Tag Archives: Print Management Solutions

Document Management, Managed Print Services, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing, Print Management

Print Management Solutions – Taking Paper out of Paperwork

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Print management software/MPS (Managed Print Services) allows you to automatically control and manage how print flows through your organisation improving productivity, maximising efficiency, employee productivity, enhancing document security and improving environmental sustainability.

Print Management software controls how you manage your print-flow in your organisation. It will save time and money!

Using an automated print management solution enables you to set up your print flow by automating print controls making sure that the best printers are optimised for the right jobs.

For example a mono simplex job being re-routed to a black and white device as opposed to a colour printer.

Print specific rules for email or internet access can be set up to ensure that either the application is denied access to specific printing devices or is routed to the most economical printing device.

Industry analysts estimate that 44% of print is unnecessary!

For example:-

  • People are printing things more than once
  • They may try and print a document and then notice there is an error on the screen
  • Their document is not at the requested printer when they go to retrieve it
  • The toner is low or there is a paper jam.

The above only serves to increase the quantity of paper being consumed, increases consumable costs, higher electricity bills all of which aren’t always associated with the “management of print” in a company.

Increased user productivity and cost control

Can only be achieved when a print management software application is installed.

Although we are living in a ever increasing digital era of email communications, internet and scanned-to-PDF documents paper is still the preferred format for many businesses to convey important information this is typical of obligatory and legislative based industries.

Multi-functional devices (MFD’s) are more secure, economical and can process high volumes at less than the cost of the more traditional stand-a-lone desktop printers.

An organisation can reduce print waste and costs by being able to output to the more efficient printers.

STOP! Wasted paper, consumables and mountains of print in your organisation.

Security and confidentiality

By preventing private or sensitive documents from sitting unattended and unclaimed at remote printers.

Users can print securely to networked MFD’s by using a secure, convenient and mobile workflow. With secure document release, the documents are held on a secure server and outputs them only when the user authenticates it.

Productivity and mobility

Documents can be released to any device that is on the network anywhere in the building giving users the mobility to print jobs wherever is convenient for them avoiding job queues, collection lines and out of service printers.

“Send To” Printing lets users share documents by sending colleagues the ability to print and confirm output.

Accurate cost allocation and reporting functionality

User authentication to network services – track, analyse and allocate costs of every document produced on any device anywhere in the building. Workers can accurately charge documents to specific department or cost centres codes. You can also track the costs of document attributes such as file or paper size, media type, colour, duplexing, stitching etc.

Effortless control

Print management software lets you determine who may print to which print devices and set up specific rules to determine where colour jobs are printed, automatically delete print jobs, hold or re-route print jobs to more efficient printers as opposed to desktop printers.

Rapid ROI

Print management system administration and control is centralised making it manageable and less reliant on I.T. for print related errors. Fault detection provides a single console to track devices’ status and history including current toner levels, print failures and error messages.

Managing the print-flow for a more sustainable environment

Managing output, enforcing print rules for users and allocating printing to the correct printer ensures that what is required to be printed is. Which means that consumption is reduced, wastage is lessened and this can form part of your company’s environmental sustainability objectives.

What are the benefits?

  1. Protect document security and confidentiality
  2. Eliminate unauthorised printing and copying
  3. Enforce colour quotas on colour printers
  4. Enforce output to the most economical and efficient device.
  5. Allocate output costs to users, departments, projects or clients
  6. Understand how printers and copiers are being used across your network.
  7. Reduce the cost of purchasing unnecessary and under-used devices.
  8. Reduce I.T. support requirements by not having to call them when there is a paper jam or toner replacement required.

Manage your print, manage your paper, manage your costs!

Next steps

Digital Print Management are channel partners for ProcessFlows the world’s leading print management service and solution providers.

Please contact us for an impartial discussion as to how the Equitrac office software and solutions can help drive down your company’s print costs using our print management solutions.

We like to receive comments so please leave a note and let us know how you manage your print. What are your success stories and how did you manage to implement your print solution.

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  4. Managed Print Services – How to manage your print costs!
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Document Management, Managed Print Services, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing

Managed Print Services – How to control your print costs

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Managed Print Services – reduce print costs, remove unwanted printing and enforce print rules such as colour or simplex/duplex printing.

