Driving The Digital Route

That, of course, meant occasional logjams on some machines and downtime on others—exactly what the system was supposed to prevent. Since the shop handles some 800,000 color copies a year, the matter was no small problem in the early going.

"The customers seem pretty willing, but there are times it's really difficult and frustrating for them to send a file electronically, so we really need to hold their hands and get them through it," Devis says. "Once we get everything down pat it'll be a lot better, but it's that learning curve at the beginning that's the most difficult. That's why we do it one on one, and try to put information on the Web site. It's a tough process to educate people, especially when people send a file and they're not 100 percent sure that what we're receiving is the right thing. Some of them want to learn, but others just want to give you the job and have it come back finished."