14
PRINT.IT
01732 759725
COVER STORY
Managed Print Services (MPS)
has been embraced by businesses
of all sizes as an effective and
convenient way to reduce the cost,
inefficiencies and environmental
impact of office printing. It
routinely helps organisations cut
print costs by 20-30% and in more
advanced implementations also
provides a framework for process
digitisation.
But is MPS still what the market
needs, or is its focus on printed
output in some way limiting?
Alex Cardnell, Director of the
Corporate Division within the Direct
Business of Sharp in the UK, argues
that an approach that made sense
10 years ago may now be stopping
enterprises and SMEs from achieving
all the benefits offered by the cloud
and digitisation and that, in some
cases, MPS can lead to information
silos and add unnecessary
complexity to customer relationships.
As an example, he cites the case
of a firm of solicitors interested in
workflow optimisation for invoicing.
“They will go to market and find a
company to work with them on that
workflow,” he said. “Then, separately,
they will look for a print supplier and
a cross media marketing partner.
Because suppliers never make links
between subjects, an organisation
could end up working with 7, 8
or more suppliers/partners, even
though all these subjects are linked.”
A better solution, says Cardnell,
are tailored Sharp Optimised
Managed Services (OMS) that
extend the scope of MPS to include
print, cloud storage, display screens
and workflow software and link all
the different elements under the
umbrella of a single service provider.
“Print-based MPS providers tend
to offer broadly similar functionality
and address just a small part
of the information workflow. We
wanted to find a new way of looking
at how documents/information/
content is managed, and the
conclusion we came to is that it’s
not necessarily about print volumes;
it’s not necessarily about document
distribution; and it’s not necessarily
about optimising physical assets. It’s
more about how information flows
through an organisation,” he said.
Complete workflow
Unlike purely output-focused MPS
offerings, OMS addresses the
three key areas of information
management to create complete,
fully integrated bespoke solutions for
customers.
1
Information Input.
How
information enters an organisation,
including by mail, scans, web content,
email, PDF, social media etc.;
2
Information Management.
Where the information is stored and
how employees interact with and
share it e.g. by interactive meetings
and video-conferencing; and
3
Information Output.
How
information leaves the organisation,
covering not only printed documents
but also cross-media channels, such
as e-marketing, personal URLs and
digital signage.
“With OMS, we are looking at the
big picture, at high level information,”
explained Cardnell. “Let’s forget
copiers; let’s forget paper
documents; let’s forget all the little
bits and instead put together a suite
of products, software and services
that can support all aspects of the
customer’s information lifecycle.
For example, in the case of a retailer,
output might be 20 foot by 20 foot
displays within shops.”
Strategic view
Cardnell says that by adopting a
holistic approach based on these
three stages, OMS customers quickly
change their mindset and take a
more strategic view of information
management.
“MPS customers want to drive
paper out of their organisations
and reduce staff interactions with
processes – those are their two
biggest concerns. Then, when people
look at middle stage information
management, they focus more
on things like business travel and
employee efficiency. In the not too
distant future I expect these to
overtake the paper drive due to the
sheer volume of savings that are
available,” he said.
For example, if 10 employees
make a four-hour round trip to a
business meeting, collectively they
Sharp is taking Managed Print Services (MPS) to the next level with
the launch of Optimised Managed Services (OMS).
Move over MPS,
OMS has arrived
Sharp’s Cloud Portal Office provides secure, on-
demand access to files stored in the cloud. People can
upload, download, share, manage and print files from
any PC, mobile device, Sharp multifunctional printer
(MFP) or Sharp BIG PAD interactive whiteboard.
