All On Board
You’ve done a lot of the hard work. You’ve pitched a C-level executive, and she’s on board. You’ve assured the IT department that your software is secure and that you will be servicing the devices so they don’t have to. You’ve even done an assessment and know what changes need to happen to create an efficient print environment and save your client money. Now all you need is your client’s employees’ buy-in and cooperation. This last step doesn’t sound so hard, but sometimes it can pose the biggest challenge.
We hear all the time about how end users have a hard time adapting to and changing their printing habits in order to get the full benefits of a managed print program. It could be printing to a new device, not printing in color, getting rid of personal printers or duplex printing; something along the line is bound to rub one of your clients (or one of their employees) the wrong way.
So what do you do? How do you get everyone on board?
I recently read a FederalNewsRadio.com article titled “GSA: Changing printing habits could save government millions.” The writer, Jack Moore, talked to Steve Kempf, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at General Services Administration (GSA) who made a really interesting point about printing habits. Moore reported that if federal employees changed their printing behaviors in a relatively small way – changing the paper, the toner and the fonts they use – and devices were swapped out for better, more efficient devices, hundreds of millions of dollars could be saved. “But even with more efficient devices, Kempf emphasized the importance of changing behaviors,” Moore wrote. “‘You can buy better solutions all the time, but will the people use them?’” Kempf said in the article. “‘And will they use them effectively?’”
Both of Kempf’s questions are really interesting: Will people use the solutions that are there? And if so, will they use them efficiently? As a managed print provider, you can swap out devices, software and/or permissions all day long, but if none of the users take advantage of the features, the better cost per page, the duplex printing capabilities, etc., is your managed print program really delivering what you said it would?
You can take away desktop printers, and you can set permissions for color printing. You can set employees’ computers to default to a particular printer. But employees can find workarounds, and depending on how upset, annoyed and/or put out they are by changes you’ve made to their system, they just might find an alternative that makes them happier while at the same time making your MPS program less efficient and more costly for the client.
Thankfully, there are hundreds of articles online that tackle this predicament, and almost all of them turn to communication. The article “How to Get Your Point Across Through the Art of Business Communication” explained that “even if you are not worried about the changes taking place, that does not mean (the) staff isn’t concerned. They generally resist change because they do not know, or have a lack of knowledge, on what’s coming ahead. It is also because of the way the change is communicated to them. Constant clear communication throughout the change process is the key. The change can be as major as a company takeover, or as simple as a small change in organizational structure. Whatever the change, it needs to be clearly communicated to (the) staff to relieve any possible anxiety.”
If you communicate with your clients’ staffs about what the company is trying to accomplish, what the goals are and what the rewards will be for the employees, they might be more vested in making behavioral changes. Employees also have a chance to voice their concerns, opinions and even ideas on how to do things more efficiently.
With management on board, the IT department willing to give you some control, and employee buy-in, your managed print program has the ability to succeed and deliver the promised results.
Posted by Katherine Fernelius on 10/27/2011