Small- and medium-sized businesses experience major — sometimes crippling — challenges due to IT downtime and technology issues. The business disruption caused by downtime is serious and can lead to lost customers and lost revenue.

In fact, a recent survey reported 37% of SMBs experienced customer loss and 17% dealt with revenue losses from IT issues. When it costs about five times more to engage a new customer than it does to retain an existing one, it’s easy to see how impactful IT issues can be to an organization’s bottom line.

Interestingly, the survey also showed that nearly a third of SMBs felt that downtime was due to IT teams being overburdened. Risks of downtime due to a stretched IT help desk or team include:

• Business disruption
• Decreased productivity
• Lost revenue
• Impact to reputation
• Cost

With per-hour downtime costing anywhere from under $10,000 to over $100,000 it’s a critical factor in not only improving productivity and proper staff utilization, but in controlling overall costs.

Fortunately, a solid managed print services (MPS) program can provide a spectrum of IT services to reduce the burden on in-house teams and ensure downtime is kept to a minimum — or eliminated altogether.

Using Managed Print Services to Improve Productivity

Print management is an intelligent strategy for relieving overburdened IT departments, shoring up print security for regulatory compliance, enhancing staff productivity, and reducing costs.

Here, we focus on the most common ways a managed print program can transform your workplace:

1. Freeing Up Your In-House IT Department

The average employee spends about 91 hours a year — about 22 minutes every day — dealing with IT-related slowdowns, particularly problems with printers and print technology.

That means in-house IT teams are kept on the run providing solutions to mundane tasks when they should be focusing on higher value functions.

An MPS program can reduce IT help desk tickets by providing automated maintenance and upkeep to keep machines running in top shape; arranging education and training on printers and office technology for employees; and troubleshooting and repairing printer issues on-the-fly to keep business processes flowing.

2. Improving Workflows and Productivity

MPS are all about print management — and that means optimization of the entire print environment, from infrastructure to software. An MPS provider will ascertain the state of your current print infrastructure and configure devices to optimize usage, taking the burden of doing so off in-house IT.

Importantly, MPS provides constant and ongoing optimization to allow your organization to pivot easily in response to evolving threats and changes in technology.

Workflows and productivity are enhanced further with the addition of assistive software to streamline the print process, provide better security, and curtail print waste for additional cost savings.

3. Managing Security

Cybercrime is a growing threat for SMBs, and many hackers are targeting print devices to gain access to sensitive information, yet many IT teams overlook this access point in designing cybersecurity strategies.

In a managed environment, access is easily granted — or denied — to authorized personnel through an admin portal, and software creates an audit trail for further security.

An MPS program also includes routine security updates to ensure the latest protective technology is installed on devices to provide a bulwark against threats.

4. Controlling Costs

It’s obvious that IT services provided by MPS can reduce in-house IT expenses and costly downtime. However, the innovative software paired with a successful MPS program can further reduce tangible cost through automated supply replenishment.

Automating replenishment ensures capital is never tied up in overstocked supply closets, and the correct toner or ink is available for the appropriate printer exactly when it is needed to further curtail downtime.

Let Blue Technologies Design an MPS Program for Your Business

Print technology is an essential — yet often overlooked — part of the technology puzzle. Lack of an in-house IT staff or an overburdened IT department contribute to a lack of focus on this particularly important piece of office technology.

To provide your employees with the right level of print support; remove the burden of updates, routine maintenance, and troubleshooting from your in-house IT team; and boost productivity for both employees and IT staff, savvy businesses focus on procuring high-level managed print services.

At Blue Technologies, we have print industry experts on our team to assess your infrastructure and design and execute an MPS strategy that will help you accomplish your business goals, reduce downtime, and allow you to use your IT staff for high value tasks.

Are you looking to boost your IT team’s productivity? Contact Blue Technologies today to discuss what Managed Print Services can do for your organization.