3 Ways Managed Print Services Can Save Your Law Firm Money

Law firms of all sizes rely on various documents to perform their day-to-day tasks. Law firms are typically bound to paper documentation, whether involving a client, reference books, or internal corporate articles.

With that said, Law firms tend to have a variety of print devices that are not all interconnected or optimized for efficient usage. This means there’s no way to honestly know if these machines are doing their best for your team or just wasting your resources.

Additionally, law firms should not be hindered due to print-related expenses. This is where managed print services can provide an accommodating approach to print expenses.

LDI’s managed print services (MPS) can help assess your print environment and recommend cost-effective print solutions for your firm. How?

By improving document control and oversight and managing viewing & access to minimize paper waste, a managed print services program can simplify billing and reduce costs.

This article will provide three critical ways managed print services can save your law firm money regarding how you print. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better grasp of how MPS can help your business.

What Are 3 Ways MPS Can Save Your Law Firm Money? 

Leasing, buying, and maintaining printing devices can be pricey for any law firm.

That’s where managed print services come in. MPS is a budget-friendly way of helping to reduce print costs and enhance ROI.

Let’s dive into the three particular ways MPS can help save your law firm money.

1. Consolidates Printer Fleet & Optimizes Workflow  

At the start of any partnership with a managed print provider, a print assessment takes place.

You can think of a print assessment as a process a managed print provider takes to thoroughly evaluate your print environment, activity, volume, and costs associated. How does this translate to saving your firm money?

We’re getting there.

A provider can effectively optimize workflow and consolidate your printer fleet by getting a better read on your print activity and what your inventory consists of.

The assessment will take stock of your inventory of printing devices and determine the health of each device. By doing this, the managed print provider will tell which devices are costing you more money due to how outdated the machine is.

The more outdated the device, the more costs associated.

By optimizing and consolidating your printer fleet, your firm can swap out devices that are no longer serving your team, reduce costs associated with outdated machines, and minimize downtime.

For example, suppose your law firm owns twenty multifunction printers; however, the print assessment finds that only ten of those MFPs are used daily. This alone is a tell that maybe owning twenty MFPs is unnecessary.

However, let’s also say that out of those twenty printers, most if not all are outdated, slow to work, and need parts replaced regularly.

In that case, a managed print provider could consolidate the number of MFPs you have and swap out any outdated devices for newer versions. By facilitating this change, your firm would notice a direct shift in how your team works and performs daily tasks.

2. Facilitates Cost Recovery Software For Budgeting 

Cost recovery software streamlines manually entering data and recuperating costs associated with clients, events, outings, and more.

Every expense is tracked through cost recovery software, which optimizes the overall accounting process and helps firms reduce costs.

Now the chances are that if you’re a law firm reading this article – you’re probably already aware of cost recovery software and how it can benefit a firm’s budgetary spending.

However, we’re here to share how managed print services can help you acquire and implement the right software for your particular firm.

A big part of managed print services is assessing what print solutions your firm currently has in place and understanding if those solutions are still benefiting your firm. 

Cost recovery software is vital for law firms because it makes billing easier and allows attorneys to spend more time working on pressing initiatives. That’s why it’s the job of any managed print provider to walk you through the features of each software they offer to see what the right fit would be for you.

Some examples of cost recovery systems are nQueue Billback or Kofax. Both software systems can ensure you are accounting for all activity related to copying, printing, or scanning documents.

3. Monitors Print Environment   

It means that a managed print provider will actively monitor your print environment. Fortunately, the mere act of monitoring your print environment has many layers to it.

Let’s dive in

Monitors For Security Risks

A huge perk of managed print services is the proactive updating of print software, printer firmware, and scheduling of regular print assessments. Why is this important?

Well, believe it or not, data breaches can affect an office copier, printer, and MFP, just like a computer or operating system.

Seeing as law firms handle confidential information daily, ensuring your printing devices are protected is essential.

Monitors The Health Of Your Devices

Through the active monitoring of your firm’s print environment, a managed print provider can check on the health of your devices in real-time. 

This ensures that all of your printing devices are running smoothly and effectively.

Automates The Supply Replenishment Process

By monitoring your devices, a managed print provider will read when your toner or ink levels are low.

A managed print provider can automate the printer supply replenishment process using a data tool such as FMAudit. You can think of this data tool as a way of reading each device on your network.

This tool automates ordering the correct supplies for each device when it reaches a certain level of toner and ink.

Not only does this stop your team from over-ordering or ordering the wrong supplies. It also ensures that your devices will never be without supplies.

Ready To Reduce Your Law Firm’s Print Costs? 

An MPS program can help tailor print solutions to your particular firm’s print needs and goals. 

But if your firm is still unsure whether you require managed print services – try answering the following questions below.

• Does your law firm overspend on print consumables due to over-ordering, ordering the wrong supplies, or owning outdated devices?
• Do you currently lease or own several devices that may be under-utilized or over-utilized?
• Does your law firm have a monthly print budget and strategy?

Answering these questions before considering managed print services can help your team determine if it’s the right move for you.

To learn more about managed print services and how LDI Connect provides those services, read our article about the six steps to expect when working with LDI’s managed print services.