Ever received an official letter from a state agency? If it’s less than 100 pages, has confidential information on it, and doesn’t use blank pages between sections, then it wasn’t outsourced. State agencies need a robust printing infrastructure in their offices to carry out the daily functions of governing. Yet, government offices remain a top environment where printing problems can be found.
While the Ohio government has its own state printing agency, many offices are increasingly bringing on experienced, trained professionals to manage the print infrastructure within their departments. Read on to learn about the unique printing challenges of state agencies and how they can benefit from managed print services.
Printing Pains for State Agencies
Printers are a quintessential part of any office, and the same is true for state agencies or government offices. As with other technological tools, printers exist to make office work easier, faster, and less tedious than doing everything manually. However, like all machinery, printers need maintenance, or they’ll break – sometimes permanently. State agencies are fast-paced (and frequently understaffed) environments in which printer problems can rapidly snowball into productivity hampering disasters.
Common Printing Challenges for Government Offices
Make a list of the industries that use the most paper, and government offices will be pretty close to the top. Although the federal government created the Electronic Records Management Initiative in 2018 to encourage offices to embrace electronic documents, many state agencies still rely on their printers to conduct their operations. They experience challenges such as:
● Budget strain due to excessive printing expenses
● Unchecked printing that might include personal items for employees
● Misconfigured printer settings that result in wasteful usage
● Insecure devices that are back doors for hackers
● Poor device layout on the floor leading to inefficient trips from workstations to printers
● The inability to upgrade or replace broken printers due to budget cuts
A disorganized print infrastructure leads to waste and overspending, two things that can significantly hamper a state agency’s office. However, unlike a regular business, a state agency cannot merely come up with additional revenue strategies. They’re forced to make do with what they have.
How Managed Print Services Can Rescue a Government Office From Chaos
Managed print services have been popular amongst businesses for a while. Market researcher, Quocirca, estimates that around 68 percent of companies use them, and that number is due to increase. Nonetheless, state agencies have been slow to embrace managed print services, despite the advantages they deliver. State agencies experiencing chaos in their print infrastructure should consider bringing on board a managed print service provider. These professionals can assist with:
1. Managing Supplies and Maintenance
When it comes to demanding print environments, government offices at every level take the crown. It’s not unheard of to see bills for toner alone ranging into the millions of dollars for a single year. However, like other offices, much of that is the result of bloat. Cartridges get lost, the wrong ones get ordered, and they’ve even got an interesting habit of simply walking off.
A managed print service provider can address all of these things. By automating supply replenishment, the provider ensures that the agency always has the supplies it needs without having to store extras on site. Likewise, dedicated technicians can rapidly address problems that the printers might have, sparing the internal IT department the hassle.
2. Improved Sustainability
With sustainability initiatives being more popular than ever, a managed print service provider can help an agency walk its talk. Much of the waste associated with printing happens in cases of unnecessary printing. Through print tracking software and more robust access permissions, an agency can cut down on its printing and make strides towards its green goals.
3. Prioritized Security
Curiously, government offices are frequent targets for hackers – and not just the state-sponsored ones. Hackers have known, for a long time, what the government is finally admitting: that a lot of offices are running on very outdated technology. Unfortunately, that’s a security risk. Cybercriminals are ready to exploit these flaws, even if they’re found in printers.
A managed print service provider is adept at preventing this. They ensure that the printers are secure, so that when the agency prints sensitive or classified materials, they stay only in the hands of those meant to have them.
State and Local Government Offices Trust Blue Technologies for Their Printing Needs
When it comes to choosing a managed service provider for a state agency, be sure to choose a company that’s experienced at handling the print environment of a government office. For the past 25 years, Blue Technologies has served government offices in Ohio. With professionals who are knowledgeable in the unique printing needs, security concerns, and privacy considerations associated with government work, Blue Technologies is a solid first choice for managed printing services.
Having an optimized print environment is critical to operating efficiently. Start a conversation with the experts at Blue Technologies about an office’s specific printing needs.