Most organisations these days have people working remotely from the office and constantly on the move.

The one thing they have in common is the ability to print documents at anytime and anywhere.

How do you keep print sensitive information safe from prying eyes? 

Using a secure document release application makes it easy to keep confidential information viewable for the user only. Accounting and reporting features for document output activity helps organisations comply with privacy requirements.

How do you prevent wasted paper?

How do you keep printer consumable costs down?

What happens when documents are left unclaimed?

What about the loss of productivity in time waiting for documents to be printed at the most convenient printer, not always the nearest one?

Do you call I.T. to ask for more print drivers to be installed or a request to purchase new printers?

Networked printers are not always located for easy access by workers who spend increasing amounts of time away from their desks and documents left unattended can divulge company information such as plans that have yet to be announced or organisational re-structuring. Jams, malfunctions and queues make printers unavailable when people need them. Server based printing with document authentication increases mobility, security and reduces cost for the company.

Not having to rely on a single printer, users can output documents when and where they are needed and avoid the inconvenience of printers out of service or busy. Managing any number of personal printers in an organisation is costly and employees often insist on having their own printers because of wanting their own privacy. By managing your print devices properly ensures security is prevalent at every shared device.

Implementing a managed print services solution ensures that only those documents that are required to be printed use the most appropriate printer for the job i.e. colour printer or to print simplex/duplex. Using a secure document release application encourages user mobility and helps to minimise waste and protect personal information or customer confidentiality.

Print management solutions and ‘Follow-You’ Printing® holds documents in a secure print server until users authenticate themselves at the networked printer of their choice anywhere on the print network, across servers, departments and even geographic locations.

What are the benefits of managed print services?

  • Security is increased by only releasing documents when users are physically at the printer
  • Mobility is enhanced by allowing users to release documents at any convenient printer, anywhere in the organisation
  • Reduces waste by eliminating unclaimed print items and encourages users to print only the documents they actually need
  • Simple authentication implemented using card based ID systems
  • Integrates into multi-vendor environments

Users swipe their ID card enter a PIN or both to authenticate themselves and release their print jobs.

Simplifying and centralising print management using Follow-You Printing works with any printer manufacturer and is available as as both device and terminal based software. Providing one convenient administrative interface for managing your entire fleet of MFD’s (multi-functional devices)
Education – end wasteful and unclaimed printing only allowing print jobs to be output when users are ready to authenticate them at the printer. One University reduced their printing by 41% in one term using Follow-You Printing integrating it with existing campus card systems and on line accounts, students, faculty and staff were able to use the same machines.
Legal – Protect work and client confidentiality by preventing documents from sitting in output trays at unattended printers. Follow-You Printing safeguards clients trust and compliance with corporate accountability and privacy laws.
Office – Give employees the convenience of swiping their I.D. cards to release their documents and the flexibility to bypass printers that are busy or out of service. Follow-You printing operates geographically and users can output queued documents at network printers in your company’s branch offices to avoid the risk of losing or exposing them while travelling.

As an authorised channel partner of ProcessFlows, Digital Print Management provide intelligent print and cost management software solutions for the corporate, legal, education, health care and financial services. Designed to create more effective printing environments, reduce printing costs, increase security and lessen environmental impact.

For more information and a discussion on how we can show up to a 30% saving on your overall print costs by using our Print Management Solutions fill the form in below and one of our advisors will call you:

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  1. How a managed print service reduces print and paper costs.
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General, Outsourcing

How mobile working has changed our lives.

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Seems like a lifetime ago when I entered the working world fresh out of University and at a time when the internet, mobile devices and cloud computing weren’t even thought of.

The nearest I got to anything remotely computerised was my wonderful Olivetti electronic typewriter capable of holding I think it was 8 pages of A4 in its memory so that obviously included my C.V.

Over the last twenty years technological advancements make it possible to work remotely and has changed the way in which we approach our working day.

remote or mobile working has given the family with young children more flexibility!

remote or mobile working has given the family with young children more flexibility!

