COLLABORATIVE WORKPLACE

PRINT MANAGEMENT

THE PILLARS OF PRINT MANAGEMENT IN TT TECNOSISTEMI

With a team of 15 people and more than 10 years of experience, the print management solution includes:

Consulting: Consulting approach for efficiency and reorganization of the printing device fleet both in Italy and abroad
Flexibility: Ability to adopt the billing method that best suits your needs - PAY PER USE, PAY PER PAGE
Monitoring: Customized monitoring tools (MPS Monitor)
Security: Secure printing system (badge or pin authentication)
Sustainability: Concrete Help for Sustainability

TT TECNOSISTEMI's approach is based on assessment, consulting, and TCO of the entire project.
The TT PrintIntelligent solution includes a dedicated customer service manager who defines, coordinates, and keeps track of all contracted activities and services.

STRENGTHS OF THE TT PRINT INTELLIGENT SOLUTION

HARDWARE & SUPPORT

TT Tecnosistemi is in charge of supply, installation, management and maintenance of the entire fleet of printers distributed throughout the territory.

CONSUMABLES

TT Tecnosistemi has automated all consumable logistics processes and can outsource all toner disposal paperwork.

MONITORING

TT Tecnosistemi offers a monitoring solution for the entire printer fleet, with indications for preventive maintenance and detailed consumption reports.

SAVING

TT Tecnosistemi proposes a pay-per-use billing model that avoids cost spikes related to overages in pay-per-page contracts and always ensures that the annual budget is met (flat billing).

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

TT Tecnosistemi can implement integrated document workflows on the printers that greatly reduce documentation processing time (scanning + adding metadata + sending via e-mail, FTP, Web Service, etc.) and print policies to protect privacy.

TT PRINTELLIGENT IN 9 SDGs

Our Managed Print Services solutions help optimize internal processes, streamline investment and improve environmental sustainability through innovative technologies and offset programs. In line with the UN Global Goals, we have identified 9 goals to be met with Managed Print Services. Among them is that of eco-sustainability, for which we work by abating emissions generated by devices with certified tree planting activities.

MANAGED PRINT SERVICES

1. What are Managed Print Services?

With regard to the management of printing and business records, today we often speak of operating leases, which is a practice of renting a capital asset on a long-term basis, instead of purchasing it with installment payments or through financial leasing. With this method, the leased asset remains the property of the lessor, so the company does not have to include it in assets, manage depreciation schedules and deal with the final redemption. In addition, the rental fees are all in Opex, so they are fully deductible for IRES and IRAP purposes, and deductible for VAT. Depending on thecompany's needs, an alternative is to outsource printing services through Managed Print Services (MPS), also known as managed print services. Initially used in large corporate entities, today managed print is also within the reach of small businesses and is finding increasing use given its many benefits. Compared to operational rental methods or printer leases based on "copy cost," Managed Print Services, involve the complete outsourcing of printing and document management functions to an outside vendor. By opting for managed print services, the entire management of the company's printing infrastructure is outsourced, thus optimizing internal processes to reduce printing costs, including providing for the use of digital capture and document management systems in electronic form.

Relying on Managed Print Services means gaining visibility and control over printing, saving money and increasing productivity, and improving environmental sustainability and document security. In this sense, talking about "printing" means the total cost of managing and optimizing printers, their output, and the people and processes that support these devices. So, not only the actual printing, but also the desktop office printers, multifunction printers, copiers, scanners, fax machines, and high-volume printers, the material sent for quick printing, offset printing, shipping and distribution the IT help desk support, technical support, maintenance and add, move and change requests, ink, toner and other consumables and consumables. TT Tecnosistemi with the service TT Print Intelligent service, for example, offers customized solutions for intelligent and environmentally sustainable printer fleet management that takes into account the customer's actual consumption, business costs, and environmental friendliness. In addition to a direct economic benefit, the advantages of managed print services are many: from saving paper to relieving the IT department of the burden of managing printing devices and, last but not least, respecting the environment by disposing of toner properly.

2. What are the benefits of outsourcing the printer fleet?

Let us look in more detail at what are the three main benefits in outsourcing management of printing processes.

