Training Customers--It's Your Job

Customers aren't usually motivated to change traditional behaviors and adopt print-on-demand processes. It's your job to help them.

The familiar print-on-demand (POD) mantra—print what you want, when you want it and where you want it—can be the source of compelling benefits for in-plant customers. But not every benefit is immediately obvious, or available, to every in-plant customer; nor are these customers necessarily motivated to change traditional behaviors.

Therefore, training customers on the benefits of POD is one of several new jobs in-plant managers must take on. Others include understanding the latest information technologies (or forming alliances with those who do) to specify and maintain effective POD systems that cut production costs and deliver new value.

Managers also need strong marketing skills to better understand how their companies use documents and to fashion compelling pitches in favor of appropriate POD processes. And they need better negotiating skills to persuade upper management to fund POD development.

POD clearly benefits the print shop operation. It eliminates steps in the printing process, improving productivity; it reduces paper waste and storage; and it introduces valuable services based on management of digital information. These services foster closer relationships with customers and add value for them:

• Enhanced productivity and more economical short print runs mean faster turnarounds.

• Electronic storage means that documents are always up to date, since they are printed from current files.

• Documents are always available, because they can be printed at any time.

• Costs can be more easily controlled when documents are printed as needed, rather than in long runs.

Tight integration of POD operations with Internet-based services are providing additional customer value today. For instance, the Web offers a familiar, convenient and efficient alternative for job submission. A well-defined submission process, complete with a hard copy proof prior to running the job, should help to make even nervous clients comfortable.

Utilizing The Web

Some in-plant shops also permit customers to check their jobs' status on a Web site, improving communication. Some maintain Web-accessible electronic library services, permitting customers to view and update document repositories that are managed by the print provider. Web-based electronic repositories also permit shared access to databases that can be used for customization and personalization.

In-plants have two advantages over commercial alternatives for providing personalization applications:

• Accessing sensitive sales information poses less of a security threat among departments in the same company.

• Unlike many commercial printers, in-plants are likely to have skilled information technology professionals on site to develop the applications.

Selling to Management, Customers

Most customers will recognize some, if not all of the benefits of POD. For instance, providing faster turnaround and comparable quality output is almost always a winning proposition.

To develop a range of POD offerings, the in-plant manager must thoroughly understand the company's use of documents and anticipate additional needs. The manager must maintain relationships with document "owners" in marketing and finance, and with information technology executives, who can manage databases, develop applications and serve as technology consultants.

Ultimately, the in-plant manager needs to use this knowledge to make a business case that can win over senior management. The POD case is best made not by comparing print output costs with those of offset, but by taking into account the total cost involved in the document life cycle, and the opportunities that can be gained. When such costs as storage, shipping and waste are included, digital POD is the economical alternative in many applications. Improved business results, such as increased response rates from personalized mailers, further bolster the POD argument.

Establishing A POD Infrastructure

In selecting vendors to work with to build POD capabilities, in plants should seek those with track records for keeping equipment investments from becoming obsolete, and those who can assist in developing the POD business. Some vendors, such as Xerox, offer free tutorials on effective, industry-specific POD applications to help in-plants recognize and act upon opportunities. Many vendors also will develop company-specific document samples that can help sell new applications, and work with in-plants to build a business case, while offering opportunities to test new applications on a contingency basis.

Vendors also can ease the burden an in-plant operation places on its information technology department. For instance, Xerox offers a comprehensive, integrated software package for a range of Internet connectivity and document makeready services. DigiPath Production Software enables Web-based job submission, job status tracking and access to electronic document repositories for a range of cost-effective document services. DigiPath also can enable an in-plant to use its Web-based customer-interaction processes to offer services externally, to become a profit center.

Popular wisdom holds that people who do not understand and adopt technology will be replaced by it. For in-plant managers, the twist on that popular wisdom is that they also need to make their customers understand and adopt technology—and get their bosses to fund it. These are daunting, but very possible tasks, best approached with a long-term plan that builds POD capabilities gradually as users and management learn to understand them.

Thomas F. Wetjen is vice president and general manager, production publishing systems, at Xerox Corp. He can be reached at:

thomas_wetjen@mc.xerox.com