Mobile devices, smart phones, tablets, e-readers, kindles all of which provide accessibility to the internet.

From my point of view, work is now seen as an activity and not a destination or location that one has to trawl through traffic to get to day in day out.

One particular Manager I recall working for in the City in my days as a Sales Rep absolutely insisted I report to the office first thing in the morning prior to the commencement of my customer visits for the day. This meant a trip to the Angel, London, my place of work and then on to to see customers which could have been North of London. What an absolute waste of my time, company time let alone the cost of fuel and traffic frustration.

No matter how hard I tried I could not convince him that working this way was tiring and ineffective. Clearly, me showing my face at the beginning of the day was the reassurance he needed to know I was working. Obviously it didn’t cross his mind that if I wanted to I could have bunked off any afternoon and gone down Oxford Street shopping!

Despite this I am pleased to say that in the last ten years there has been a radical shift in mindset toward the advantages of the mobile working model.

Accessing emails, connecting to remote systems and company data on the go have revolutionised the way we work, engaging with customers remotely, on social media, email and mobile phone are an accepted part of the new working model.

Employees are no longer obliged to sit at their desks day in day out. With the advent of mobile computing and devices enabling access to company data remotely, work can be fulfilled wherever you are.

Organisations have streamlined integration of business applications into the mobile world through cloud computing providing a deeper level of functionality and security in mobile platforms for remote working.

In turn this has resulted in:-

  1. Full access to all business critical systems and data resulting in quicker decision making
  2. Enhanced productivity as employees can work wherever they are
  3. Increased flexibility, changes in working hours and the option to work from home especially during bouts of heavy snow and interrupted travel
This remote working model has made portable mobile devices indispensable; the biggest headache is deciding which one is the right one for you!
Organisations welcome these changes as it is brings tangible benefits in cost reduction, growth, employee satisfaction and better customer care.

Mobile devices and cloud computing have revolutionised the way we work.

Mobile devices and cloud computing have revolutionised the way we work.

For all the years I did my best to put forward a convincing argument for mobile working, is there a downside to working alone, at home, remotely?

Carrying your “office” may have its disadvantages, leaving us disconnected from work colleagues and associates. Working from home or mobile working does require a degree of discipline its easy to be distracted by other external influences such as the home phone ringing, a neighbour seeing your car on the drive who just happens to call unannounced.

None of which is insurmountable as long as you set your working boundaries, hours of work and bolster a big sign that says “I might be in but I am actually working from home today”

What initiatives can you implement to ensure employees are singing from the same hymn sheet:-

1. Set and agree goals.
It’s easy for employees to get lost without a sense of purpose whilst Managers still set goals, collaboration and agreement between team members is vital.

Remote employees actively suggest new ideas, create their own projects, set and share personal goals and put forward solutions.

2. Stay connected
Great team players are trustworthy and available. Web and mobile connectivity makes it easier to connect with remote employees but it can also make it harder and less certain i.e. are they on a call with a client? Is she on Skype with an associate?

Whose responsibility is it to stay connected? The remote worker’s or the office? No wrong answer here but remote employees assume the onus is on them to stay connected.

Remote employees let others know when they won’t be available and the reasons why, they also make it known how they can still be contacted in the event of an emergency because they consider working remotely as a trade-off they may have more freedom to slip into the kitchen and make a coffee but they also recognise that with that freedom comes the responsibility of super-availability. This in turn means that super-availability creates trust with employees and customers.

3. Focus on results not time.
In some organisations it’s enough to show up and put in your time; what you actually accomplish is almost secondary to being present.

Employees working outside of the main offices give up results, not presence. Remote employees focus on accomplishing objectives as quickly and efficiently as possible. If a task “should” take a week and it is completed in three days that opens up time to accomplish other tasks.

There is no doubt that remote working and cloud computing has opened up our lives to creativity, self will and freedom to manage the end result.
As long as the end gain is a sense of well being, accomplishment and more time to spend with the family then mobile working should be welcomed by employers and employees alike.

What do you think?

Do you prefer working from home or do you need a more governed and routine approach to work?

We love to hear your view point so why not leave a comment in the box below.

