What is Thermal Managed Print Services?

Here's all you need to know about Thermal Managed Print Services - and how companies and suppliers can benefit from it

In this article, we’ll provide you with info about the nature of Thermal Managed Print Services. You can also learn how suppliers and companies can use it to their advantage – and what they should look for when choosing their service provider.

Thermal Managed Print Services (also called Thermal MPS or T-MPS) is a fairly new concept and was only recently launched, whereas Managed Print Services for office print has been on the market for over 20 years.

In short, we define Thermal Managed Print Services as a range of services designed to monitor, manage, maintain, and optimize a company’s thermal printer environment.

These services are typically provided by an external supplier with expertise within Thermal Printing. Today, many of the services offered can already be performed remotely – and more will follow in the future.

Thermal Managed Print Services is much more than in-time delivery of labels and other consumables

It’s a rather popular misbelief that Thermal Managed Print Services is synonymous with Automated Supply Fulfillment (labels, wristbands, cards, printheads etc.). 

Sure, delivering the right supplies or consumables at the right place, at the right time, is absolutely key to reducing downtime and removing the customers’ burden, but a Thermal Managed Print Services agreement should also contain a comprehensive vendor agnostic assessment of the thermal printer environment – followed by a partial or complete refresh of the assets.

Besides that Thermal MPS will give suppliers the possibility to perform remote management of thermal printers, reducing the pressure on the field service organization while maximizing customer continuity. 

In general, there are many different services within a Thermal Managed Print Services agreement that will allow suppliers to monitor, manage, maintain, and optimize a company’s thermal printer fleet. The benefits of embarking on this journey are numerous and proven.

> Click here if you want to read more about thermal printing.

How can suppliers benefit from Thermal Managed Print Services?

For the supplier, it’s typically a very good deal and a solid investment in the future to offer customers a Thermal Managed Print Services contract.

The Thermal MPS deal will e.g. lead to cost cuts, reduction of waste, optimization of processes, and a longer, healthier, and more loyal customer relationship.

An essential part of the (right) Thermal Managed Print Services package is a vendor agnostic assessment. This will provide the supplier with great insight and details around the current state of the customers’ thermal printer environments.

Suppliers can switch their current transactional business to a more customer-focused recurring business model while adding more value. In other words, suppliers will be able to achieve substantial benefits for the customer and thereby for themselves.

What’s in it for companies?

For companies there’s a lot to gain from entering into a Thermal MPS agreement with an established supplier. It will generally lead to increased knowledge and control of printer use and costs, enhanced security, less downtime, and a decrease in TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).

The capable Thermal Managed Print Services supplier will also provide the company with vendor-agnostic, manageable and action-oriented information about the thermal printer environment. Knowing the right things about the use, structure, and optimization possibilities of the thermal printer fleet lets the company make the right strategic decisions for the future.

Companies can realize the following objectives by working actively with a qualified supplier of Thermal Managed Print Services:

  • Reduced downtime
  • Automated supply fulfillment
  • Decrease of the TCO
  • Improved manageability
  • Centralized procurement
  • Optimize end-point security
  • Maximal productivity and continuity
  • Standardization and uniformity
  • User friendliness

Who benefits from Thermal Managed Print Services?

Thermal MPS benefits both the supplier, the company – and the environment. You could say that it creates a triple win-win-situation.

So how do you start using Thermal MPS?

Moving into a Thermal Managed Print Services agreement requires devices capable of communicating through standard network protocols with a corresponding level of Operating System on board.

The main components of a Thermal Managed Print Services agreement are a vendor agnostic assessment, selective or general replacement of hardware, and the service, parts, and supplies/consumables needed to operate the new and/or existing hardware. A financial services offer can also be part of a Thermal MPS agreement.

Make sure to take the time to find the right, established Thermal Managed Print Services Solution to integrate at your customer or company. Look for proven technology and experience with the market.

When you’ve made an agreement with a provider, it’s often a very simple process to get the Thermal MPS solution up and running. Typically, you’ll have to install a small, secure piece of software on your or your customer’s server (called a data collector, connector, or the like) – and then the software will identify devices on the network and start collecting data automatically.

Through a cloud-based user portal, you’ll be able to gain insight into the thermal printer environment in question – and you can start managing and optimizing the thermal printer fleet right away.

Zebra Managed Print Services program – powered by JetAdvice

Zebra and JetAdvice have joined forces to offer the thermal printing world new and exciting possibilities. You can apply to the program now.

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