MPS FOR HYBRID WORKERS
Hybrid approach With hybrid work a fixture for many businesses across the country, managed print services are evolving to accommodate this new way of working. But what are the advantages of MPS for hybrid workplaces and how can resellers make a profit from it?
While there has been much in the news during 2024 of – usually larger businesses – ordering their employees back into the office on a full-time basis, for many people, hybrid working is still a fixture in their working lives. With hybrid working largely accepted now, managed print services (MPS) providers have been adapting their provision in recent years to ensure that it can cover such practices effectively for their customers. Chris Bates, director – print & supplies, UK, TD SYNNEX, says that managed print is a natural fit for hybrid working models. “It’s the easiest way to maintain printers and ensure optimum productivity,” he says. “This applies whether you have hundreds of devices being used remotely or just a handful. Being able to monitor performance and identify and address issues before they become problems and have replacement consumables shipped to users before they run out means the remote worker should always have a functioning device.” Greig Millar, chief revenue officer at Brother UK, adds: “MPS packages have evolved in recent years and now they seamlessly support hybrid workers with remote device management, automatic supplies replenishment and comprehensive IT support from any location,” he says.
Ian Fox, Xerox channel solutions and services specialist, says that the increase in hybrid working has driven significant development of MPS offerings. “Historically, these have been focused on providing solutions that work in a well-managed and secure corporate environment,” he says. “The hybrid model has created a real headache for IT and procurement teams trying to strike a balance between meeting end user needs while ensuring security and end user productivity in an uncontrolled environment.” Advantages There are various advantages of businesses using MPS when they have many hybrid workers, such as simplicity. “Above anything else, end customers want simplicity; they want the provider of the managed service to look after everything – from the on-site maintenance to ink cartridge replacement under one monthly bill,” says Chris. “This is exactly what we provide with our OpenMPS offering. It makes it easy for a partner to offer a managed print service.” Ian notes that when clients choose Xerox’s MPS offerings they can realise many advantages. “Our focus is on three fundamental pillars: security, sustainability and productivity, and each pillar is applied to the device, fleet, user and document,” he says. “Our latest range of IoT devices is ideal for hybrid workers and SOHO environments, connecting securely to our cloud-based MPS and print management solutions and eliminating the need for VPN or on-premises servers. This enables secure and audited print, the ability to remotely audit and apply device security policies and update firmware and print drivers. “Productivity is maximised, allowing users to print from any device with scans going directly to repositories such as OneDrive. Toner recycling and service incidents can also be requested and managed from the device's touchscreen.”
Chris Bates director – print and supplies, UK
uk.tdsynnex.com
Hybrid working has become normalised and more SMBs are realising that a managed print service is a viable option for them. “ ”
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