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Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Managed Print Services, Managing Print Costs, Print Management

Managed Print Services – How to manage your print costs!

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Managed Print Services.

One of the biggest challenges facing many companies today is the management of paper, print and print devices.

Implementing a Managed Print Service (MPS) is one of the quickest and measurable way of managing costs because it enables the organisation to consolidate its many devices. Word Cloud "Paperless Office"

Organisations often have an excessive number of devices such as desk top printers, old PC’s and redundant equipment that can either be eliminated or replaced entirely with modern technology.

The ratio of 3:1 reduction in devices is achievable and cost savings on consumables is evident when you consider how expensive desktop printers are to operate, manage and maintain on a standalone basis.

In fact if the cost savings are so transparent you’d think organisations would jump at  implementing an effective print management strategy.

But when considering an MPS there can be resistance from your employees’ and their concerns can be:

  • You cant take away my printer I will be less productive
  • I need this printer because I need to print off confidential information
  • Its not an I.T. issue or expense
  • I print small jobs so it can’t really cost that much can it?

There are ways to overcome user resistance by being able to communicate to the employee the costs of running their printers and the impact on the bottom line; which the employee may not be aware of.

Making a case to implement a printer consolidation strategy starts with communicating the benefits of consolidating printers such as access to better and more up to date technology and the benefits to the environment by printing on efficient devices.

Modern print hardware provides a better quality printed page gives the user faster printing capability for large jobs and colour printing can be offered to the departments who really need it at an affordable price and there are further cost savings by using duplex printing (double-sided printing).

User secure print technology like “Follow-You Printing” can alleviate confidentiality printing since no print job is printed or released until the user authenticates it at the device. Intelligent print rules and routing software takes the burden off the user to decide which printer is best for each job when hitting print a pop up window gives the user options of where to print the job and the associated costs.

A modern print infrastructure will assist employees to be more productive, documents made more secure, and IT can focus on core strategic activities by not having to provide printer support.

After six months, let your employees know that the company has saved thousands thanks to the implementation of a printer consolidation strategy and their changed print behaviour.

Consolidating your devices will save up to 30% of your overall print costs and create a “greener office” by using one of our Print Management Solutions.

Equitrac Office – For the Enterprise

Equitrac Office print management software helps companies gain control and management of their printing to reduce costs, increase document security and enable sustainability programs. Through measurement, monitoring and ongoing management of print activity.

Equitrac Office measures a company’s printing needs and then deploys the proper equipment to meet those needs. It helps employees become more aware of their printing habits and provides the tools to enforce print policies where necessary, such as routing print jobs to the most cost-effective devices or limiting the amount of color printing.

Benefits:

  • Reduce print/copy costs across the whole enterprise
  • Improve document security on the network
  • Eliminate waste and support environmental sustainability

A large US based Bank saved $2 million in 18 months – Eliminated 88 million print impressions, cut colour printing by more than 50%, saved the equivalent of 70 acres of mature trees and paid for the initial investment within the first 60 days of implementation.

Equitrac Express – For Education

Equitrac Express software brings accountability and control of printed output to any campus, school and Higher Education establishment by providing increased awareness of print habits and their associated costs through user-level reporting, print management helps change print behaviour.

Compatible with leading campus card systems and any printer/MFP, Equitrac Express is used in over 1,000 education institutions throughout helping schools enforce student print quotas, charge for printed output, reduce wasteful unclaimed printing, and make printing more convenient, manageable and secure.

Benefits

  • Reduce print waste and increase cost savings
  • Recover costs via “Pay-for-Print” – Authenticate with Student ID Card or PIN
  • Track and manage print/copy jobs across the site
  • Convenient for users – Documents held in a virtual queue, for printing anywhere to any device (depending on user’s print rights)

A large metropolitan University (24,000 students, over 3,100 staff, 3 separate campuses, 26 buildings) realised £310k savings over three years, eliminating over 4.5 million pages of wasteful printing.

Digital Print Management provides mission critical solutions to enterprises that are looking to effectively manage printing environments, reduce print costs, increase security and and lessen environmental impact.

Call us for more information on: 01234-271156 or fill in our contact form and one of our advisors will get in touch.

