The majority of all organizations require printing solutions. From advertisement graphics, accounting data, sales, salaries, and many others, businesses find themselves with the need to put ink to paper in varying intervals and volumes. Owing to the irregularity of the market and lack of cost awareness, managers and business owners do not know whether they should invest in their equipment or engage print outsourcing companies.
Print outsourcing companies such as Tab Services provide solutions for business owners deciding to outsource. Having been in the business since 1960, they have exposure to a vast amount of data on print-related topics. What we shall focus on are factors supporting the decision to outsource print and mail services. Still have questions? Contact us!
Document handling and printing take a toll on a business’s time and monetary resources. Whenever you can save any of the above, you should. Especially with inflation and the climbing cost of things, companies need to examine themselves and decide which path is right for them. Of course, when making such an important decision, guiding factors will tell you what the best option for your company is. Supported by extensive data from Tab Service, we will examine the most pertinent situations that support adoption.
The following are just a few criteria that you can use to tell whether it is time for your enterprise to outsource printing services:
- You cannot track your document printing data. Companies often do not know how much they are printing, why they are printing it, when they printed it, and how much it costs. This is usually because very few employees know how to integrate software to harness data from the hardware. Contracting print outsourcing companies translate to integrated analytics tools, data curation, and user account management to keep track of and adequately administrate printing activities. On top of having pristine records, you can also use various data analysis methods to help further cut printing costs.
- Administration and maintenance are not feasible. Many small enterprises cannot financially sustain a print team. They often hand over the responsibility to their IT team because they work with computers. These responsibilities include handling print-related calls, maintenance, and management. Often time-consuming, these tasks distract very talented IT professionals from far more important tasks, thus reducing the return on investment you get from salaries. The sad thing is, after all that, the printing sector still does not run well. You will find that IT cannot cater to all calls from printing and IT-related queries, printers cannot be remotely managed, printers go down for hours at a time, and they often run out of ink or toner.
- You cannot meet increasing demands as you scale. As you grow your enterprise and attain new customers, your print needs grow along with you. Depending on your sector, scaling may be sudden and not provide enough cash flow to accommodate rising print needs. More revenue does not always translate to more money for printers. Companies may have loans and outstanding invoices to settle, among other things, before they can start to think about acquiring new printers. Below are some scenarios that warrant print outsourcing when you are growing:
- Print demands rise, but the allocated budget cannot meet the need for new printers.
- Training workers on new hardware and software cannot be done internally.
- Replacement or upgrading is costly and would cause a lot of downtimes and disrupt operations.
- You cannot ensure the 100% safety of networks internally. Printer breaches account for above 10% of small to medium-sized businesses’ cyber security attacks. Instead of hiring additional staff in the name of cyber security engineers, companies can retain outsourced printing. Companies like Tab Service conduct regular breach tests and process audits to ensure the safety of your documents. The advantage of using a firm such as Tab with extensive experience in the field is the nuanced approach to security. They know the hazards of different business types and can quickly point out vulnerabilities.
- Internal expenses are too high. As discussed above, running print via your IT team results in more waste than savings. Older and inefficient printers are more costly and time-consuming to operate and maintain. Regular repairs and inefficient use of supplies make an already unnecessary expense even more of a burden on your company. Common indicators it is time to outsource include too much time spent on print by IT, repair expenses being so high that over five years it would be cheaper to buy a new machine in the present, and too much time wasted while employees wait on printers to become available.
Furthermore, experienced companies like Tab Service have been in the industry so long they leverage their connections to get the best possible prices on equipment and inputs. These savings trickle down to you.
How to Outsource Printing with Tab Service
Most companies, Tab Service included, have processes in place to quickly and efficiently onboard new clients without disrupting operations. All you have to do in a majority of cases is just give the company a call, and they will take you through their process and what they require from you to ensure a swift and painless transition.
Some companies will even offer you a free consultation where you can familiarize yourself with the process and general operation of such a partnership. If you are ready to get started, reach out to Tab Service Company to get started.