Managed Print Services (MPS) is an arrangement where a third-party provider assesses, consolidates, services, and supplies an organisation’s printers, copiers, and multifunction devices under a single contract, typically priced per page or per device, to cut printing costs, reduce IT workload, and improve document security. A separate but related category, print and mail APIs, automates the output and delivery of business correspondence itself (letters, invoices, direct mail), and the two are often used alongside each other.

Most MPS engagements follow a similar sequence, regardless of provider:

• Print assessment: the provider audits every device, tracking who prints what, how often, and at what cost, often broken down by department or location.
• Consolidation: underused or redundant printers, copiers, and multifunction devices are identified and reduced to the number the business actually needs.
• Placement and access: remaining devices are repositioned so staff can reach them easily, which in itself reduces the temptation to buy “convenience” desktop printers that are expensive to run.
• Proactive servicing and supply: consumables are shipped automatically before they run out, and faults are flagged and resolved before they cause downtime.
• Security and access controls: secure print release, user authentication, and audit trails are layered on to reduce the risk of sensitive documents sitting unclaimed in an output tray.
• Reporting and ongoing optimisation: usage dashboards let IT and finance teams track cost per page, spot waste, and renegotiate the contract with real data.

These three approaches solve related but distinct problems, and businesses often use more than one at the same time:

The global managed print services market was valued at roughly $46.7 billion in 2023 and is forecast to nearly double by 2030, a trajectory that research firm Grand View Research attributes largely to organisations chasing lower print costs and reduced paper waste. In Europe specifically, market analysts covering the region point to cost reduction and operational efficiency as the leading adoption drivers, with the UK ranked among the continent’s largest MPS markets. More recent industry analysis also highlights a shift towards subscription-based, cloud-managed print models as hybrid working fragments where devices sit, pushing MPS from a pure cost play towards a security and compliance tool as well.

In practice, the savings tend to come from a small number of repeatable levers:

• Reduced consumable waste: automatic, usage-based toner and paper ordering removes the guesswork (and over-ordering) that comes with manual restocking.
• Fewer devices, lower overheads: consolidating multiple underused printers into a smaller, right-sized fleet cuts both hardware and maintenance spend.
• Less unplanned downtime: proactive servicing catches faults before they interrupt a print run, avoiding rush call-out fees.
• Lower energy consumption: fewer, better-utilised devices running fewer print cycles reduce electricity costs.
• Reclaimed staff time: employees stop tracking toner stock, queuing support tickets, or walking between floors to collect print jobs.
• Predictable budgeting: a fixed or per-page contract turns an unpredictable cost centre into a forecastable line item.

Insurance: claims correspondence, policy documents, and renewal notices involve high print volumes and strict audit requirements, making secure print release and detailed usage reporting particularly valuable.

Healthcare: patient statements, appointment letters, and internal records must be handled with data protection obligations in mind, so access controls and device-level audit trails are typically non-negotiable requirements in an MPS contract.

Financial services: account statements, adverse action letters, and collections notices are compliance-sensitive and high-volume, which is why this sector shows some of the highest MPS adoption rates of any industry.

SaaS and B2B: contracts, onboarding packs, and sales collateral are lower in volume but still benefit from consolidated device management and consistent, on-brand output across offices.

How to Choose a Managed Print Services Provider

• Start with an honest audit of your current fleet, print volume, and total spend (including hidden costs like staff time).
• Confirm uptime and servicing SLAs in writing, including response times for faults and consumable replenishment.
• Check for relevant security and compliance certifications, especially if you handle regulated documents.
• Ask how granular the usage reporting is; department-level and device-level data matters when renegotiating.
• Confirm the contract can scale across multiple sites without a full renegotiation each time.
• Map how the MPS contract will connect with your outbound mail and customer correspondence workflow, since printing internal documents and dispatching customer mail are usually handled by different systems.

It’s worth being precise here: PostGrid is not a managed print services provider in the traditional sense. It does not install, service, or supply physical printers, copiers, or multifunction devices, and it is not a substitute for an MPS contract covering in-office document output.

What PostGrid does provide is a print and mail API for the outbound side of business communication: the letters, postcards, and cheques a business sends to customers, applicants, or partners. Through the Campaigns dashboard or a direct API integration, a template is built once (using the built-in template editor or HTML with merge variables), addresses are verified before dispatch, and the platform handles printing and postal fulfilment on the business’s behalf, with QR/PURL tracking and enhanced, SQL-queryable reporting on delivery. It also connects natively with CRMs such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Braze, and Customer.io, or via Zapier and Make, so a mailing can be triggered directly from an existing workflow.

For a business that already has (or is shopping for) an MPS contract to handle internal office printing, a print and mail API typically runs alongside it rather than replacing it, MPS keeps the office fleet efficient, while the API handles the volume of correspondence that needs to reach a customer’s mailbox rather than an internal printer tray.