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Document Management, Managed Print Services, Managing Print Costs, Print Management, Secure Print Management

How managed print services cuts the cost of office printing.

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By implementing a managed print service strategy that saves time, money and is ‘green’.

I recently wrote about the differences between managing your print in-house V outsourcing/print management.

Here! Two similar sounding models yet distinctly different!

In the article, I refer to the management of print in-house often referred to as MPS (Managed Print Services)

The lines become easily blurred when talking about print management and MPS?

Many businesses don’t really understand or know the true cost of printing and often there is no method employed to manage and control print spend.

How can you take control of this seemingly mundane yet essential everyday business function?

Take Control of your print NOW!!

managed print services VS print management

Why implement an in-house print management  system?

Simple!

  1. To manage and recover costs
  2. Be able to print anywhere but with the right control mechanisms in place
  3. Reduce paper waste
  4. Increase productivity
  5. Reduce adminstrative costs
  6. Improve profitability by removing the hidden cost of printing and making it visible
Before I continue I should point out that a print management software/hardware solution employed in-house is not the same as print management and outsourcing all your finance/corporate printing.
Whilst the two sound similar and do cross paths, print management is a unique discipline that includes outsourcing anything from a business card, cheque to pens, mugs, mouse mats and all your finance/corporate print.
Managed Print Solutions are about managing the document process and print such as the printing of emails, photo-copying and document archiving in-house.
Implementation of an effective managed print program can see businesses reduce print costs by up to 30%.
Statistics can so easily be manipulated but for the purposes of this article let me provide an example of a US bank that implemented a strategic print management process and removed some 88 million print impressions, cut colour printing by just under 50% and paid for the initial investment within 8 weeks of it being set up. Impressive!

print management

How does it work?

A suite of print management software tools designed for companies, universities and commercial enterprises installed on your network that help you take back control of what you print by monitoring, measuring ongoing management of print activity.
The software is designed to gain a clear picture of what a company needs and then involves the deployment of the proper equipment to meet these needs.
It also helps employees become more aware of their printing habits and enforces print policies where necessary such as routing jobs to the most cost effective devices or by limiting the amount of colour printing.
Using print management software brings accountability and control of printed output to an enterprise, school, university, law practice, and accountancy firm.
User level reporting hi-lights awareness of print habits, costs and helps influence print behaviour to make employees think more before they hit the PRINT button.
It is a simple one step solution which keeps track of output from all connected printers and copiers by providing:-

Take control of your printed output!

  • Accurate – information for all print and copy costs
  • Secure – only releasing documents for output after users authenticate at the device
  • Mobile –  allowing users to send files to print from one location then pick them up across the building or campus
  • Green –  as it can discourage waste and enforces rules for  output
  • Reduce –  print/copy costs and waste around the organisation
  • Redirect –  large jobs +50 pages to a high volume multifunctional product (MFP)
  • Eliminate –  unnecessary printing by allowing users to delete jobs sent in error
  • Auto delete –  jobs in the print queue so they aren’t printed
  • Duplex printing – colour prints
  • Works with existing printers MFP’s and copiers
  • Adapts to any size

How do you regain control of your print spend and reduce print and paper costs?

managed print services

Easy. Click here and one of our advisors will call you.

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Invoice Processing, Managing Print Costs, Payroll Processing, Print Management

Outsourcing. Top tips to consider before you outsource!

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I have often been asked the following questions when it comes to outsourcing:

  • Should I outsource or should I keep it in-house?

  • Is there a process or a mechanism to help me determine how I go about this process?

  • When or at what point should I view outsourcing as an achievable and realistic option for my business?

The following principles can be attributed to almost any business function that you are considering outsourcing from payroll, the Accounting function, corporate print to HR.

How to outsource

What is outsourcing?

A good place to start is to understand what the process of outsourcing is.

Outsourcing is the contracting out of a specific task such as payroll, invoice processing, billing, credit management to a third party provider often implemented as a cost saving measure for tasks that a company requires but is now finding onerous and time consuming to manage in-house.

SME’s to large companies turn to outsourcing to cut costs and streamline their operations.

