A retail associate prints a price tag for a pair of shoes using a Zebra desktop printer
By Mark Butler | October 20, 2022

Experts Say Many Companies Aren’t Managing Their Printers Correctly. Are You?

Printers are critically important to your business. If they go down, so does your output. That’s why I asked an expert from HP Managed Print Services to talk about a few things you should be doing differently.

It’s time to talk about how you’re managing your company’s printers considering the central role they play in front-line workers’ productivity, your customers’ happiness, and your success.  

It’s never been easy to keep a business running smoothly. But it has become increasingly difficult since we started digitalizing everything as a society. All it takes is a short power outage to realize how much we rely on technology, and all it takes is for a single printer to go down – even on a good day – for your entire operation to feel like it’s falling apart. Every other device could be online. But if a printer isn’t, workers panic.  

That’s because nearly every part of your operation is tied to a printer somehow – either by the labels, price tags, patient wristbands, packing slips, temperature sensors, RFID tags, instructions, receipts or records it generates. 

So, I invited Rachel Quinnell, HP’s Global Zebra Program Manager for Managed Print Services, to talk with me – and you – about managed print services for thermal barcode printers.  

This is something I feel is severely underrated and undervalued by businesses today. Most technology-related discussions seem to be focused on what’s next in technology and budget is often allocated to advanced technology solutions that promise to enable a simple, hassle-free work experience. But with every new technology project, IT resources seemed to be stretched thinner and thinner and the responsibility increasingly falls to front-line workers to manage what I’ll call the fundamental technologies. These are the mobile computers, scanners and printers they’re using to perform core business functions, such as fulfilling and shipping orders, managing shelf prices, tending to patients or providing proof of transactions.  

So, I asked Rachel to share some stories about the value that managed print services has brought to HP Managed Print Services customers, many of whom are using Zebra printers. I’d also asked her to share the realities of managing printers in house – the challenges that customers have experienced that ultimately led them to call HP for professional service support. 

I recommend you take 15 minutes to hear what she had to say: 

Listen now:

You’ll learn:

  • Why it’s wrong to think of managed print services as a “convenience” offering.

  • The risk you introduce to your business when you try to manage printers in house as well as the biggest business risk eliminated when printer management is outsourced.

  • How outsourcing printer management will likely save you more money than you would save trying to manage printers in house – or outsourcing the management of other types of business technology – even if you only have a printer or two. (Spoiler alert: There are cost savings on printer supplies, too.)

  • How to derive greater business intelligence from your printers and use the data to solve common business challenges.

  • How the average lifespan of enterprise thermal printers quantifiably differs between those managed in house versus those managed by a third-party service provider.

  • Why – and how – Zebra and HP are working together to keep your Zebra barcode printers online.

TUNE IN NOW

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About Our Guest: 

Rachel Quinnell is a Global Program Manager for HP Managed Print Services (MPS), currently based in Singapore. She supports the global MPS program for Zebra printers and is also the Multivendor Program Lead for APJ. Rachel has had over 20 years’ experience in IT with the last 15 of those at HP. She has worked in HP’s MPS business in program management as well as direct and channel-based sales roles with responsibility across the globe. 

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You May Also Be Interested in These Expert Insights:

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Did You Hear? 

Topics
Best Practices, Healthcare, Warehouse and Distribution, Retail, Hospitality, Energy and Utilities, Manufacturing, Transportation and Logistics, Podcast, Field Operations, Public Sector, Banking,
Mark Butler
Mark Butler

Mark Butler is a Global Partner Manager within Zebra’s global sales team and is the global leader for Zebra’s partnerships with both HP, Inc. and Körber Supply Chain. Mark has a focus on Zebra’s AMR and warehouse strategies with Körber and Zebra’s Managed Print and Government strategies with HP, Inc.

Mark is based in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been working within Zebra’s channel go-to-market organization since 2011 and has 20+ years in the industry. 

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