Economic savings
Many companies spend far more on their printing and document management environments than is really necessary. In fact, printing makes up an average of 15 percent of a small/medium business' entire IT budget. In addition, most companies do not get the most out of their printing infrastructure. Users spend too much time printing (an estimated 3,250 man-hours per year in companies with more than 250 employees), and the IT department wastes too much time fulfilling print-related service requests. So there is a huge opportunity to reduce the expense of managing printed documents while dramatically improving how users use them. An inefficient printing infrastructure in which monitoring and optimization actions are completely absent results in costs due to more printers and MFPs than are actually needed to do the job and, consequently, the cost of equally unnecessary consumables.
Relieve IT of the burden of print device management.
In addition to fixed costs for unnecessary devices and consumables, inefficient document management also impacts users' productivity and the effectiveness of their work. For example, users who waste too much time picking up printouts because of device problems or manual tasks that could be automated. Still, IT taking too long to respond to service calls and issues. The time lapses allocated to handling these problems are reflected in variable costs that add up to the fixed costs seen above. Only by managing print functions in an optimized way through the use of Managed Print Services can these wastes be avoided and have an extremely profitable economic return right away.
Respect the environment by properly disposing of toners
Respect for the environment is not a factor to be underestimated. Legislative Decree 152/06 formerly Legislative Decree 22/97 (Ronchi Decree) obliges all VAT holders (without exception) to properly manage the special waste from spent computer printing (commonly spent toner) produced with their printers. The law stipulates that the producer of the waste is responsible for the entire cycle of toner disposal, which begins from the moment the toner is replaced and ends when there is documented proof of its proper disposal. Municipal landfills cannot accept spent toner from companies or VAT holders because it is classified as "special waste from spent computer printing" and, as such, cannot be treated as municipal waste. So, municipal governments are unable to carry out proper management of the waste itself. Even in the case of rented printers, the responsibility for toner disposal lies with the user. The only way to manage spent toner in compliance with the law is to rely on special management services that allow the obligations inherent in the management of spent toner to be transferred to a different legal entity. This is the case with the ZeroZeroToner service, which transfers to Berg Phi srl (which has patented a particular toner disposal plant) the authorship of the waste and with it all the administrative and bureaucratic obligations arising from the management of spent toner in addition to criminal responsibilities. In this way, the producer of the waste is totally relieved of all duties and risks arising from possible compilation errors.

3. Why should the security of printing devices not be underestimated?

Although it may seem strange, cyber threats are also lurking relative to printing processes. According to a Ponemon Institute survey titled "Annual Global IT Security Benchmark Tracking Study," it turns out that 64 percent of IT managers say that their printers have, most likely, been infected with malware and 26 percent of the data breaches suffered, on the other hand, have just involved printers. The threats mainly involve information theft, spying, and sniffing of sensitive data. Relying on an outside vendor to handle print management can greatly increase the level of cybersecurity in this regard. Indeed, an MSP ensures services such as data protection with encrypted printing, scanning, and hard drives; can provide printers with anti-malware capabilities for detecting, blocking, and reporting anomalies; can significantly reduce the number of uncollected print jobs; protect confidential documents; and prevent tampering and fraud. From an infrastructure perspective, an MSP can upgrade devices and constantly update firmware to always have new security patches and provide for forced authentication by all computers that intend to access a printer. To provide these levels of security independently would be costly and, more importantly, would require a lot of IT team time that could otherwise be devoted to tasks directly related to the company's core business.

4. Don't forget the security of business information

Malware and cyber attacks are not the only things to defend against. It is also important to physically manage users' access to printing devices. Given the many possibilities and functions offered by modern multifunction printers, a good managed print service must take into account a hierarchy of users who can access the printer. Before a user can use the device, he or she must authenticate after which he or she will have access to the device features provided for the relevant hierarchical user level. Identification and authentication of the user who intends to access the printer can be done in several ways. The simplest isaccess using a PIN or password that the user types directly into the printer. Other methods may involve the use of magnetic cards (on which a credit could also be preloaded in terms of copies or a counter that keeps track of the copies made) or RFID tags in the form of proximity cards or active keys. In some cases, one can even opt for authentication systems based on biometric recognition (usually fingerprint) that provide the highest level of security. Through these methods there will be users enabled to print in color, rather than to use the fax function or scanner. In this way there is widespread control over the physical use of the device. This undoubtedly makes it possible to increase the level of security, but also to optimize the use of the device for strictly necessary functions. The enablement of functions that can be used by a user can be programmed remotely by the print service provider and can be varied at any time ensuring maximum flexibility of the service.

5. Is it possible today to print in an environmentally sustainable way?

Some managed print service providers, such as TT Tecnosistemi, also adhere to reforestation programs, such as PrintReleaf. The latter is a platform that helps reduceenvironmental impact by connecting participating enterprise print environments, to a network of global reforestation projects. Basically, the platform automatically measures total paper consumption and for every 8,333 sheets consumed, a tree is planted in a sensitive area of the planet, such as Madagascar, Brazil, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, India, Ireland and the United States. This provides a practical way to offset the environmental impact of each user's printing processes. Customers can manage their consumption and reforestation projects through their online PrintReleaf portal. Paper consumption data is automatically updated within the portal where customers can view the impact, select global reforestation projects to which they wish to contribute.

6. Managed Print Services for Document Management.

The use of multifunction printers also introduces a new possibility that the company can leverage for additional benefits: document management. Document services, including Document Management Services (DMS), go far beyond the traditional print management services we are used to. Storage, archiving, searching, sharing, on paper or in the cloud, in the office or on the go, document solutions are critical to maintaining a high level of competitiveness in the modern digital age. Having a DMS means making all information (projects, photographs, videos, charts, contracts or any other type of document or file of any size and shape) developed by various teams securely available through centralized access in Cloud with authentications and various levels of access to information. The DMS ensures absolute confidentiality and security of information through mirrored backups. So opting for outsourcing of printing systems can also take the entire document management to a much higher level. TT Tecnosistemi, with its Print Solution Finder, provides a free online tool through which you can get an idea of your printing needs, calculated according to various parameters including the type of company, the number of employees, the number of printers currently used, the number of copies made per device and the percentage of color copies. Definitely a great starting point for figuring out which is the best and most optimized solution for your company.