What are the key points to bear in mind when you are considering the need to outsource some or all of a business process(s).

Key Points to Consider Before You Outsource?

  • Where are you in the outsourcing process? What does the outsourcing process conjure up in the minds of senior management? And what are the tangible benefits that can be derived from outsourcing?
  • What is your level of commitment to the process? i.e. Is it a fundamental part of your business plan to relinquish some if not all of a business function? How serious are you about outsourcing as a mechanism to streamline some of your business processes?
  • Have you decided how much time you are going to put aside to establish this as a project and move it forward?
    outsourcing

    Outsourcing some of your business processes can save you time and money!

  • Who or what person will “champion” the process and will take responsibility for steering the project to its conclusion? By this I mean having the authority to make the decision outright for your organisation to procure an outsource partner.
  • Have you determined what areas of the business might benefit from being removed to an external outsource partner?
  • What impact is the process (you are reviewing) currently having on your business? In other words is the business function now taking too much time away from your core business objective?
  • Is it costing or adding too much to your bottom line?
  • Is the process too manual intensive?  Is it not cost effective to make the investment to automate or mechanise the function in-house?
  • How many people are involved in the process? In other words has the function outgrown that of the organisation to a point whereby externalising this particular business process is a realistic alternative?
  • Are you able to quantify the time taken to get payroll/invoice processing complete and on time?
  • Can you quantify the cost of doing it in-house?
  • Is cost the main factor in considering outsourcing? What I mean is, are you basing your decision to outsource purely in terms of what it is costing you to do it in house? Are there other factors that might influence your desire to outsource?

Coming Next: The Benefits of Outsourcing for Your Business.

Do you have any questions you’d like us to answer?

Any anecdotes or experiences you’ve had with outsourcing that you can share?

If so please leave a comment we’d love to hear from you and we will feature your question in one of our up and coming articles!

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Document Management, Managing Print Costs, Print Management

How can a print management services company save YOU time and money?

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print management

A print management services company takes the P out of paperwork. By consolidating your suppliers and using a print partner saves you time and money because the print management company has access to solutions and services that can be personalised to fit your needs

“We are a print management services company, not a printing company. We help customers streamline their printing costs by outsourcing print and reduce costs through our expertise and access to an extensive network of suppliers/manufacturers. It is through this network coupled with our expertise that enables us to source the right product and/or solution at the right price for the customer”. 

How can you reduce your print costs using a print management services company?

There are two distinct advantages of working with a print management company:

  • Experience
  • Versatility

A print management services company has the experience to manage the outsourcing of a simple print project to a full scale re-deployment of a company’s corporate print.

They are able to adapt to the evolution of a project and can source through its extensive network a manufacturer or supplier capable of delivering a highly customised cross media print solution, it’s what we call a best fit rather than a one size fits all.

Using long standing qualified and influential relationships ensures that the customer’s work is fulfilled at the right price with the right solution tailored to the customers needs.

print management

Print management companies offer free and impartial advice from the design concept through to the completion of a project.

So how does this save a company money?

It’s not rocket science.

It’s all to do with the relationships that have been built up over many years, the sourcing of specific products and solutions dictated by an ever changing market place that enable the print manager to deliver a whole suite of print and electronic solutions impartially and independently without you, the company having to source, learn, understand and do-it-yourself!

An experienced independent print management company will make the customers needs a priority and offer solutions from a variety of vendors to meet those needs giving them a distinct advantage over an in-house solution/service provided by a manufacturer who are only committed to the expertise and equipment they have to sell, which, in some cases, is an oversold piece of kit or a managed service way in excess of what the customer needs.

8 main reasons why you should use a print management services company!

  1. Time saved on sourcing print items and solutions
  2. One supplier – one invoice
  3. Print & production managed by one project manager
  4. On-line print ordering and viewing system, web2print – customer can view and place orders online, see his order status and update
  5. Skill and expertise not available in-house
  6. Accessibility to 1,000’s of unique print, electronic and promotional products; secure managed print solutions
  7. Continuity of service
  8. Storage of printed material now housed remotely with no on-going cost to you.

