| Survival Strategy - Start Eliminating People with Software |
|
| Saturday, 01 August 2009 | |
|
Digital technology has done a good job of replacing people within many organisations. Software and the net has replaced how we buy travel and other products, since we do it ourselves online, not phone someone.
Automating Print Sales and Admin, not just Production Highly automated print companies like Vistaprint and others use software systems extensively to eliminate much of the day to day overhead work needed when customers purchase print. Even though they have thousands of small orders per day, they've relatively few estimators, admin staff, Mac designers, prepress people, outside sales or customer service people. Production efficiencies are equally impressive. It's claimed as little as 60 seconds of labour per order, versus an hour or more for traditional printers. Although there is some investment and ongoing overhead costs to support this level of technology, unlike having humans doing these aforementioned chores, software systems have multiple benefits over humans doing the same work. e.g.
As mentioned previously, it's not really the technology that's the issue. The tools to do all this has been around for many years. If there is a concern, its that there's no one industry vendor here that can do the job. No single magical package. As seen overseas, it becomes a year-long project, taking a expert blend of tools and suppliers to make it real. However the biggest problem is the fear of change, holding us and the industry back.
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
Listening to Simon Morton on National Radio today provided some intriguing perspectives on where online and technology is taking us. It reminded me of how online printers like Vistaprint use new technology. The interview was with Chris Anderson (left), author of Wired Magazine and various best selling marketing books. One reference was how software has changed how we all interact and buy from organisations today.
