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I Ink, Therefore I Am: What is a Managed Print Service

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In my younger days as an IT Support Technician, one of my glorious chores was to maintain and service the company’s printers.  It wasn’t rocket science but I did learn a few things along the way. The most important being that, the boss can really get his stuff in a bunch in the event the company could not print invoices. Fifteen years later and being self employed myself, I understand that emotion. I also learned a hell of a lot about printer ink and toners.

You see, when times were good the company bought original branded ink products. These buggers didn’t come cheap, the cost of an ink cartridge could fill my car’s tank for a week, the cost of a toner could fill it for a month. When my employers fell on hard times, we decided to use those infomercial backed refill kits. Never will I use those kits again, unless I want my prints to look like its mascara has smudged due to a relationship break-up in the rain. The lesson is, do not buy anything that requires a 30 minute television spot to convince the product works (anyone remember the Twista). It went from bad to worse, when one of the printers called it a day and we had to send it in as it was under warranty. Apparently using the refill kits voided the warranty, how was I supposed to know? All I am going to say is that I also learned a valuable lesson about reading terms and conditions.

The best and easiest way to overcome printing maintenance, is to engage a company that offers a Managed Print Service (MPS).

A MPS will ensure:

  1. that printer toner is always available
  2. that the machine is serviced regularly, to prevent downtime
  3. all service parts are covered
  4. in the event a printer cannot be fixed on-site, a courtesy printer will be provided until the return
  5. control and monitoring printing costs per user
  6. consideration for the environment

The most bodacious feature of a MPS is that you only pay for what you print. The cost is calculated per page for monochrome (a fancy word for black and white) and separately for colour (a fancy world for reflected light) . If I was paying more than 20 cents per page for mono or more than R1,50 for colour, I would have a tough conversation with my service provider.

AT Business Solutions have a wide range of best in class multifunctional printers which are accompanied by a potent Managed Print Service. You can view the product line here or email me and I will be more than happy to oblige.

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