I’m often asked what the best copying and printing equipment is. My answer: Almost all brands of equipment could be ‘the best’ in any given circumstance. How can this be? Let’s take a closer look at the question. Your organization may need to communicate educational materials to school-age children, keep records of a critically ill patient, or have an on-ramp for a content management system. Whatever your needs, finding the answer to the question of ‘what it the best equipment?’ starts with establishing your own internal expectations for the next 3 to 5 years based on your organization’s strategic goals. (I believe that these standards and expectations are in place, whether they have been clearly articulated or not.) The next step is to clearly define your expectations regarding equipment and supplier performance, keeping in mind that the equipment and the company supplying the equipment cannot be separated; they are a package. You could purchase the most expensive equipment but if the supplier is unable or unwilling to service the equipment well, you will have continuous problems. Finally, determine how you’re going to measure whether each standard is being met by both the equipment and the supplier. Once you have completed those steps, you will need to:

• Benchmark your current environment
• Compare it to your newly established standards
• Look for the most cost-effective way to solve the issues that have been identified through this process

If new equipment is the answer, then the best equipment and supplier of that equipment is the one that will accept your standards as their own and back up their promises with monetary consequences. Here at Optimizon, finding the best equipment for each of our clients starts with raising their expectations and then helping them articulate their expectations into measurable standards. This process ensures that each client obtains the best equipment AND supplier for their given circumstance.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 11:08 am and is filed under Fleet Acquisition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.