Your business may be smaller than most and require less in terms of printing and copying demands. But this doesn’t mean you have to manage it all yourself. Copiers for small business needs can still benefit from managed print services, or MPS.
The Advantages of MPS for Copiers for Small Business
Many business professionals in small businesses might consider managed print services as unnecessary expense, or even an extravagance. However, the advantages of having an MPS agreement with a vendor like Common Sense Business Solutions can far outweigh any perceived cost to your business.
Security and Printers
According to data provided by Konica Minolta, there are regular security risks with information and data in the average workplace. At least 50% of employees see confidential documents left on printers. 34% have seen confidential correspondence, and almost 20% have reported seeing and reading confidential salary details.
Some of the security solutions provided with MPS are user and job tracking, hard drive encryption, and swipe-to-print functions. While your own office may be small enough that managing internal security is less of a concern, the risks are real and increasing over time.
Printing, Copying and Sustainability
Part of the goal with managed print services is to provide maximum sustainability. This can be in the form of recycling programs for used toner cartridges, copiers designed with power-saving features, and state-of-the art toners with improved materials that fuse at much lower temperatures.
At Common Sense Business solutions, sustainability and environmental awareness are all part of our MPS philosophy. We share common sense ideas that help our business partners lower energy costs, save paper, reduce packaging waste and better utilize resources from an environmental perspective.
In addition to extending the life of existing products and helping companies identify areas to preserve resources, we work with the most environmentally decorated manufacturer in our industry. The Konica Minolta product line utilizes the most recycled materials in their production, the most post use recyclables at time of disposal, the lowest energy usage of any equipment in the industry and consumable cartridges that can be recycled at curbside.
Consider a Used Copier as an Interim Solution
A small business doesn’t always stay small. And the copier used today will eventually become insufficient for the growing needs of that business. And where a larger, higher-end used copier may be the perfect option at that next stage of growth and expansion, it too may need to be replaced by an even newer, larger machine with additional features and capacity. But jumping into the purchase of that new machine early on isn’t really necessary when a reliable and fully serviced used machine can be had in the interim.
In most businesses, many copiers are replaced after about three years when the initial lease term comes due. Most of those copiers then sit in a warehouse unused, while a newly manufactured machine is delivered to replace a perfectly good, useable system. The fact is that 95% of the systems that are permanently retired have provided only a fraction of their anticipated yield.
A business copy machine is a significant investment. Therefore, careful consideration right from the beginning is very important, and managed print services should be seen as a strategic benefit.
