3 Key Metrics in Choosing a Managed Print Services Partner

October 19th, 2022 by Kevin Box

If your organization is searching for a Managed Print Services partner, you're not alone. According to ResearchandMarkets.com, the global Managed Print Services Market size reached $38.7 Billion in 2021 and will be at $64.1 Billion by 2027, so a great deal of organizations are looking for print partners to help them manage their printer fleet. In this article, we will give you three key factors to consider when choosing a Managed Print Services Partner.

If you're in need of a Managed Print Services provider, take a closer look at their online Google reviews as a good indicator for performance.

Make sure the providers Google reviews are high - Google reviews are more grassroots in nature because any user can give an online review for an organization. People who give Google reviews do so for two primary reasons; either they've received exceptional service, or extremely poor service. Most people won't give a review unless they've experienced one or the other. So, if a company has great Google reviews, their service is trusted by their customer base, which is a key indicator that the organization is delivering excellent service. A good Google rating is 4.5 Stars or higher with a minimum of 25 reviews.
A High Net Promoter Score (NPS) - Most organizations that care about delivering exceptional customer service will use a third-party metric to tell them how well the organization is performing. Function4 and many like dealers in the print technology space use the NPS system which measures how well service techs perform their jobs during a service call.
A high Net Promoter Score is a good indicator that the organization cares about excellence in customer service. You should ask the Managed Print Service provider what their NPS score is. If they don't have one, ask them for any alternative measurements they use to validate their service excellence. If they use NPS and are reluctant to give you their score, you may consider another provider. A good NPS score is typically 90% or higher which means the organization is delivering “World Class Service” according to its NPS rating.

What is Net Promoter Score?

"Net Promoter Score^®, or NPS^®, measures customer experience and predicts business growth. This proven metric transformed the business world and now provides the core measurement for customer experience management programs the world round."

The NPS Calculation - Calculate your NPS using the answer to a key question, using a 0-10 scale: How likely is it that you would recommend [Insert Provider Name] to a friend or colleague?

Respondents are grouped as follows:
- Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth.
- Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.
- Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.
Subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters yields the Net Promoter Score, which can range from a low of -100 (if every customer is a Detractor) to a high of 100 (if every customer is a Promoter).
The importance of a high First Call Efficiency rating - The First Call Efficiency (FCE) Rating is one of the most critical Service Metrics in the technology industry. It measures the company's ability to resolve technical issues on the first call, which means the problem was fixed right the first time and the technician doesn't have to go back out to the same machine and fix the same problem over a short interval of time - usually a 45-day period.
Dynamic service organizations will develop policies and procedures around improving its FCE to ensure their technicians fix the problem on the first attempt. A big factor in this is how well the technicians are trained to properly fix the issue, having adequate parts available for the call, and how often the technician performs a “complete call” which means checking all major components of the machine, not just those causing the immediate issue. Having a high FCE means the device will have a reduction in failures which will improve uptime.

A good FCE rating is 72% or higher, so if you find an organization with an 80% rating or higher rating, you've found a provider whose primary focus is doing the job right the first time.