Since the launch of PaperCut Hive, the PaperCut partner ecosystem has been beyond positive about active Maintenance & Support (M&S) and subscriptions. With the introduction of PaperCut MF-S (the S is for subscription), having active and valid M&S has never been more crucial.

Great MPS partners know that selling hardware is just the start of a customer’s journey. Software add-ons, post-sale support, advice, and proactive follow-ups are all needed to demonstrate to customers the value they bring. M&S offers an easy method for dealers to show customers the ROI of their purchase.

The basics

A PaperCut solution for everyone
There are three powerful and easy entries into the PaperCut ecosystem.

Cloud only:
PaperCut Hive – PaperCut’s cloud-native platform is available on subscription.

Cloud and On-premise:
PaperCut MF – PaperCut’s multi-platform on-prem or priva te cloud solution, sold as a perpetual license.
PaperCut MF-S – Exactly the same product as PaperCut MF and sold as a subscription.

What happens when the M&S expires?

Hive and MF-S

For MF-S and Hive customers, the service will gracefully stop when the subscription end date is reached. Remember, it’s a subscription, renewing at any time will re-enable full functionality within MF-S or Hive. There is no financial penalty for allowing the subscription to lapse but of course, you won’t be able to use either product until they are renewed.

MF Perpetual

The product will continue to work for PaperCut MF customers using a perpetual license, but access to future updates or support is restricted.
If you are using PaperCut MF perpetual licenses (what we like to call MF-Original) then there is no change to the current policy if you renew prior to the expiry date. This means a minimum of one-year renewal is required, multi-year discounts are available and no M&S arrears are payable.

Less than three months since M&S expired

Of course, we recognise that paperwork can take a while. Customers who renew within 3 months after M&S expires will have the renewal applied from the expiry date, ensuring continued license coverage. They can also take advantage of multi-year discounts for any renewal order.

More than three months since M&S expired

Customers who wish to renew but expired over three months ago must purchase the lapsed full months plus the minimum of 12 months from the order date. The multi-year discount won’t apply to the in-arrears slice of M&S but will for the rest.

For 12 months after the launch of MF-S, you are free to switch to one of the subscription products without any financial penalty, regardless of how long your M&S has lapsed. The transition to the subscription should be as smooth as possible for everyone involved.

The subscription model is designed to provide flexibility to customers, including the ability to convert their existing M&S into a subscription without a charge and, therefore, any need for partners to modify finance agreements.

So, why is M&S important?

Peace of mind

The soulless part of me would say something like….Maintenance and Support (M&S) for software products are essential for ensuring the reliability, security, and longevity of software applications, as well as providing ongoing assistance and value to users.

But M&S is much more than updates and someone answering your support question within the SLA.

M&S is a comfort blanket providing an added layer of insurance against the unpredictable, it’s a constant virtual hug. Whether it’s operating system updates that disrupt integrations, the newest version of iOS upsetting mobile printing, newly discovered security threats, or your organisation wanting to try a new feature. M&S ensures that PaperCut deployments continue to operate smoothly in a world full of challenges.

Who wants a free PaperCut Hive license?

In a move very similar to Oprah’s famous you get a car episode, if you have customers running PaperCut MF and they are ready for the move to the cloud then you can trade in your MF license for a Hive license Free-Of-Charge until June 2025.
How is this possible? It is just one of the many benefits of having active M&S, we want to make it as easy as possible to convert from MF to Hive.

What exactly does this look like? Well…
MFD licenses transfer to Full Embedded licenses
SFP licenses transfer to Lite Embedded licenses
Any remaining M&S time will be added to the Hive subscription on a 1:1 ratio. You lose nothing!

Oh, and the customers’ M&S can be topped up to a maximum of 60 months before converting to the subscription

A 12-month minimum M&S term is required to convert.

But what about PaperCut MF-S?

Exactly the same, If you have an active M&S with PaperCut MF you can easily transition to MF-S and the subscription will start so customers can enjoy the benefits of using MF-S right away. The customer’s previous perpetual license will be redundant.
The cost? Just a bit of administrative time on our behalf. As both products under the hood are the same you get a like-for-like subscription and are up and running in no time at all.

You read that right, if you have customers using PaperCut MF with valid M&S you can move at the click of a button (ok, maybe 3-4 buttons) to MF-S or Hive – For FREE until June 2025.

Update all the things!

One M&S benefit is ongoing updates to products and services. These updates include crucial enhancements, feature additions, compatibility tweaks and annoying bugs getting squished.

Technology and industry standards move rapidly and it is vital for software companies to comply with modern regulations and standards. M&S includes updates and enhancements to ensure compliance with the ever-changing legal requirement landscape.

By providing ongoing code changes the developers help customers maximise the utility and lifespan of their PaperCut products.

It’s a scary world out there

There are countless lines of code out there and a lot of people doing their best to break things, either maliciously or responsibly via a recognised vulnerability reporting body. If you started looking at CVE and CVSS information you wouldn’t ever turn your computer or phone on and would have sleepless nights thinking about that SQL server and CISCO firewall your organisation uses.

The reality is security updates are here to stay and have been part of modern life for a long time. Do we even look at the release notes when Microsoft or Apple tells us a new update is ready to install? Nope, we simply install and restart. PaperCut is no different, they openly display security information on their website and regularly release updates to further secure against future potential threats.

Being in active M&S includes full access at any time to the latest updates to keep your software current and secure. That means fewer support calls for you, and more happy customers for everyone.

Technical Support resources:
From time to time users may encounter issues, have questions about how to use the software effectively or need help sifting through 5 GB’s of server log files to work out why scans are failing all of a sudden.

M&S provides technical support services, including troubleshooting and assistance, to ensure users can utilise their PaperCut software efficiently.

M&S gives your customers priority, prompt resolution of issues and access to technical support help minimise downtime for users. This is critical for businesses relying on PaperCut products to maintain operations and productivity for users.

How to check the support status of a customer

We do a lot of the heavy lifting for you and send regular reminders around renewal dates. You can also check via the PaperCut reseller portal and of course, customers can tell if their M&S/Subscription status by checking in the product. If you are unsure just ask your friendly account manager.