Print Management Software
How do you order your printed materials? Have you considered letting your staff order online? Now sure what's available?
So what do you need to consider? Depending on what you require from the procurement of your printed materials determines the solution you should be looking for. All our software solutions utilise the internet so that all members of staff, home and abroad can sign in anytime of the day to order printed materials.
Have you considered?
Live Stock Control
Some print management solutions aren't live and the stock levels are generated manually so the information is sent weekly, monthly etc. We have seen this cause many problems within a business as the stock is not managed correctly so the purchaser has to wait longer to receive the print. All our software is live and up to date information is accessible to all users to see what is in stock.
Multiple Site/Personnel Ordering
This is often where the charges are with most software solutions so be careful. Calculated by how many user licences you require can determine the user's costs and the management service charges. CBF can eliminate all these potential hazards has we are one of the few to own our software give us the control on all the costs.
Number of printed items or materials online
Again another potential hazard for some businesses to watch out for. It has been known for some software providers and print management companies to charge by the item, batch of items or amount of space they are using. All of our packages are unlimited and with no restriction on usage of space or number of items you would like to have available to order.
Reporting
What information do you need from your print management software? Weekly or monthly reports for stock control and accounts purpose? Most software will be able to pull out the specific information you require to help you allocate costs to cost centres and budgets. Make sure when you are looking around that you are able to get hold of the information you require.
Setup and Running Costs
They say "if you don't know where you're going any road will do." I don't know who ‘they' are but for all print management projects the savings can all be found at the beginning of the project. Setup charges are usual practice to cover all production and procurement analysis, stock control measures and fulfilment procedures. All these can vary considerably depending on each organisation and the requirements of the printed materials. Once material and process savings have been found and established there is normally a system setup charge to create the online tools, upload all the print items and setup all the users, this can vary in cost for the size of the account.
For the running costs make sure you agree the regular materials costs and have them set for a period of time (12 months is not unusual) this will save you a considerable amount. Expect to pay for the storage of the materials normally in pallet spaces each pallet should hold approximately 40-50 boxes depending on the size of the pallet and box, but the cost saving for producing your materials in bulk should far outweigh the costs of the storage charges.
As for management fees be careful, what do you want out of you print management company? Monthly meetings? Suggestions on savings? Surly these should be part of the 'service' a print management company should offer? At CBF we want to print and look after your materials for you in the most cost effective way giving you and your staff access to them 24/7, we have done the hard work with the research and process analysis, the production streamlining, the secure storage so you don't have to!
Ultimately we are here to manage your print and save you money so we will give you all the tools to make your life easier. Give us a call today to find out how to get the ball rolling.
