by Tom Darnall
Managing one print environment can be hard enough. Managing several at the same time can seem downright daunting. And for MSPs whose cost structures are highly sensitive to extra investment of time and resources, every second spent struggling with a print management issue can weigh heavily on the bottom line.
MSPs have another fundamental concern: customer satisfaction. Unlike an organization where print infrastructure is managed in-house, an MSP’s end users can decide to contract with another provider. That puts particular importance on retaining existing customers, which means that quality of service has to remain uncompromisingly high. Ongoing printing problems, even minor ones that might be tolerated elsewhere, can put an MSP out of business.
The catch is that, in addition to those challenges, MSPs also have a unique set of print-management requirements. Ideally, they want a single, uniform solution that allows them to deliver a core suite of services to customers while also providing a consistent management experience. Yet MSPs’ customers can have very different environments and a wide variety of printing needs, so any solution also has to be versatile enough to accommodate these disparities.
With that in mind, a print-management solution optimized for MSPs should meet the following criteria:
Powerful: Admins have access to a comprehensive suite of printer- and driver-management tools, including advanced features.
Intuitive: Profile settings as well as automated deployments and installations are easy to configure with granular precision.
Versatile: The solution integrates seamlessly with any environment without sacrificing reliability, functionality or ease of use.
Robust: Single points of failure and WAN dependencies are either reduced or eliminated completely, ensuring maximum uptime and uninterrupted printing.
Centralized: The MSP is able to fully manage the print environment for every customer, no matter how distributed, from a single pane of glass.
Consistent: The administrative experience is the same across the entire customer pool, regardless of differences in printer fleets or printing habits.
Streamlined: Administrative tasks are as efficient as possible and don’t require multiple interactions when one will do.
Scalable: The print-management solution effortlessly adapts as the customer’s print environment shrinks, expands or evolves over time.
Another consideration is that any print-management solution truly geared toward MSPs should also offer opportunities to add value. For example, one customer might want secure printing capabilities, whereas another wants to implement cross-platform mobile and BYOD printing. An MSP who’s able to provide this kind of added value with minimal physical infrastructure and low administrative overhead is going to be much more attractive to those customers.
PrinterLogic meets these demanding MSP criteria
Although traditional print-management solutions like print servers can’t fulfill all those demanding criteria, PrinterLogic’s enterprise print-management solutions are able to meet them without reservation.
PrinterLogic’s next-generation software uniquely combines the simplicity and reliability of direct-IP printing with the power of centralized management, enabling MSPs to manage the print environments of their entire customer pool from a single web-based console. This also gives PrinterLogic core capabilities like eliminating print servers, advanced printer deployments without the need for GPOs or scripts, self-service printer installations, and seamless integration alongside virtual solutions.
That’s not just theoretical. MSPs like Helion Automotive Technologies and Strata Information Technology have implemented PrinterLogic’s low-footprint, on-premises software solution for their customers in very different sectors. Helion, focuses on the automotive industry, supplying 650 car dealerships and their 28,000 employees with core IT services. Strata IT draws some of its largest customers from the healthcare industry.
Both MSPs saw a massive reduction in the time spent on print management after implementing PrinterLogic. Strata IT immediately experienced an estimated 50% drop in print-related support tickets, whereas Helion has leveraged PrinterLogic to cut 20 hours off each of its regular print-server migrations. The two MSPs also cited increased customer satisfaction as a result of their increased responsiveness, the reduced number of routine printing problems and the improved visibility into new areas of the print environment, such as consumable costs.
The next-gen features you expect from a next-gen solution
PrinterLogic also offers a SaaS counterpart. This zero-footprint, cloud-based solution offers feature parity with PrinterLogic’s proven on-premises software, giving MSPs and their customers the option of a flexible, enterprise-grade print-management solution that is infinitely scalable and incredibly cost-effective. Pioneer Technology is just one MSP that is using PrinterLogic’s SaaS solution to further its “cloud-first” philosophy and retain a competitive edge among peers in the banking, healthcare and retail industries.
And when it comes to adding value, PrinterLogic is able to provide native pull printing and mobile printing capabilities along with comprehensive print auditing tools. This kind of advanced functionality is increasingly sought after by organizations that are looking to harden their print security, provide tightly controlled but full-featured printing to their BYOD users, or gain insight into printing habits for the sake of cost-cutting and efficiency.
Tom Darnall recently joined the product team at PrinterLogic. He moved to Utah four years ago from Portland, where he held executive, product management and marketing positions at HP, Symantec, and other software firms. Tom received a B.A. in Communications from Brigham Young University and completed a summer executive MBA program at Stanford. Off the clock, Tom loves to explore the desert southwest, do landscape photography, and see live jazz in Las Vegas.
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