In-Plants Online

Web sites are a great way to advertise, improve customer service and show that your in-plant is on the cutting edge of technology.

The Internet is no longer the wave of the future—that wave has already crashed upon the shore. And if you missed that wave and still haven't put your in-plant out in the sea of Web sites, consider yourself shark bait.

Many in-plants already have made a strong stroke into the depths of the Internet, not only to advertise their services, but also to take customer orders and offer better customer service. The Internet provides a quick and easy way for customers to learn about the benefits your shop can offer them.

"The first reason we got a Web site was strictly informational and [for] advertising," explains Joe Goss, director of printing services at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Ind. The in-plant's site started out similar to many other in-plant sites—with price listings, a personnel directory, and details on products and services offered through the in-plant.

Since then two services have been added to the site that have proved to be beneficial to both the in-plant and its customers:

• Orders can now be placed online, right from the in-plant's Web site.

• Customers can check the status of their jobs on the Web.

"It goes directly into our printing management database so we don't have to re-key anything," Goss says of the online ordering feature. He feels that this cuts one to two days off the turnaround time, since customers don't have to fill out a work order, mail it to the shop and then have the shop process the paperwork. Customers receive an e-mail confirming the arrival of their order and are assigned a job number.

They can then use this number to check the real-time status of their job, right from their own computer. Searches can be performed by job number, customer name or university department.

"We receive far fewer phone calls from customers wanting to know where their job is," notes Goss. He says this function receives about 100 hits per month, equating to about 1,200 fewer phone inquiries that the shop faces each year.

Goss says his in-plant now receives about 1,000 jobs per year via the Internet, accounting for about 10 percent of the shop's work. The majority of that work, he says, consists of business cards, envelopes and stationery.

Taking that percentage a step higher is the University of California, Santa Cruz, which, according to Paul Molfino, director of imaging, printing, mail and temporary support services, had originally set a goal of receiving 15 percent of all printed work through its Web site. Today, that total has risen closer to 25 percent, which Molfino attributes to the success of classes held to instruct customers on using the site, plus good word-of-mouth around campus.

Job Ordering Right From The Office

Brigham Young University Print Services has its own site, which was designed by a separate in-house graphics department, and includes information on prices, services and the location and capabilities of its copy centers. According to West Barton, director of print services, the site is being revamped to include a customer order entry page.

"It allows them [customers] to do their ordering right from their office," Barton explains. "When you get into a large university environment...one of the worst things that a professor or secretary has to do is go get in their car to drive to the printing facility to check a proof, because they are going to lose their parking spot—its inconvenient!"

Molfino reveals that the University of California, Santa Cruz, has just completed an online ordering form of its own, as well as a database for students to check on the availability and prices of course reading materials. He says this became necessary when lines of students waiting for this information in the copy centers were becoming 50 to 60 deep.

"Sometimes they stand in line and get to the counter and find out the faculty just turned in the reader and it hasn't been produced yet, or that we are still waiting for copyright approvals," Molfino says. "By having this online, they are able to go to our Web site and check."

Networking Niche

Barton, of BYU, has found that having a Web site helps in-plant managers keep up with current trends and with the actions of their peers. It has become a truly unique form of networking.

"It allows you to interact not only with your university environment, it allows you to interact with other universities and other industries," Barton points out.

Lin Hartman, general manager of the University of Iowa printing department, says he has received positive feedback from other in-plant managers about his in-plant's Web site.

"I've had a lot of people from other colleges call, and so I know people are looking at it," Hartman says. "It gives you a lot more exposure."

The addition of a Web site at BYU Print Services has been a way for Barton to really get people to notice how much the in-plant is capable of doing.

"It's surprising the number of services that you have that people don't realize you have," Barton explains.

The University of California, Santa Cruz offers classes for its customers on how to best use its site when ordering jobs. Led by Bill Kasper, computer resource specialist, these classes have reportedly bolstered business and created a buzz on campus.

"The first class really brought up campus awareness of what it is we are trying to do to improve people's output using digital devices," recalls Kasper. Molfino adds that the Web site and customer classes have worked hand-in-hand.

"We are looking at the Web as a continuing education arm of our unit," assess Molfino.

Overall, in-plants that are using the Internet to increase customer service and convenience are bringing more business into their operations.

"We are doing something none of our competitors is doing," observes Indiana University's Goss, "and just due to the convenience factor, I think it has helped."

Quick Look

• Web sites can advertise an in-plant's services, some of which customers may not even know are offered.

• Some in-plants are now letting customers order jobs online, speeding up the ordering process.

• The ability to check job status via the Web site eliminates a lot of phone calls to the in-plant.

• Web sites are an easy and convenient way to offer better customer service.

• In-plant Web sites can include information on prices, services and the location and capabilities of copy centers.

• Web sites help in-plant managers keep up with current trends and with the actions of their peers.

• By designing Web sites, in-plants can put existing design experience to use, while bringing in more business.

Web Site Design

Anything extra your shop can offer to its customers can do nothing but help justify its existence. Some shops not only have put up Web sites to market their services, but now also will design sites for their customers. This broadens the scope of the in-plant's abilities, and shows that it is the technology authority of the organization.

Lin Hartman, general manager of the University of Iowa printing department, says his in-plant offers Web design services, from the very designer and editor who created the site for the in-plant. The in-plant also has editors on staff that update the site for the printing department.

Niki Steenhoek, operations manager at Pioneer Hi-Bred International in Johnston, Iowa, offers Web design services to her customers, as well. Steenhoek says the in-plant is the perfect place for in-house sites to be designed.

"We felt as a corporate publishing group, we needed and wanted to have a vital role in the needs of the customers, and what better way than to offer the graphic services and ideas for the intranet graphics," she says.

The in-plant can use its experience in designing printed work and transfer it over to the Web.

"If in-plant teams are involved, they have the opportunity to be the 'watch out' of the logo usage [and] corporate colors, because this expertise has always resided in our in-plant group," points out Steenhoek.

As organizations try to reduce the amount of paper they use, Web sites are becoming necessary for electronic publishing. Sandy Adams, manager of information services for the California Office of State Publishing, says her operation has been putting forms and other documents on the Internet for about four years now.

"We looked at what had opened up to us from the printed page—what other medium was out there to help our customers communicate their message better, and we knew it would be publishing on the Internet," Adams says.

Hartman says his shop has seen a decline in printed work since it began offering online publishing. But this, he adds, is precisely what the university wants.

"There is a real push at the University of Iowa to do away with any paper they can," he says.