

The future of managed print services for SMEs

Digital transformations have revolutionised many aspects of business for a variety of different SMEs. For the foreseeable future, Managed Print Services will play a vital factor for companies looking to make their operations greener, cheaper and more efficient. 

Paper and print will still be crucial for many different organisations, which is why more and more SMEs will need effective printing and information strategies in order to keep up with the demand. With outdated office equipment, high printing costs, employee printing habits and ineffective print strategies, printing costs for SMEs can quickly get out of hand. 

MPS provides an invaluable and cost-effective solution that helps to cut costs, update office equipment and create a new and effective printing strategy, all with the support of expert IT advisors. 

How Copy Print Services will help

At Copy Print Services, we are experts in providing MPS for SMEs, including essential print management solutions to help save businesses time and money.

Whether your SME has key environmental goals that you’re aiming to meet, or you are looking for ways to free up your employees time, with our MPS, we can integrate print management solutions that will help you to achieve these goals. 

We can work with you to create the best print management solutions for your SME. Get in touch today and find out how we can help you to work better.