Managing your Document Output Environment – Where do you Begin?

I suppose that I should disclose from the beginning that this posting was born largely from frustration. After studying a couple of dozen more RFPs and RFIs from both private and public organizations I hope I may be able to influence some of you!

What are your Influences?

While I have read a number of well thought out documents it seems to me that the majority have two primary influences:

• copier and multifunction device leases up for renewal
• vendor presentations on their versions of managed print services

My impression is that most of these RFPs are seeking a strategy rather than being based on a thoroughly developed one. My concern is that many well-intentioned project managers are rushing into commitments and contracts that will tie their hands from real environment improvements and expense reductions for the period of the resulting contract.

What is the Rush?

I am surprised by how many of these RFPs have been published with a combination of short time frames for implementation and lack of strategic direction. Most of these appear to be copier bids modified in some way to explore managed print services. My conclusion is that their genesis is a copier contract expiring in sixty or ninety days and were rushed to meet that restrictive timeline.

Since my professional life is based on helping you implement efficient document output environments, maximizing your effort and realizing your objectives are important to me. My advice therefore is take your time, do it right and follow a strategic plan!

Two of my more recent clients brought me in to make recommendations for upcoming technology replacement: lease ends. In both cases I was able to show them that it was in their best interest to take the time to approach their document output environments holistically and strategically.

Where did we Begin?

After these clients saw the long-term potential of changing their approach from rushing to replace their leased hardware to implementing a managed document output environment we explored the short-, mid- and long-term actions for implementation.

The first step was to consider the current fleet. In the cases of both clients and most of the RFPs I have read, the fleet had useful life remaining – there was no immediate need to replace it. So rather than rush into an agreement looking for a strategy we extended the current contract; in one case by negotiating a much reduced monthly lease payment and the other by exercising a very low cost purchase option. These actions provided time to develop a comprehensive document output strategy and resulted in significant monthly expense reductions while we did. Interesting note is that I helped the client who exercised their buyout sell the fleet for $35,000 more than their purchase option a year later.

During the same time we implemented other cost-saving actions as well as putting a freeze on new printer purchases resulting in even more savings.

Preparing for MPS

By taking a step back we were able to accomplish a number of things:

• create immediate significant expense reductions
• rationalize the entire fleet of document output devices
• prepare the employees for change and future workflows
• implement new workflows to leverage new hardware
• create a plan for the contract term and beyond
• develop a comprehensive document output strategy

Taking the time to create a thorough document output strategy enabled:

• identification of additional savings and improvements
• full leveraging of current investments in technology
• issuance of highly defined RFPs that supported the clients’ strategies
• implementation of world class managed document output environments

The Take-Away

What I hope you take away from this posting is that implementation of a managed document output environment is an important undertaking in today’s business and technology climate and deserves the time and attention to do it right.

I encourage you to begin your planning today if you are under a current copier/multifunction device contract or explore ways to avoid rushing into an incomplete agreement.

Additionally, develop your RFP and resulting contract based on your individual needs and strategy and do not limit them to what service providers tell you they can do. Managed print services should not come from a can!

For more information please feel free to contact me at (ghawkins@buscomgroup.com ) at your convenience.