With budgets being tighter than ever, schools are always looking for ways to save money without sacrificing the quality of education and essential resources for their students. Managed Print Services (MPS) presents an often-overlooked opportunity for substantial cost savings and efficiency.
Here’s why educational institutions should consider a Managed Print solution.
1. Cost Savings and Simplified Budgets – One of the most immediate benefits of MPS is the cost savings achieved through fixed monthly billing. This predictable expense allows schools to accurately forecast printing costs, reducing administrative workloads, and simplifying budgets. Planning committees and administrators can approve these streamlined budgets more easily, freeing up funds that can be reallocated to other crucial areas—like facility improvements, student services, and staff training.
In addition to cost savings, MPS also optimizes supply management. By accurately determining supply needs, MPS eliminates unnecessary overhead, storage issues, and supply shortages, which can lead to costly downtime.
2. Going Green and Sustainability Initiatives – Improving a school’s printing environment can positively impact the earth’s environment too. A thorough print assessment from an MPS provider identifies machines that waste energy and recommends more energy-efficient devices. They also help establish recycling programs for toner, and old machines. MPS encourages simple guidelines to reduce waste, such as two-sided printing and push printing. Detailed usage reports track consumable supplies, enabling schools to pinpoint potential savings and waste reduction areas. With today’s young generation increasingly concerned about environmental issues, schools are in a good position to adopt green initiatives.
3. Greater Accessibility and Time Savings – Many educational institutions operate across multiple campuses with a fleet of printers and thousands of users. MPS can help reduce the number of printing devices while streamlining the fleet, leading to inherent cost savings. Teachers and students can print documents from anywhere using the network and multiple approved devices, including mobile printing. Print jobs can be retrieved from any printer by logging in with credentials, making the process seamless and efficient.
4. Enhanced Security – Many schools lack dedicated budgets and staff for cybersecurity, often overlooking the security risks posed by print devices. Today’s multifunction printers are sophisticated devices connected to computer networks, requiring similar security protocols as computers.
MPS mitigates print security risks by allowing users to hold print jobs in queue until retrieval, authenticated by a PIN number or other identifier. This prevents compliance breaches caused by documents left on printer trays and the potential for costly fines.
5. Free Up IT to Focus on Student Needs – With technology integral to classroom learning, school IT professionals are often the ones called to troubleshoot printer issues, taking them away from their core responsibilities. An MPS solution can send alerts directly to the provider when an issue arises, initiating automatic service steps. This reduces downtime and lessens the strain on IT personnel, allowing them to concentrate on what they do best.
Final Words
Managed Print Services offer many benefits for educational institutions, from cost savings and budget simplification to sustainability initiatives and enhanced security. By freeing up IT resources and improving accessibility, MPS allows schools to focus on their primary mission—educating students.
About NATIONAL
Committed to their customers since 1927, NATIONAL offers a range of Managed Services including IT Support and Augmentation, Cybersecurity, UCaaS, Managed Print, Document Management as well as VoIP/Telephony, Cloud Services, Printers, Copiers, MFPs, Product Print Equipment and SmartBoards.
For the latest industry trends and technology insights visit NATIONAL’s Business Technology Theater.
