Hybrid working isn’t new anymore. It’s the new normal. But while most of us have adapted to the rhythm of home-office-home, one thing hasn’t quite caught up: the office infrastructure –which brings your hybrid print strategy into sharp focus!
If you’re a Finance Director looking at your office usage vs your print costs, chances are something doesn’t add up. And you’re not imagining it. You’re likely still paying to support five-day office habits, even though most of your team is only in two or three days a week.
Let’s break it down. The average UK office now sees 40–60% lower attendance than before the pandemic. Tuesday to Thursday is the new full house. That means your printers are sitting idle most of the week, racking up energy bills, maintenance costs, and wasting space. Meanwhile, your remote staff are left with awkward workarounds when they need to print.
It’s inefficient, expensive, and totally fixable.
Old-School Print Setups vs. Smart Print Strategy
Traditional print setups weren’t built for this hybrid world. They’re unpredictable, clunky, and cost you more than they should.
Here’s the contrast:
| The Old Way | The Smarter Way |
| Buying or leasing too many devices “just in case” | Only pay for the print capacity you actually use |
| Engineer call-outs and surprise maintenance bills | Proactive monitoring included in a fixed monthly fee |
| Running out of toner mid-week and panic-ordering at premium prices | Automated replenishment based on real-time usage |
| Printers guzzling energy even when no one’s around | Energy-efficient devices that sleep when not in use |
A cloud-managed print service (MPS) flips all of that. Instead of fighting fires and overpaying, you get a setup that actually reflects how your team works now – flexibly, digitally, and on their own schedules.
Why Cloud-Managed MPS Is Perfect for Hybrid Working
Here’s how modern MPS technology helps you ditch the waste, ditch the guesswork, and finally bring your print costs in line with real office usage.
1. Right-Sizing Based on Real Data
A good MPS provider doesn’t just drop off some new printers and walk away. They start with a data-driven audit – tracking exactly how your existing devices are used, by hour, by day, and by team.
This gives you the insights to:
- Consolidate your fleet – Strip out underused printers that are quietly costing you money
- Reposition smarter devices – Swap lots of single-use machines for fewer, multi-functional workhorses that can handle peak usage on busy office days
- Cut the fluff – Stop paying for printers in empty corners of the office or branches that barely print
The result? You keep the functionality, ditch the dead weight, and finally align your print capacity with your new reality.
2. Print From Anywhere, Collect When Convenient
Remote and hybrid teams still need to print – but they don’t want to wrestle with VPNs, drivers, or emailing files to someone “in the office.”
With cloud-based print, your staff can send jobs to the cloud from home or on the move. The job sits there, encrypted and secure, until they log in and release it from any printer when they’re next in.
It’s:
- Secure – No documents sitting unattended on trays
- Flexible – Print from home, collect at the office
- Low-maintenance – No local servers or drivers to babysit
It’s also a win for IT, who can finally stop wasting time solving print driver mysteries and troubleshooting dodgy connections.
3. Real Transparency, Real Accountability
Most print setups are a black box. You know the bills are too high, but can’t pin down why.
A smart MPS changes that with granular cost allocation and reporting:
- Know who’s printing what – By user, team, or department
- Set sensible rules – Default to duplex, black and white, or limit large colour printouts
- Allocate costs accurately – Charge back to the right cost centres, not just lump it into “general IT”
It turns print from a background cost you put up with into one you can actively manage – and shrink.
Print That Flexes With You (Not Against You)
You don’t need to rip out your entire setup to make a change. In fact, switching to a smart, cloud-based print model is quicker and easier than most SMEs expect. It’s low CapEx, predictable OpEx*, and built to flex as your working model shifts.
(* Oops! Did someone swallow a business-speak dictionary?! In a nutshell: It costs little to set up and has steady, predictable running costs.)
Here’s what you gain:
- Right-sized infrastructure that doesn’t charge you for empty seats
- Predictable monthly costs with no surprise toner bills or call-out charges
- Secure, remote-friendly printing that supports your hybrid team
- Full visibility to keep spend in check and policies enforced