These are just a few simple ways a business can benefit from removing itself from the task of buying print and related solutions by using a print management consultant.

For an independent discussion on how outsourcing can work for your company please call us.

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Cheques and cheque printing, Managing Print Costs, Print Management

Cheque outsourcing. How to do it and what to look out for.

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Cheque printing and BAC’s payments are being used in vast quantities daily for payments to suppliers and customers alike.

The difficulty with combining both methods can be costly and labour intensive particularly when you are hand matching cheques and separate remittances factor in cheque distribution for various signatories and the task suddenly becomes cumbersome. A customer recently expressed his frustration at what seemed like an endless stream of cheques to sign; in reality that wasn’t the case, it just felt like it to him!

By using an end to end service for cheque printing and sign-writing the process becomes a completely automated, flexible outsourced fulfilment service for cheques and credit printing all prepared to C & CCC standards.

I am going to make the case here for why organisations should seriously consider outsourcing this process.

So here’s a list of tips to consider before cheque outsourcing!

1/ What do you hope to achieve by outsourcing your cheques? Is it cost reduction, time saving, automation of the process or a combination of all three?

2/ How many payments do you make monthly/weekly and is this inconvenient or difficult to manage?

Outsourcing enables a company to combine cheque and electronic payment transactions from one secure payments file, a bureau can take care of data separation and exceptions reporting too.

3/ Are you wanting to continue with a mix of cheque and BACS payments?

Using a payments bureau gives you the flexibility to outsource regular and one off payments and can be used for BACS, Cheques, DD Payments. You can automate payments without having to purchase or administer software.

Cheques

Cheques are still needed to make payments to people and businesses.

4/ Does your system allow you to create cheque remittances? Or is it something you’ve never made the time do? By amalgamating a cheque with a remittance portion simplifies the printing and sending of cheques, no separate cheque and remittance run.

5/ Outsourcing cheques is not like asking your local printer down the road to print your stationery requirements; you need to ensure that the printer has APACS accreditation and C & CCC (Cheque & Credit Clearing Company) along with ISO27001 the information management accreditation which demonstrates a company’s process regarding the handling of your information and data.

This is critical in any outsourcing process but even more so for cheques and payments. A due diligence visit to the security printer is a must to authenticate process and procedures are in place for the handling of cheque data.

6/ Professional – Do your cheques currently convey your brand or they are simply bank standard issue?

By outsourcing your company cheques they can be personalised with your company image and design.

7/ Administration – How much time is it really taking to print and process cheques in-house?

Outsourcing cheques and payments will be done quickly, accurately and can be tailored to be processed daily, weekly or monthly.

8/ Security – what happens when cheques are distributed around the business for signing they can easily be mislaid or misappropriated and non infilled cheques pose a security risk.

Outsourcing gives you secure cheque design with additional security features UV, aqua-fugitive and holograms plus an audit trail for all cheques printed and not where’s that cheque I sent up to the 4th floor for signing gone?

9/ Do you have multiple sites?

If your organisation needs to manage stocks across a branch network or across many sites using a customer automated stocking or replenishment system will automatically manage and replenish stocks at each branch.

10/ And finally, do you need cheques for overseas banking?

Cheques can be printed in any format in any denomination – sterling £; euro € , dollars $ or even multi-currency options as A4 cut sheets, cheque books, continuous binder cheques or pressure seal mailers personalised using MICR printers, sign, fold, insert and post out.

Digital Print Management can offer independent expert advice on what kind of printed cheque a company should use and can advise you on the latest cheque formats and security cheque printing solutions.

CALL US TODAY! for more information.

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Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing, Print Management

Outsourcing the pros and cons. Why customers are scared to change suppliers?

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I want to share a true story.

In March of this year, Digital Print Management met with a £200m+ turnover company based in the Midlands.

How to outsource your print

Companies that offer a cost effective solution for your business needs are the companies you should be listening to because they provide expert advice.

The sales process began in 2008 with an informal meeting with the Finance Director; the key influencer and decision maker.

The company were already engaged in an outsource relationship for the printing of their billing and debt collection letters.

In spite of a very informative discussion we were unable to woo them with our offering.

