# What is managed print services? A definition for multi site buyers

Source: https://managedprinterservices.com/what-is-managed-print-services/
Last updated: 2026-10-20
Operated by Global Document Solutions, ABN 89 567 852 183, Unit 1/8 Glasson Dr, Bethania QLD 4205. Phone 1300 873 460.

## What is managed print services, and how does it work?

Managed print services (MPS) means one supplier owns each office's printers and covers the toner and repairs, for up to 5 years.

For one office it is a service, and for five it is one agreement in place of five contracts.

- Included sites and supplied printers are named
- Support duties and boundaries are written down
- Charges, the term and the exit are visible before approval

The definition in buyer words
Managed print services is an agreement that assigns responsibility for specified printers at specified sites.

That scope lists the printers supplied and the support the provider takes on.

Some suppliers sell the same thing as printer as a service.

Sold as a lease, it becomes a single printer lease across every office, with servicing in the plan.

Words like duty cycle and excess page rate are defined in the MFP meaning and other print terms.

Anything not named remains outside the arrangement unless both sides add it.

The written scope is the definition that matters.

To see when your first office could move, find your earliest agreement end date.

The office count at which managed print starts to pay is its own answer.

The printers supplied are Kyocera and HP, and running a Kyocera fleet under managed print has a page to itself.

Last updated 20 October 2026.

### How managed print services work

Four stages run from the first conversation to the first invoice.

At an included address, an authorised dealer or the manufacturer attends.

According to Global Document Solutions, a technician generally attends a capital city site within 4 hours.

Regional towns generally get the next business day.

That is how the work is arranged, and not a fixed term written into the agreement.

Stage one reads the printing devices already at each address, with their page counts.

An MPS program for several offices follows those 4 stages at every site.

### For five or more offices, it works like this

One office buys a service. Five offices replace five contracts with one.

Each office keeps its current contract until that contract ends, then joins the one agreement.

The join order runs over months, and the drawing of eight offices joining one agreement shows it.

Finance then gets one invoice, with a report for each office beside it.

Nothing has to be broken early, because each office waits for its own date.

The MPS provider holds the agreement, every consumable and the print infrastructure at each office.

That response is arranged as a process, and no service level agreements are written into the term.

Supply management moves to the provider, who watches toner levels and sends an update.

The print fleet then changes one office at a time, inside the one agreement.

### Who should look after office printers across all our sites?

Under managed print services, one supplier answers for every printer at every office.

Operations and finance decide this alongside IT and facilities, before any provider is compared.

Each standard plan is then tailored to the business needs of every site.

For a small business, the smallest group priced here runs 2 to 4 offices.

See the whole arrangement for five offices or more

### Ask about the printers at your sites

Your question, and how to reach you. A written answer by email.

Managed print services, or MPS, means one supplier provides your printers, keeps them running and monitors the toner.

### What a managed print service includes

Every plan covers the same core work.

A few extras are optional, and each is priced in the quote.

What our managed print plans include, and what is optional.

| Part | What it covers | Included or optional |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Printers | Supplied under the agreement and matched to each site | Included |
| Toner | Levels monitored, with an update sent when one runs low | Included |
| Parts and labour | Repairs by an authorised dealer or the manufacturer | Included |
| Servicing | A technician generally on site within four hours in a capital city, and the next business day in a regional town | Included |
| Cost review | Each office costed before you commit | Before you commit |
| Billing | One invoice, with a report for each site | Included |
| Card or code release | Secure print release run on PaperCut, cost stated in the quote | Optional extra |
| Printing without a print server | Including for Microsoft 365, cost stated in the quote | Optional extra |
| End of term data wipe | Its method and cost agreed before the end of the term | Paid option |
| Paper and staples | Bought by you, outside the monthly figure | Not included |

A printer your business already owns stays outside the agreement.

Printing without a print server is sometimes called cloud print, and stays an optional extra.

Owned printers are often serviced under a printer service contract instead.

### Write the boundaries before choosing an MPS provider

A useful scope answers 7 questions before anybody commits.

The answers can differ between sites and printers.

The written scope for a managed print arrangement.

| Scope line | What must be written down |
| --- | --- |
| Sites | Each address the arrangement is proposed to cover |
| Printers | Each supplied printer, its location and its tailored standard plan |
| Support | The fault route, provider duties, buyer duties and process at each location |
| Inclusions | The servicing, parts, labour, toner or reporting included for that printer |
| Exclusions | Anything the buyer must arrange or pay for separately |
| Charges | The plan charge, applicable excess page rates, optional work and other costs |
| Exit | The term dates, notice, return process and early exit formula |

#### Who owns a printer issue once the scope is written?

The charges line is the one finance reads twice, and the 3 published plans show what it covers.

A scope that is complete then delivers the seven changes an operator will put in writing.

The provider's own operating details are on the page explaining who operates this managed print service.

Global Document Solutions runs this service, and the offer for five or more offices is on the home page.

#### What happens if a scope line is left blank?

A blank beside exclusions, optional charges or exit is not a detail to settle after the agreement starts.

