Print Assessment or Proposal?

If you are considering a study of your organization's printing environment are you looking for an assessment or a proposal?

The "print assessment" has become ubiquitous with dealers and fleet management providers employing them as a marketing strategy to develop hardware placement and printer aftermarket proposals. While there is no question these assessments provide value to the dealer, how well do you as the client benefit from them?

I suggest that a well designed and executed assessment should deliver something other than a selling proposal as its final outcome; rather providing detailed analysis and reports that enable you to bring your unmanaged print environment under control. Further, it is worth investing in a project that meets these criteria but not in a selling proposal; that is a marketing cost the dealer should bear!

The majority of the assessments that I see (and the tools used to perform them) focus on locating network print devices and their monthly page volumes (ideal for hardware replacement and laser cartridge sales). While vitally important data, it is not enough to develop an effective strategy for your document output environment.

• Many, if not most assessments ignore the local desktop printers which often represent from 40 to 50% of your office printing expense and the greatest potential to drive savings
  
• An assessment should provide you with a technology refreshment strategy that considers effective use of current assets and mid- to long-term technology refreshment; not just wholesale replacement of your asset base
  
• I question the value of identifying usage volumes and costs without understanding the detailed underlying user behaviors that drive them – the assessment should provide the data that allows you to develop print output strategies that maximize productivity at the minimum costs.
  
• Do you desire to conduct a device (fleet) assessment or an assessment of your document output environment? Would you like to understand the workflows associated with the document lifecycle and look for opportunities to improve productivity, quality and production cycles? Is your objective to reduce costs and resource utilization including network bandwidth and storage?
  
• What final deliverable do you expect; a selling proposal, software generated report or one developed from analysis of the data and environmental knowledge
  

Robust and quality data from a well-executed assessment of your document output environment enables you to architect and implement an effective solution that delivers the improvements you envisioned.

With in-depth knowledge of your environment justifiable hardware, software and aftermarket solutions that account for your current situation and address your vision of your future environment can be developed.

I recommend before entering into any assessment agreements you should see what the resulting deliverable will be; a proposal or objective report? Is this deliverable simply a data dump from the collection tools database: is it a canned proposal generated by proposal generation software that is based on hardware placement or device management engagement: or is it a detailed analysis of your unique document output environment with consideration for your personal objectives?

If you are a dealer or service provider reading this post now is where belief part must come in! By providing your clients with a solution developed independent of hardware and based on open standards, you still have the best opportunity for a long-term business relationship. What competitor has a better understanding of their environment and needs or has established and demonstrated a trusted partnership rather than a supplier/buyer relationship?