The incumbent supplier we were advised were doing a satisfactory job but the FD insisted we stay in contact.

Note the word satisfactory. The following three years met with quarterly telephone updates, emails and general newsletters on Digital Print Management’s services and consultancy at the behest of the Company.

Then bingo, we were invited back again for a preliminary discussion.

We met this time with the Credit Manager (we had been referred by the FD) who was very open about the current relationship with their print partner.

Things were not good to say the least.

Co-incidentally, their print partner was a large UK based print management company. Information was forthcoming and we knew what the specifications and  requirements of the applications were and more importantly, what they were looking for in a working partnership.

A proposal was requested and dutifully submitted and received with gasps of ohh and aahhh as we showed savings in excess of £15,000 factoring in postage, paperless billing and processing costs.

The proposal was based on margins in keeping with our philosophy a fair price without de-valuing our service offering, skill and expertise.

A follow up meeting took place which was favourable with all the buying signs evident. We tested their buying signals to ensure they were keen to progress and a formal written request for us to proceed was issued and a live implementation date agreed at the end of the meeting.

There were calls to action and the prospective customer appeared to be content and confident with advancing the project.

And then SILENCE!

The silence was deafening!

Frustration at the short-sightedness of companies limited outlook!

We duly followed up our actions, with their call to actions, no response. We emailed again, no response, we called, guess what, no response.

I know that when a company wants to change vendors this can be fraught with many variables and we had said that if at any stage a well meaning person should question the decision taken that they should take one of our very special DPM sweets.

And if that didn’t work to alleviate any concerns then to telephone directly.

Because we all know what happens after you make that buying decision it’s called buyers remorse. The one that says I know it makes sense and I’ve made the right choice but then someone comes a long and happens to say oohh is it the right time to be changing suppliers now? Or words to that effect.

One seemingly throwaway comment suddenly propels a buyer into panic mode questioning the decision he/she has made.

Irrespective of how well the service provider has absolutely done the best job and closed ‘that sale’.

The success in changing the vendor is determined by the longevity of the current relationship.

How was the supplier relationship founded i.e does the MD happen to be socially connected with the MD of the print company?

Who else in the company does business with the print vendor?

The inertia to change has to be there and in this case was all too evident!

As far as Digital Print Management was concerned it clearly was a bench-marking exercise and was a poor way of the prospective customer fleecing us of information of our services and solutions.

They probably went back to their current vendor and no doubt bartered for more discount.

And then I stumbled upon an article which said that buyers are not interested in developing connections or relationships for the long term they prefer to connect and disconnect as their requirements change or, as needs arise.

I consider this to be a very transient relationship bourne out of a short-term need rather than a long-term productive relationship.

It is a fleeting transaction between that of the buyer and that of the vendor providing the service/commodity.

Depending on the size of the purchase will dictate the duration of the buying process.

To quickly illustrate buying a pair of shoes is not like buying a house, the former taking minutes and the latter being a long drawn out process requiring trust on the part of the estate agent and solicitor!

Surely any business relationship can prosper if both parties are keen to work together to reach a fulfilling and satisfactory result in which both parties benefit but this can only be achieved over a period of time, right?

Was it the fact that it was just too much hassle to move supplier? Is it the fear factor i.e. better the devil we know which far outweighs the need to change? Or is it quite simply that business relationships are formed only when the need arises.

Is customer loyalty outdated?

After all I am sure you’ve experienced speaking with a contact one week only to find the following week they’ve moved jobs!

What do you think? Do you have any similar experiences to share? Do you agree that buyers see suppliers as “loose connections” there only to satisfy an immediate requirement?

Please feel free to leave a comment and share your experiences!

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General

Digital Print Management – New Website

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The new Digital Print Management website went live in May 2011.

Whilst the corporate logo and colours remain the same the new site is designed to be informative and thought provoking for visitors by helping them understand the maze that is print outsourcing and by removing the myth that outsourcing can be costly, that it is flexible and will save time!

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  2. How print management saves time and money.
  3. How managed print services cuts the cost of office printing.
  4. How to save time and money outsourcing your debt collection letters
  5. Why you need a print management strategy