1. Understanding your current situtation
Most organizations do not want to "look under the hood" when it comes to print fleet. Many IT managers believe that uncovering problems is a sign that they were not managing this aspect of their business. This is not the case. Printers should NOT be any IT manager's focus. We see huge problems in print fleets everyday. It is COMPLETELY NORMAL. These problems are not the fault of the IT manager. Many times companies do not have purchasing strategies and allowing anyone to go to a store and purchase a print device. As soon as that device comes in the building, the IT person has to assume responsibilty. These systems then grow beyond the good management capabilities of anyone.
Do not be afraid to get help with understanding your current situtation. Getting visibility into your current situation is imperative to being able to recommend the appropriate solution. If problems are not uncovered, the analysis was not thorough and you should keep searching for the right partner.
2. Reviewing Your Business Initiatives
Next, determine your company's overall goals and how well your print environment is supporting these goals. Your print strategy and provider should be directly aligned with your company's goals. Your provider should be flexible in being able to grow with the future needs of your business. It is not likely that your organization will look the same in five years, but that is the likely term of your contract. Your provider needs to be able to grow and be flexible with your changing needs.
3. Calculating and Reducing Employee Burden
Finally, you will need to understand your employees' overall burden rates. Tasks that take away from your business's core work take away from your revenue. These tasks include managing and ordering supplies, fixing equipment, processing invoices, and managing printer inventory. There is real money being lost here. Payroll is likely your top expense and your team's time is valuable.
Your managed services provider will take over most of these tasks and automate the rest.