PRINT SOLUTIONS
Driving operational efficiency through the print network – assessment phase
In the second
article of a series on managed document services, Doug Muir, Kyocera’s director of managed document services, looks at the first phase of MDS: assessment
I
t’s surprising but true that many organisations have no comprehensive overall picture of their print environment. The reason for this is largely historical. Hardware has been procured on a case-by-case basis as departments have grown or their needs changed, supplies procurement has rested with facilities management rather than with IT and low end print and scan devices are so inexpensive that they have been purchased from petty cash as individuals have felt the need.
In many cases this has led to excessive and uncontrolled costs and inefficiency. Bringing this growing problem under control and turning it into a dynamic, transparent environment that can support the needs of a changing organisation is the ultimate goal of an MDS project.
The first step towards this nirvana is to record and report exactly how your document system looks at the outset. The assessment phase is the most critical aspect of an MDS project. Get it wrong at this stage and you will fail to reap the highest cost and efficiency rewards that you should be expecting from the investment.
Assessment has several components, ranging from the installation of a data collection agent on the network to automatically interrogate devices
Nov/Dec 10
and establish print volumes and colour/mono splits, in conjunction with the assessment of current document workflow and management requirements, through to the more prosaic, but vitally important, physical floor walk to establish exactly where devices are situated and note any challenges arising from the physical structure of the building.
The data collected is analysed so that a detailed picture of the current environment can be developed. It will show where devices are being under, or over- used, and give a breakdown of the current costs associated with the document environment.
Quality and quantity
In addition to quantitative measurement of the network, there is a major qualitative assessment exercise to be carried out with end users. The audit may highlight certain “power users” whose roles depend heavily on the functionality of the document network and it’s vital to engage with these users at the assessment stage to fully understand their requirements.
Teams and departments running
bespoke software will also need to be involved at this stage to ensure that the future solution will integrate efficiently with their proprietary systems. At this stage, it can also be beneficial to analyse workflows to determine whether processes which currently rely on paper could be adapted to utilise digital document exchange.
An MDS project is a significant undertaking and one which will affect all users of the document network. There can be notable resistance to change within an organisation, therefore the importance of internal communication should not be underestimated.
Recent research by Kyocera showed that 62% of users who currently have a dedicated printer were concerned about the inconvenience of having to share a device while 57% were concerned about document security.
Engaging with users at the assessment phase allows any concerns to be dealt with prior to implementation and ensures
FOR MORE INFORMATION W:
www.kyoceramita.co.uk/mds
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a greater level of user buy-in to the project. Informing users of the operational, financial and environmental benefits that the MDS project will deliver will ease the pain of transition.
Your MDS vendor should be involved with developing a communications programme that will ensure the project is not derailed by user-resistance. Gaining a clear picture of the flow of documents around an organisation enables the MDS team to design the optimal deployment of hardware, software and services while also identifying the particular functionality required and specific challenges associated with the deployment.
Every MDS project is different and a successful assessment phase will ensure that there are no unforeseen problems to be overcome during the optimisation, deployment and management phases.
In the next issue Doug will look at the optimisation phase of MDS.
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