### Still deciding who should own the printer problem

Send the sites and the question you need answered in writing.

### What operations, IT, facilities and finance each need

A scope works only when the people using it know where each issue goes.

Operations needs one route for a stopped printer and a named escalation owner.

IT needs to know where printer support ends and network or account administration begins.

Where driver installs fall to IT, a checked list of maker driver pages saves a search.

Facilities needs the included addresses, site contacts and access process.

Operations should also list the print workflows that cannot stop, such as dispatch or payroll.

Finance needs every recurring, usage based, optional or exit charge visible.

Buying teams need the same fields completed by every provider so the comparison is like for like.

The agreement page lists what to get in writing before agreeing to a print contract.

From $160 + GST a month per printer.

Standard plans, tailored to your fleet. Excess page rates are stated in your quote and are normally the same at every location.

Paper, staples and pages above your agreed volume sit outside that figure.

### What are the benefits of managed print services

Each one can be checked in the written scope.

One supplier answers for every printer, so a stopped printer has one route to a fix.

Billing is streamlined: every site's charges arrive on one invoice, with a report per site.

Each printer is matched to its site's print volumes and printing needs.

Paper size is one of those needs, covered in picking an A3 or A4 printer per site.

Staff stop buying toner and finding repairers. That time goes back into their workflow.

A new office joins the same agreement, so the printer fleet grows with the business.

Default duplex printing can be set on each printer to cut paper use.

Cost savings can only be judged once each office is costed.

Until then, seven levers can still reduce printing costs across offices.

### Put the exit terms in the agreement beside the service scope

The end of the arrangement belongs in the first comparison.

Record the term with its start and end dates.

Record the notice method, the return process and the early exit formula.

A data wipe at the end of the term is optional work with a separate charge.

Where a wipe is chosen, record how it is done, what it costs and how completion is shown.

This lets IT set the evidence requirement while finance sees the charge before approval.

### What does MPS stand for?

MPS stands for managed print services.

Per the WA Government print contract, it buys “the ability to print, scan, copy, and fax” without owning the devices.

Managed printing services and managed print solutions name the same arrangement.

#### Which other names mean the same as managed print services?

- Managed print services The common Australian term, usually shortened to MPS. Assume nothing is included until you have read that it is. Same thing
- Managed printing Often used for the same kind of managed agreement. Same thing
- Print management Usually means print management software or internal administration, not a managed service. Ask which responsibility is moving, and to whom. Different
- Print and output management Often describes software that routes print and scan jobs. Different
- Managed printing services The same three words in a different order. Same thing
- MPS managed print services The acronym and the words together. Same thing
- Managed print solutions A phrase that sounds like a promise until somebody writes it down. Same thing
- Print management services May mean a managed agreement, not a software licence. Confirm which sites and printers are in, and who supports them. Same thing
- Printer management May mean a managed agreement or the internal administration of printers. Ask who owns each support task before comparing quotes. Same thing

The two software led terms describe a different purchase.

How print management differs from managed print

### How does managed print services improve print security?

Managed print services can add print security at 3 points in a printer's life.

- At the tray, card or code release holds each job until its sender arrives, as an optional extra.
- On the network, IT sets the access controls each supplied printer carries before it goes live.
- At the end of the term, a data wipe of each printer's drive is a paid option.

According to Global Document Solutions, the release step runs on PaperCut, with its cost stated in your quote.

Printing without a print server, also an optional extra, leaves fewer branch machines to patch.

Document management, such as where scans are filed, is a scope line to settle with IT.

None of these controls makes an organisation compliant with privacy law by itself.

Your own advisers decide which controls each site needs, and what evidence to keep.

### Questions to settle before comparing providers

Then take the answers to the providers you are about to shortlist.

What each plan costs is on the three published plans, per printer each month.

Term lengths are on the contract terms finance checks, 36 to 60 months.

#### Who is accountable once the scope is agreed?

The main benefit is clear accountability for the printers and sites named in the written scope.

Operations gets a fault route and an escalation owner.

IT and facilities see where provider duties end, and finance sees every charge.

Any cost or service outcome still depends on the scope agreed for the business.

#### Who is managed print not suitable for?

It does not suit a buyer who only wants print software, or who cannot yet name its sites.

A proposal should not be approved on a service label alone.

First decide which support work should move to a provider and which work should stay with your teams.

Then compare the written boundary, the charges and the exit terms.

#### Does managed print include paper?

Paper is normally outside a managed print agreement, and Global Document Solutions leaves paper and staples out of all three plans.

Set out what is included for each supplied printer at each site.

It should also list exclusions and anything charged separately.

### Your question, answered in writing

Ask it here. We reply in writing, by email.

### Ask the question this page did not answer

You are early in this, which is the right time to ask an awkward question.

Send it and you get a written answer.

Operated by Global Document Solutions, an authorised Kyocera partner.

Where to go next

- The long version, including the managed print handover
- How a site specific managed print quote is built
- Secure print management across several sites