Managed Print Services consists of outsourcing your document output services to a third party. That third party can help you with your business’s document output, which typically consists of documents that are printed, copied, faxed, or scanned. The company helps not only manage the documents themselves but also helps you with maintenance and expenses related to the pieces of equipment you use for document output.
In the legal field, you rely heavily on hardcopy documents or paper copies of files. This means that a law firm does a lot of printing, copying, faxing, and scanning. While there are some industries that can go paperless and rely solely on electronic document management services, there are a few industries, such as the legal field, where going completely paperless is simply not a viable option at this point. Because your office utilizes paper documents, it is essential that law firms manage their print environments properly and take steps to decrease the costs associated with these documents. Here are three ways that Managed Print Services can work to transform your document output and be beneficial to your law practice.
Reducing Your Firm’s Operating Costs
One of the ways that Managed Print Services can transform your law firm is by helping you to save on your firm’s operating costs. Do you know how much your document output services cost you? Think about how much paper your company uses, how much ink or toner is used, how much you spend to maintain and repair your machines, and how much you spend purchasing new equipment solely for the purpose of document output services. Many law firms spend a lot of money on these items, but tracking exactly how much is spent can be challenging. And unfortunately, if you cannot track what is spent and where, reducing those costs becomes a challenge.
A Managed Print Services provider can step in and help determine how much your firm is spending on document output services and then work to find ways to decrease those costs. You may be using the wrong type of printer for your office needs, which could be costing you money in the long run. You may be failing to properly maintain a copy machine, and in turn, you have to replace your equipment sooner than you would if you adequately maintained it. While these may seem like minor changes, they add up quickly, ultimately helping you to reduce your firm’s overall operating costs.
Enhancing Efficiency & Preventing Downtime
Another way that Managed Print Services can transform your law firm is by enhancing efficiency and preventing downtime when it comes to your document imaging equipment. Many law firms do not realize just how much time employees spend printing documents, changing ink cartridges, or fixing a jam in a copy machine. An employee may spend a few minutes trying to figure out what printer they should print documents on and then spend even more time tracking down the location of the printer within your office. It may take multiple employees to figure out how to change ink or toner cartridges in printers or copy machines. And a jam in your equipment may render your equipment unusable until a repair company comes out to help.
Managed Print Services can reduce the downtime experienced by ensuring that your equipment is properly maintained and always in good shape. They can also work to enhance efficiency by providing training to employees, so they know which pieces of equipment to use and when. Your MPS provider can also help set up a workflow that makes sense for printing documents, ensuring employees are not hunting down printers or standing around while their documents are printed out of a machine. This allows your employees to focus on the job that they are paid to do rather than focusing on document output within your practice.
Boosting Data Security & Compliance
The final way that Managed Print Services can transform your law firm is by boosting data security and compliance. Take a minute to think about how many of the legal documents that are printed, scanned, or faxed in your office contain sensitive, personal, or classified information. Any data breaches or uncontrolled disclosure of this sensitive information can not only damage your law firm’s reputation, but it can lead to litigation and potential fines.
Managed Print Services can boost your data security and compliance, helping to prevent data breaches and uncontrolled disclosures of personal and sensitive information. Managed Print Services can set up a flow that minimizes who sees what types of printed documents, where those sensitive documents are printed and displayed, and even set up onboard encryption. All of this helps to protect your clients’ personal information, financial information, and sensitive data, all while also protecting your business against compliance-related fines and breaches that can result in bad press for your law firm.
Most law firms spend far more money than they need to on their document output processes. The amount that firms spend can also be challenging to track and difficult to budget for due to unexpected repairs. On top of this, the process may be inefficient and lead to an increase in employee downtime and decrease in productivity and may make it hard for your firm to ensure security compliance. Managed Print Services can change all of this, helping you to save money, decrease downtime, increase employee efficiency and boost both data security and compliance. This can be a game-changer for your law firm. To learn more about incorporating Managed Print Services into your Houston law firm or practice, contact On Demand today.