Today I came across an interesting blog post by a MPS firm titled “Managed Print Services Assessments - They Do Not Work, Stop Doing Them” (http://tinyurl.com/mgmzed). The basis for the article was that doing an assessment reduced a Managed Print Services vendor’s chance of doing business with a customer by 44% when compared to doing no assessment whatsoever. I can only wonder if this 44% difference is because of the customer’s experience of working with the vendor through the assessment - seeing their approach and the difficulties they have with collecting and delivering information in an environment/industry where they “should” be the experts. Contracting for copiers and/or printers without knowing where you are currently at (no assessment) is the equivalent of jumping off a 50 foot cliff without knowing how deep the water is. Feeling brave? Be my guest. But if you’re truly focused on improving your copying and printing operations, a complete and objective assessment is the only way to go — and the assessment process should build your confidence in the organization delivering it, not erode it!

In your office, does it seem like there is a printer on every desk and a copier at every street corner? Do you ever wonder to yourself where all this equipment came from? Read the rest of this entry »

Optimizon President discusses printer/copier improvements on popular podcast Boise, Idaho – January 7, 2009: Optimizon, an independent and vendor-neutral professional services firm that helps organizations create, execute, and manage ideal contracts for printer and copier fleets, announced to day that Optimizon President, Rod Davis, is featured on the January 2009 edition of the Document Strategy Podcast. Davis was the guest for the entire episode and discussed ways companies can improve the performance and return on investment of their workgroup printers and copiers. The company recently released a white paper, “Optimizing Printer/Copier Fleets,” available on their website. Read the rest of this entry »

After a contract is signed, many times it is filed away never to be seen again. From our experience, we know that YOU know that your vendor promised some things to you at the time you signed the contract. However, the specifics of the promises have faded from memory. If you are interested in taking charge to make sure you are getting the most out of your contract, please read the tips below. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you have surplus copiers and printers due to locations that are being closed? If the equipment is owned by your organization, the surplus devices can be sold at auction or through an advertisement or moved to another location that could utilize the equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

Optimizon has published its latest white paper titled Optimizing Your Printer/Copier Fleet - First Five Steps to a Document Strategy. ABSTRACT: While there are many environments and technologies to consider when designing a document strategy, companies are discovering that their printer and copier fleet can serve as an effective and profitable place to start. Workgroup printers and copiers are a natural and sensible environment for a document strategy because they directly support the day-to-day business of organizations of all sizes and types from every industry. Pick any department or any business process and you can bet that users – from frontline employees to executive staff – depend on printers and copiers to get their job done. Ultimately, business operations depend on the efficiency, effectiveness and cost control associated with work group printers and copiers. Read the rest of this entry »

E-mail is one of our primary methods of communicating with copier and printer vendors. This communication medium works well for all parties because it allows us all to address issues on our schedule, provides a written record throughout a process, and allows multiple people to stay in the loop. We have learned, though, that within the world of e-mail, there are more effective and less effective ways of communicating. Our goal is always a quick and complete resolution. If you’re looking for the same thing, here are 10 tips for using e-mail effectively to resolve issues with your vendors: Read the rest of this entry »

How does your organization dispose of copying equipment that is no longer in use? Are storage rooms getting crowded? (Note: I’m referring to equipment that is owned by your organization and not under a lease agreement.) Read the rest of this entry »

I was reading a recent marketing article from raintoday.com that stated the majority of decision makers require some form of an answer to five key questions before purchasing a product or service. As I read each question, which I’ve listed here below along with a response to each, my mind conjured up all the conversations and reasons clients have chosen to do business with us over the past 16 years. Since I’m sometimes guilty of being too “wordy”, I made a concentrated effort to see if I could eliminate most of the typical marketing verbiage and pinpoint an exact answer to each question in one or two sentences. Here’s what I came up with: Read the rest of this entry »

If your organization doesn’t have an internal Help Desk that manages aspects of your fleet, we highly recommend assigning one of your staff as the Key Operator for each copier/printer device you have in the fleet. The Key Operator performs the following tasks, which are critical to effectively managing your fleet: Read the rest of this entry »