HP Enters 'Managed Print' Arena

HP's announcement last week that it planned to start providing "managed print services" caused both confusion and concern in the printing industry. Printing Industries of America released a statement expressing its unease that HP was trying to compete with commercial printers. And in-plants, too, fretted that HP had facilities management on its mind.

So IPG interviewed the marketing director for HP's Graphic Solutions Business, who clarified that HP was only interested in managing the printing being produced by companies' copiers and desktop printers—not their in-plants.

"We're not looking at what's going on in the in-plant, nor do we have any expertise in managing in-plants," stated Francis McMahon, putting to rest any lingering fears that HP plans to shut down and take over in-plants.

HP's goal with this new initiative is to help companies and organizations save money by printing their office documents more efficiently. HP will assess the office devices currently in place, determine how many are really needed based on the number of people and the typical volume, and replace the fleet with its own multi-function devices.