Managed Print Solutions in Education: Streamlining Efficiency and Reducing Costs

Schools and educational establishments have unique needs when it comes to printing. Printing is integral to daily operations, whether producing engaging lesson materials, administrative documents, or student reports. However, the costs of managing these print environments, especially using colour, can be high for many schools. That’s where Managed Print Services (MPS) can make a real difference.

Why do schools print so much, and why does it cost so much?

Within education environments, printing is unavoidable. Schools frequently print large amounts of material, much of which requires colour, with things like worksheets, posters, and presentations all adding to the volumes. Whenever organisations have high colour print volumes, the costs can rise rapidly. With colour printing being significantly more expensive than black and white – not having proper systems to monitor and control usage can result in schools spending far more than is necessary.

Schools often have outdated or inefficient print environments that don’t allow proper usage management, leading to unnecessary costs and waste.

How Managed Print Services Can Help?

Managed Print Services offer a way for schools to take back control of their print environment – implementing an MPS allows schools to optimise their print setups, monitor usage and reduce cost, all whilst improving efficiency,

Let’s look at some of the main ways that Managed Print Services can benefit schools: –

Cost Savings

Managed Print Services provide schools with transparency over their printing habits, and with our expertise, we can help implement controls and limits where suitable.

Simple exercises like introducing duplex printing or limiting colour printing to only documents that need it can significantly save print costs.

Improved Efficiency

Time spent dealing with printer issues can frustrate teachers and administrative staff. Many smaller schools do not have IT support on-site; therefore, knowing that any printers on your site are being managed remotely can improve the downtime and reduce the need to troubleshoot any technical issues.

Sustainability

Like businesses in the private sector, schools are also under pressure to adopt more sustainable practices, and an MPS is a great way to achieve this. Schools can reduce paper waste and energy consumption by optimising the print environment. We can use print management software (like Parallel Fleet Manager) to reduce waste by implementing default settings like duplex printing and pull printing. Alongside this, the eco-friendly hardware options and auto-enrolment in the Print Releaf program, which converts paper usage to new forests worldwide, can send a great message to the wider school community.

Security and Compliance

With increasing data security requirements, schools need to be mindful of how confidential information (such as student records) is handled – MPS can include secure printing options, such as pull printing, which ensures sensitive documents are only printed with an authorised user is actually present at the machine helping schools to comply with data protection laws.

So, you see, there are some great benefits to Managed Print Services within an education environment; let’s look at how one of our solutions helped one of our clients.

Langley Hall Primary Academy is a great example of how an MPS can transform a school’s printing environment. They turned to Parallel for a solution for high printing costs and inefficiencies.

Langley Hall needed an optimised print infrastructure that could handle the demands of a growing student body while keeping costs manageable. They were also looking to introduce more sustainable practices and reduce the waste generated by their printing.

After a thorough review of their print environment, we introduced a Managed Print Solution that included a new fleet of printers and print management software – this allowed the school to monitor usage, set print policies (like mono or duplex printing) and ensure that colour printing was only used when needed.

After installing the Managed Print solution, Langley Hall saw an immediate drop in print-related costs. Our remote monitoring and service contact allowed them to enjoy better printer up-time to ensure their devices were always available when needed. Alongside these cost savings, they saw an overall improvement in the efficiency of the print environment, which freed up resources to focus on student education.

At Parallel, we understand schools’ unique challenges when managing print environments. We work with schools to tailor our solutions to provide cost savings, improve efficiency and keep everything running smoothly to ensure their print environment works for them.

Our solutions give schools greater control over their print volumes, reduce waste and enable them to allocate resources more effectively, all whilst ensuring staff and pupils have access to the printed materials they need.

If you are an education establishment looking to reduce costs, improve efficiency and add to your sustainability message, then a Managed Print Service is the comprehensive solution you need.

Parallel offers nationwide Managed Print Services. We are providers in Uxbridge (HO), Camberley, Kent, Wolverhampton, Cardiff, Manchester, and Edinburgh, committed to propelling your business forward through tailor-made print solutions.