The ePrint Summer Newsletter. 

Resistance is futile! change

Last month we read an interesting article by Jennifer Matt (whattheythink.com) on the need for change management when adopting Web-to-Print. It rang a lot of bells for some of the challenges that can face our resellers and print room teams when introducing a new way of working. 

Web-to-Print is increasingly an established technology within the print sector. In a 2015 InfoTrends study, software preferences of many printers revealed that they consider Web-to-Print their top investment, with over 53% currently using Web-to-Print software, and over 30% intending to purchase it in the future. Many of our own customers have long recognised the benefits of the Skyline solution. However, whilst the print room may be comfortable with this new technology, recognising the time & resource savings, it doesn't necessarily follow that their own users will acknowledge the advantages! Matt says:
"The transition from "the way we've always done it" to the new way we're going to do it now that involves technology inevitably is a difficult road to travel."
This is a scenario we recognise. We often hear the refrain "but that is not the way we do things here". Users may have developed historic ways of working with the print room. Indeed, these ways of working can differ from department to department and even from person to person. Imagine the administration this can incur. Despite this, there can be a real fear of losing a 'personal service' or a 'familiar process'. It feels uncomfortable to change or to admit that there might be a better way.

Web-to-Print truly benefits everyone involved in the adoption but users need to be supported through this transition. The print room are addressing the business need to adopt new approaches to better distribute and control printed material. They have explored and understood the way in which such technology can not only broaden the horizons for the print room but also drive an even higher standard of customer experience and service. These are all messages that need time to reach their user base:  Matt says:
"This leadership is not a motivational speech, it is a consistent reinforcement of the new direction..... The transition is a process that needs to be reinforced over and over and over "
This process of reinforcement is about continual communication and consistency of message on the benefits of a Skyline solution. This can be through organisational talks, demonstrations, internal communications and through the editable Skyline Storefront and user communications themselves. Human nature means that at first you may find resistance! Initially users can look for difficulties or reasons why the new process doesn't work for them. Matt suggests we don't get caught up in limitations rather than the possibilities. Instead focus on reiteration of benefits and support with training if required.

Short term this might feel like hard work but long term the business will reap the benefits. As Matt says: 
"it is the path to the other side (adoption).... Don't be shocked when those super-resistors turn into the prophets of the new way."
BlueScope Buildings bluescope


BlueScope Buildings, through its global brands, is the largest manufacturer of engineered building solutions in the world. BlueScope Buildings Document Centre, located at their central office, services sixteen locations and multiple brands. The Centre processes a large volume of orders for a range of print services - from engineering drawings, building manuals, HR & marketing material to business cards.

Matt Fanning, Document Centre Supervisor says: "We were looking for a solution that enabled the Document Centre to showcase our services to end users across the business."

A key consideration when BlueScope Buildings opted for Skyline was its Storefront infrastructure, which made it simple for the Document Centre to present information and products to the wider business. The numerous locations and departments serviced by the Document Centre meant that templates needed to offer a variety of brand versions, as well as variable fields with the option of personalisation. ePrint's document design service has worked closely with BlueScope to support the development of their suite of on-line templates. The Centre has made use of the Skyline catalogue function to offer vast array of products to their users - from envelopes, note pads, job folders, labels, stickers and posters to safety material and supplies such as boxes, poly bags and ring binders.

Another benefit for Matt and his team was Skyline's reporting capabilities. This function enables the Document Centre to easily produce and present its monthly charge reports for each separate department - saving time and headaches!

Matt says: "It took time to change everyone's old habits of going to their local printer but now my Skyline Storefront is the 1st place they go."

100% of the Centre's business is now received via their Skyline solution. We look forward to hearing about and supporting the Document Centre's continued growth and success.
ACPME: Changing Perceptionsacpme

We hugely enjoyed sponsoring and participating in the ACPME (Association of Creative & Print Managers in Education) Conference held on the bonnie banks of the River Clyde, Glasgow, earlier this month.

Photo: Martin Parker Photography

2017's theme was about raising profiles and changing perceptions; not just the perceptions of the customers served directly, but also helping to influence how educational institutions are perceived by the world. This theme was right up our street as we have long been an advocate of the role Web-to-Print can play in driving awareness of our customer's services and as a consequence raising profiles and changing perceptions.

It was noticeable how awareness of Web-to-Print features and benefits had increased amongst the attendees, resulting in a clear picture by many of what was to be achieved by its introduction. Those that already had a Web-to-Print system in place were really looking for ideas on how to move forward on the development of their offering to users and the growth of their service. All very exciting!

We must congratulate the ACPME team on a great event and, of course, all the ACPME Creative & Print Award winners 2017!

APCOM: Dunchurch, September 2017

We also look forward to the APCOM (The Association of Print and Communication Managers) Annual Conference which will be held in Dunchurch, Warwickshire this September.

APCOM is an organisation for print and communication managers employed within the UK public sector. We look forward to meeting with the APCOM members later this month.

Starter for 10: "the cloud"cloud
Many times,  when talking to customers , the software terms we use often need more explanation than the 'print' part of Web-to-Print.  Latest in our new 'starter for 10' series - "the cloud" .

The phrase "the cloud" is used as a 
metaphor for "the Internet". Cloud computing is taking services and moving them outside organisations firewalls and on to a hosted system. The services are then accessed via the Web, instead of requiring your organisation's hard drive, local servers or personal devices to handle applications.
 
Skyline Hosted offers such a service for a monthly fee. This means the functionality of Skyline is delivered via the internet to your browser and the processing is performed on a server remote from your organisation.  It is an ideal option if you wish to avoid the need to provide your own Windows Server. Our hosted customers still receive full functionality and an unlimited number of users, whilst benefiting from minimal set up costs and the potential to deliver a more rapid deployment. You can be up and running in as little as 24 hours.
 
Skyline operates using the model known as a SaaS (Software as a Service), simply meaning a 3rd party provider (ePrint) hosts the application and makes this application (Skyline) available to customers. SaaS is one of the three main cloud computing methods, alongside PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).
Xerox Innovation Partner
And finally......over to Malaysiamalaysia

ePrint is a Xerox Innovation Partner and recently travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to join the Fuji Xerox team - Tana, Said, Khoo and Azlin - to support the training of our mutual Malaysian client PriceWaterhouseCooper.

After a warm (both hosts and climate!) welcome, ePrint spent 4 days working alongside the client to configure local operational requirements and to tailor their Skyline Storefront brand. The final day saw the launch of the new service to key users, who promptly sat down, took one look at the system and ordered some print! The service is now fully functional and being rolled out to a wider audience this month.

The trip was also a chance to provide further technical software training to members of the Fuji Xerox team, providing them with further system knowledge with which to support their clients. Our thanks to Fuji Xerox for their hospitality.

It is very important to ePrint that we work closely with our global partners to provide information, resources and training support for Skyline. If you and your team would like to generally discuss the benefits a Skyline license can bring to a client pitch, have a particular tender you would like support with or are interested in further technical training for your team, do contact us on  sales@eprint.net
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