How managed print services typically save businesses 20–30% on print costs
Managed Print
Published by Syncro Group · 7 min read
When managed print providers claim that their service can cut your print costs by 20 to 30 per cent, it's the kind of number that sounds suspiciously neat. But it's well-evidenced — the Gartner Group, Quocirca, and a range of independent industry studies consistently point to that range as the typical outcome for businesses that move from unmanaged to managed print.
The more interesting question isn't whether the savings are real — it's exactly how they happen. Understanding the mechanics helps you evaluate whether the same savings are available in your organisation, and what to look for in a provider to make sure you capture them.
TYPICAL COST REDUCTION AFTER SWITCHING TO MANAGED PRINT
Fleet optimisation
One of the first things a good MPS provider does is audit your existing print fleet. In practice, this almost always reveals that businesses have more devices than they need — desktop printers that see low usage, ageing hardware running inefficiently, or a mix of devices with incompatible consumables. Consolidating to the right number of devices typically produces immediate cost reductions: fewer maintenance contracts, fewer types of consumable to manage, and lower energy consumption.
Cost-per-page pricing
Under an unmanaged model, printing costs are unpredictable. A managed print service replaces that uncertainty with a known cost per page — covering toner, maintenance, and support. The per-page rate negotiated by a specialist provider is almost always lower than what businesses pay when buying consumables and maintenance reactively. A business printing 50,000 pages per month saving even 0.5 pence per page saves £3,000 annually — and the savings are typically much greater than that.
Proactive maintenance and reduced downtime
Printer downtime is expensive in ways that rarely appear on a cost report. When a device fails, someone's time is lost troubleshooting it, IT support is called, productivity drops, and the problem often isn't resolved until a costly emergency call-out. Modern managed print services include remote monitoring that detects potential issues before they cause failures. Toner levels are tracked automatically. Error patterns are identified before they escalate.
Print rules and behavioural change
A substantial portion of office printing is unnecessary. Colour printing when black and white would suffice. Single-sided printing out of habit. Documents printed and never collected. Managed print software like PaperCut allows organisations to implement sensible print rules — defaulting to monochrome, requiring double-sided printing, prompting users before large print jobs go through. The reduction in wasted output from these measures alone typically falls in the range of 10 to 15 per cent of total print volume.
Eliminating reactive supply purchasing
Businesses buying toner reactively almost always pay more than they need to. Purchases happen urgently, at retail prices, often from whoever can deliver fastest. A managed print service eliminates this entirely — consumables are monitored and replenished automatically before they run out, at rates negotiated by the provider. This isn't just a financial saving. It removes a low-value administrative task from your team's workload entirely.
IT time recaptured
Print-related issues are one of the most common categories of IT support ticket in UK businesses. Connectivity problems, driver issues, device errors, toner queries — cumulatively, they consume meaningful amounts of IT resource that could be better spent elsewhere. Outsourcing print management removes that burden from your internal team. The time recaptured isn't always counted in a cost comparison, but it's real — and in businesses where IT resource is stretched, it can be genuinely significant.
A real-world example: Stertil UK
Client Case Study
Stertil UK
Stertil UK, a manufacturer of heavy-duty lifting equipment, partnered with Syncro to replace a fragmented print environment with a unified managed print service. The outcome: a streamlined fleet, improved device reliability, reduced cost per page, and full visibility into usage through the MySyncro portal.
Read the full case study →What to watch out for: where claimed savings don't materialise
It's worth being clear: not every managed print contract delivers these savings. There are circumstances where the economics don't work as advertised:
- Minimum volume commitments you can't meet: If your contract requires you to print a certain number of pages per month, you'll pay for them whether you print them or not.
- Outdated hardware with high maintenance costs: If a provider installs ageing devices or charges a premium for maintenance on older machines, the economics shift quickly.
- Lack of reporting and insight: Savings from print rules and behavioural change only happen if someone is looking at the data and acting on it. A provider who sets things up and disappears won't deliver the ongoing efficiency improvements.
- Provider tied to one manufacturer: If your provider can only supply one brand, you may not get the most cost-effective hardware for your needs.
The 20–30% savings figure is achievable, but it requires a provider who is genuinely invested in your outcomes — not just in billing you per page.
How to find out what's available for your business
The most reliable way to understand the savings available in your specific organisation is through a print audit. A proper audit reviews your current fleet, analyses your usage data, identifies inefficiencies, and produces a clear cost comparison between your current spend and what a managed service would look like.
This should always be provided free of charge by any reputable provider. At Syncro, our print audits are independent and impartial — we'll tell you honestly what we see, recommend the right solution for your needs, and give you a clear financial picture before you make any commitment.
Find out what managed print could save your business.
Book a free print audit with Syncro. We'll review your current setup, analyse your costs, and show you exactly where the savings are — with no obligation to proceed.
Book a free print audit