An ideal client for our Managed Print model would be one where service, repair and logistics are the most important components of supporting their fleet. As an example, customers who have multiple locations all throughout the United States and who might have a couple of devices per location. You can imagine the logistics involved in making sure techs are available to such a widely dispersed fleet, and that is exactly what we do well.
We offer managed print services to a degree, but our core service is more centered around the labor piece of the repair. We will work with you to build a sensible fleet management program to keep your printer fleet running well. We take into account each device to ensure your team is able to print and able to work.
If you want to have the accessibility of nationwide printer repair with a simple experience, we are the right company for you. We have tens of thousands of printers under current print fleet management agreements.
Why Centralize Print Management?
The appeal of a traditional management services program, where you are trying to “right size” the printer fleet or streamline it, is not really important to the typical customer. Instead, it is more important to have a company that can support them anywhere at all of their branches, with one centralized portal for all things printer-related.
Our services save more headaches, time and energy than trying to make sure the print costs are at the absolute lowest amount possible. We find most companies are happy to pay 2.0 cents a print rather than 1.8 cents, if it means that the printer was taken care of and wasn’t constantly breaking.
It is not so much the consulting side of things as much as having a company that can service and supply the printers in a cost-effective manner, allowing the users to go about their day-to-day lives without having to worry about their print environment.
Most of our ideal client base would have 25 or more print devices, where it is enough of a burden for their IT department that our services become meaningful for them.
Who Wouldn’t Be a Good Fit for United Laser?
Home users would not be a good fit. We don’t work with home users whatsoever. Smaller companies that would not need a lot of services would be wasting money if they partnered with us. If they have a printer break once a year, they couldn’t see much value in our traditional managed print program.
Are There Any Enterprises that Wouldn’t Be a Good Fit?
International companies wouldn’t be good fits, because we don’t have the relationships overseas to be able to fulfill services up to our standards. Otherwise, we haven’t met an enterprise “elephant” that we couldn’t take on, because as long as we have the service personnel in place and can ship the supplies, which we do in the States, we can fulfill our side of the contract.
This doesn’t mean we couldn’t do an excellent job taking care of the sites in the United States. Some international companies we work with have us take care of the USA and help them find a managed print for other countries.
What About Enterprises with Multi-Brand Print Fleets?
The original name “United” for United Laser, came from the fact that we would be servicing enterprise customers with a hybrid printer environment. It is very rare that our customers have just one manufacturer across their entire fleet. Typically, what we see is that they have a primary manufacturer that encompasses 90% of their fleet, a secondary that may be 8%, and a couple of stragglers making up the last 2%. We have no problems working out the details of how that will work.
That said, multi-brand companies can present issues if the availability of parts is a problem, or it is an obscure device. A lack of trained technicians for that device, or if the equipment is tied to only dealer service, can also create big challenges.
Which Printer Brands Spark Excitement? Which Don’t?
We get excited about HP, Lexmark, Brother and sometimes even Xerox. That is because of our relationships with those manufacturers, our ability to offer the customer cost-effective supplies, provide the service, and the availability of technicians. Those are all common brands in the marketplace, so even if we do not have a technician in their area, we can develop a relationship with a reliable technician and have a good forward strategy.
We are not excited about obscure brands, such as Kyocera and Epson, which are typically inkjet. Basically, any brand that we don’t have a strong relationship with or tech availability is a difficulty.
We need to be able to get meter reads on some programs, but most of our clients use a method. We have to get them service by buying the toner cartridges (which we also get at a discount.)
Why United Laser Is Successful in Managed Print
One of the reasons our program has been successful is because we are speaking to what a lot of enterprise customers want. At the end of the day, some of our customers want the consulting aspect of it, others the support.
Our program is simple, and it speaks to their support needs in a cost-effective way. We provide the service without a service fee. If a company is large enough to be able to support all of its equipment, but small enough to where all of our programs are not cookie cutter, then we can work together. If there is a particular or reasonable need for that organization, we can accommodate it.
We have created industry solutions for every size of client out there from 10 to 10,000 users.
What Don’t Enterprises Want with Managed Print Services?
People don’t want to feel like they are being sold every time they interact with someone. They really want the partner to be a true partner, who can show them how to cut costs or improve their end user experience. What they don’t want is a standard sales pitch. When we are talking with a customer, we are very candid with them. We tell them if we can or we can’t do something, and whether or not we are a good fit for each other.