Print Management is Really Time and Money Management
Are you a CPO or do you hold another position with managerial responsibility for print purchasing and procurement? If so, I hope you didn’t miss last Tuesday’s post, in which I shared some of the top blogs for procurement pros. If you want your business to thrive, it’s wise to take advantage of solid information shared by experts in the field. Check them out and sign up for any that strike a chord with you.
Superior has been helping businesses of all sizes work more efficiently for nearly a century. And we’ve noticed that many companies are missing opportunities to improve their results through smarter print management. So this week, I’d like to present a bit of a wake-up call: a six-pack of tips that will almost certainly help your business function more smoothly in that area.
6 Ways to Make Print Management a “Profit Center”
Your business might well be using some of these tools or technologies. But if you can use even one of these to help you get better results from your printing needs at lower cost, it will have been well worth the read. I’ll share three tips today, and three more on Thursday.
Tip #1: If You Think Print is a Commodity, You Are Doing It Wrong
A good place to start is thinking about the way you think about print production. If you regard it as a “necessary evil” or just another detail to check off the list and move on, you are selling your company short. Printed pieces are critical to your business.
They likely form the “glue” that ties together everyday transactions, reporting, recording, billing, marketing and more. They need to be well designed, and they need to be there when you need them. Externally, printed materials convey your brand to your customers and prospects, and are often best, most manageable point of contact. Recognize that fact, and don’t minimize the importance of choosing the right partners and suppliers to help you get the best from them.
Tip #2: “Time is Money” Isn’t a Cliché—It’s Stone-cold Wisdom
It may be one of those “duh” phrases you don’t really think about, but the decisions you make about time do impact your bottom line directly. If you didn’t need your employees to perform their assigned responsibilities, you wouldn’t have hired them. Assigning them to handle tasks outside their expertise (like printing projects) can mean that both the project and their normal duties suffer the consequences.
The same is true for you, as manager, by the way. If their time is too valuable to spend on something for which you can easily tap outside expertise, yours is even more so. When you spend your time, you are spending your company’s money.
Tip #3: Sometimes Your Best Hire is a Technology
This tip is easy to illustrate. Would you hire a different guy to come out and open your garage door for you every day, and give new directions each time? Of course not, when there’s a little button that will do that for you automatically, whenever needed.
Many printing needs can be met flawlessly with advanced technologies, like Superior’s Corporate Kiosk™ e-procurement tool. You make all the important decisions up front. Then you (and everyone you designate) can simply push a virtual button. The result is pre-approved forms printed and shipped to wherever they are needed via a web portal.
For More Tips, Click Here or Come Back Thursday
There are several more ways that smart print management contributes to your bottom line. I’ll be sharing another group of them on Thursday, and I hope you’ll check them out. But as a business owner or manager, you know that the best time to add efficiency to your process is right now. Which makes “right now” the perfect time to get us involved.
We’ve been helping businesses function more efficiently for almost a century now. Our ISO 9001: 2015 certification ensures that we are focused on your success throughout every project. Two consecutive Best of Print and Digital awards from our customers are solid evidence that we deliver on our promises. Contact Superior for a print management audit. While I know today’s tips (and Thursday’s) should prove very helpful, that suggestion is the best one of all.
