Competition is an essential component of business—and the print industry is no exception. The extensive growth in digital printing and services has lowered the barrier to entry and opened the door to more and more printers.
While this gives the customer more selection, it narrows the margin of error for a growing printer. Every request for a quote will be compared to 4 or 5 other quotes from competing printers. From the service experience to production to delivery—every area of your business needs to run efficiently. That includes your technology, your people, and your processes.
When a minor mistake or delay can cost you the job and the customer, the pressure to stand out while meeting customer demands and driving profitability is monumental. So, how are printers keeping up?
It all starts with your infrastructure. Having the right foundation to organize, manage, and analyze your business from the initial quote to final delivery is integral to your success in this industry. Modern print management software is designed to reduce and eliminate many of the manual processes and human errors that plague the average printer every day. Integrated print ERP (MIS) software can not only help you automate and improve critical business processes, but also provide you with the timely, accurate information you need to successfully adapt and grow your business.
At Wye Print, we work with an all-in-one cloud business application built for printers of all sizes and disciplines. PrintVis is an integrated print ERP (MIS) system that brings together all of your core business processes into one modern, user-friendly platform.
How PrintVis Supports Competitive Business Processes
We see competition in many forms in the print industry. All of these areas can have an impact on your ability to perform, compete, and win business:
- Lead Times: The longer it takes to receive your raw materials and deliver the final product to your customers, the more likely you will lose money and business to a competitor. A solid supply chain saves money, better allocates resources, fosters productivity, and helps you manage cash flow.
- Product Quality: Quality is a deal-breaker when it comes to printing. If you don’t produce consistent, high-quality products, your customers won’t return. But without the right quality control and checklists, a printer’s biggest challenge is repeatability.
- Printing Speed: How quickly you can deliver an order is definitely a factor for most print customers. If your competitor has the technology and people to deliver the job for the same price in half the time, you’re at a disadvantage from the beginning.
- Accurate Pricing: The right price is not the lowest—it’s the number that will win you the customer and make money at the same time. You need complete operational visibility and control over pricing in order to analyze this information and make these decisions.
- Skilled Personnel: Your most valuable asset is your people. Unfortunately, print is not considered a “sexy” industry, and it can be a challenge attracting new employees.
- Sales Effectiveness: A winning business starts with your salesforce and the overall service experience. Are they equipped with the right information and tools to provide a quote and make the sale? Or are they spending their time scrambling to find data?
- Business Process Efficiency: You can’t effectively scale your business and optimize performance when you’re running your business on disparate systems, manual processes, and limited visibility. Automated processes and streamlined workflows are integral to a successful print business.
We recently partnered with WhatTheyThink to help develop a print technology summit that provides the fundamentals of PrintVis and expert advice on successfully selecting and implementing print MIS/ERP software. One of the videos we created exclusively for this event is on PrintVis about how it supports competitive business processes and allows you to compete on a larger scale.
This webinar is presented by John Dickson, Wye Print’s Operations/ERP Implementation Specialist. He has over 30 years of experience in printing and packaging with an impressive background in cost accounting, logistics, scheduling, and purchasing. In this 30-minute webinar, he shows you exactly how PrintVis tackles the challenges listed above, with a focus on pricing, personnel, and business processes.
The How to (Legally) Print Money Summit is essentially a knowledge-base with free on-demand videos that will get you up to speed on PrintVis and set you up for success in your print ERP (MIS) implementation.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
When you have dozens of other companies that provide the same service fighting for a single print job, your ability to be competitive while driving growth is the real challenge. PrintVis is designed to help you do that while adapting to meet ever-evolving market demands. If you would like to learn more about PrintVis and book a personalized demo tailored to your specific needs, connect with our print technology experts here.
We are here to answer any business process and print software questions and to help you select the right print management solution for your unique print business. If you’re not ready to speak to a consultant, feel free to browse our resource section and website for print MIS/ERP insights.