Stopping the Whispers

IT STARTS very innocently: a brief discussion in an elevator or parking lot, or while in line to buy lunch. The comments go something like this:

"Did you know we have an entire group that costs us millions of dollars a year just to make copies?" Anytime "millions of dollars" are mentioned—especially when an organization is in a cost-cutting mode—eyebrows get raised.

For the not-print-shop-literate senior-level manager who is searching for ways to save money, perception is often reality. When they see an in-plant line-item expenditure—typically labeled as copying, duplication or printing—they likely think of those small desktop machines that produce administration-related documents. Commodities! And if that line item reaches millions of dollars, they surely will shout, "Eureka!" thinking they have discovered the key to significant savings for their organization.

Thus begins the march toward closing the in-plant and outsourcing its work, a journey that is often very difficult if not impossible to reverse. To prevent these situations, the best defense often is a strong offense. In-plants must be recognized by the organization as the strategic assets that they are.

Xerox has long provided tools that help in-plants to establish their strategic significance through a "bottom-up" approach (see sidebar). Although these tools have been successful, they are not enough. Top-down tactics are also needed to make sure an enterprise's senior level managers clearly understand the in-plant's strategic importance before they ponder the value of the "Copying/Printing Department" line item.

The In-plant's Value

In partnership with InfoTrends, Xerox commissioned a research project that documents the oft-hidden value of in-plants. The results are compiled in a white paper targeted at the enterprise's senior level managers and titled "The Strategic Value of an In-House Printing Operation: Trends and Best Practices." This value includes:

• Focusing the document strategy primarily on serving the best interests of the institution. Like many advantages and efficiencies of having an on-site, company-run in-plant, this value cannot necessarily be measured in dollars and cents.
• Responsiveness to customer needs. This is the bedrock upon which successful in-house printing operations are built. With an understanding of customer needs, these operations can provide effective service, quick turnaround and careful consideration of future customer requirements.
• "Rightsizing" enterprise printing. Cutting off access to an in-house printing operation has been known to increase the use of networked printers for production jobs. These printers are not well suited for high-volume printing, and they cost more to operate than centralized in-house printing devices.
• A deep understanding of the internal customers' needs. This depth of understanding can be very difficult to replicate with outside resources.
• Commitment to the organization. No outside print service provider will have the same vested interests of the enterprise as does an in-house printing organization. To an outside print service provider, your enterprise's printing needs become just one of many.
• Visibility of actual printing costs. Eliminating the expenditure line item for an in-house printing facility does not mean the printing needs of the enterprise magically go away. Rather, they often move to less-inspected (hidden) line items with no checks or balances to make sure the enterprise is receiving the best value for its printing dollars.

The white paper goes a step further, discussing these values by describing how three in-plants—in government, higher education and at a private company—have successfully gained the strategic acknowledgement of their organization.

An Ounce of Prevention

We have all heard about world-class in-plants that have had their doors shuttered and their work outsourced to a third-party print provider. You might ask, how could this happen? But when a not-print-shop-literate senior manager is making a strategic decision about the enterprise's printing needs and views printing as a commodity, you can understand how it happens.

So, in-plant managers need to go on the offensive before those innocent whispers turn into a loud roar resulting in an unpleasant outcome. By proactively embracing both a bottom-up and top-down strategy, we will not be reading about another world-class in-plant closing its doors.

Click here to receive a free copy of the Info–Trends white paper "The Strategic Value of an In-House Printing Operation: Trends and Best Practices."