Tag Archives: australian businesses

Managed Print Services in 2012

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Managed Print Services and New Year’s resolutions

Did you set some New Year’s resolutions for your business this year?  If you did, it’s likely improving efficiencies and reducing costs feature more than once.  Sensible stuff given the economic pressures Australian businesses currently face. But how do you actually stick to your resolutions?

new years resolution Managed Print Services in 2012

For resolutions we set in our personal lives success often hinges on determination and good habits. Business is no different.  If you don’t get into goodhabits from the outset, come July you’re unlikely to have achieved your goals.

And when it comes to reducing the amount you print and the associated costs, signing up to a managed print services contract can really help.

Managed print services good habits

Here’s an example of five habits our customers enjoy with
Upstream managed print services:

  1. Comprehensive audits of printing levels so businesses can act on opportunities to improve efficiencies.  On average we are able to
    save customers 30 per cent on printing costs.
  2. Real-time insight into how much is being printed across a business.  This gives organisations complete visibility
    into who is printing what so they can get a handle on printing levels.
  3. Automatic toner ordering so there’s no need for a business to worry about stocking
    up on vital supplies or order toner manually.
  4. Swipe and release printing solutions that require employees to swipe ID cards before a job is released.  The impact this has on reducing printing levels is often particularly significant.
  5. Ongoing customer account reviews that ensure we’re best addressing the needs and challenges a business faces

If you’re keen to cut costs and improving the efficiency of  your business by getting into good habits you could do a lot worse than getting into managed print services.

Pinching in the ‘waist’ of your supply chain

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Streamlining supply chains vs losing weight

pinching in the waist of your supply chain Pinching in the ‘waist’ of your supply chainSummer is round the corner and personal trainers across the nation are rubbing their hands at the prospect of new clients wanting to shift the kilos before beach season is upon us.

This could also be true for your business. Take logistics organisations as an example:

Streamlining a supply chain can be quite easily compared to losing weight: it’s often the first 80 per cent that’s easy – it’s the remaining 20 per cent that presents the real challenge. This is the part that requires true discipline, dedication and hard work.

Streamlining supply chain logistics is not a new concept; it has been on the radar as long as those extra kilos. However, there are some fundamentals which are often overlooked. For all the effort and investment that goes into scheduling tools and other equipment, quite often there are paper based systems acting as bottlenecks. But, there are solutions:

  • Electronic forms eliminate pre-printed forms and documents by storing templates and imagery at the printer. This helps to automate time-intensive processes connected to printing labels, delivery dockets, pay slips and any other forms relevant to your organisation.
  • Optical Character Recognition and Barcode Technology can be used to instantly archive and retrieve all documents. Storing documents enables immediate access to archived documents and information
  • The most important factor of all however is customisation. This enables the seamless interaction of the entire solution with a company’s ERP system.

Conclusions for your supply chain

At the end of the day, no company wants to be weighed down by unwanted waste, so start by cutting down on waste paper, review your supply chain, and print less.

What should you consider when choosing a new printer?

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Choosing a new printer – easy or difficult?

choosing a new printer What should you consider when choosing a new printer? You’d probably think that choosing a printer is a simple task and not one worth spending a huge amount of time on. But when you think about how much a printer is used within your business and how reliant your employees are on printing documents, invoices, and so on, you might want to think twice before making a snap-decision.

Most people take the printer for granted, until it runs out of paper or toner, or stops working as a result of some obscure error. It’s at these times that you realise just how important the printer is.

Every year hundreds of new models flood the marketplace, with varying price tags and functionality, which makes choosing a new printer quite difficult. Deciding which one to pick based on pricing and spec is of course important but what’s often overlooked is the ongoing running cost. If a printer is not fit for purpose you can quickly find yourself wasting time and energy getting it fixed.

Now, we’d naturally suggest you follow the managed print services route if you’re unsure which printers to pick. This not only saves you time deciding which one to buy but also relieves you of the headaches associated with maintaining a fleet long-term.

Here’s some of the considerations we go through when working with customers to pick the most appropriate machine to meet their needs …

Printer volume
In businesses some teams need to print more than others so it’s important the office set up can meet their needs. For teams that print a lot on a regular basis it’s important to select a printer that can handle the loads put upon it – especially at peak times.

Privacy and security
While a communal, networked printer will be more cost effective than separate individual printers, there may be times where the privacy of documents necessitates a small amount of ‘private’ printers. For example, if you’re operating an open plan office it might make sense for the HR and Finance directors to have their own machines.

Document type
What your organisation prints is of course an important factor to keep in mind. If a lot of printing is done in black and white then black and white machines are naturally the preferred the option.

Processes for choosing a new printer
Businesses today often consider the information flow within their organisation at a software level without really thinking about how that information is printed.  Given invoices, delivery dockets and the like are crucial to business processes it’s worth considering how best to print these.  For example, it might be worth investing in a multi-function device that allows employees to quickly print forms directly at the machine.  This not only makes accessing forms easier but cuts down on unnecessary printing.

Choosing a new printer – Conclusion

I hope the information above helps in your decision-making. Have you had to go through this recently? I’d love to hear your thoughts on choosing a new printer, please post a Comment below – thanks in advance.

Is a clean desk really good for business?

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Clean desk vs post-it notes & ringtones

is a clean desk really good for business Is a clean desk really good for business? There’s been a lot of objection in the media recently surrounding BHP Billiton’s newly released office policy that includes restrictions on everything from post-it notes and mobile phone ringtones to the consumption of foods with a strong odour. The policy also states the amount of paper that should be left to sit on desks and even outlines that the use of iPods within the office is forbidden.

While a lot of companies have a ‘clean desk policy’ in operation, it is the detail with which BHP outlined its policy that intrigued outsiders. Many would argue that actions such as not eating smelly foods and keeping mobile phone ringtones on a low volume would be considered common courtesy; however BHP deemed it necessary to put these into writing.  According to BHP, the rules were outlined to improve efficiency and allow for “desk hopping” for those who travel.

Sounds good but problems can arise from having such stringent policies on office behaviour. Employee morale, for instance, can suffer from working in such a sterile environment, with research showing a clean desk can “leave employees with a smaller brain”. Given estimations you spend over 22% of your life at work and over 91,250 hours in a total working life, surely there’s an argument that making your desk ‘homely’ can improve productivity?

At Upstream we allow our employees to express themselves openly and aim to build a better company culture. The basis of such workplace activities needs to be trust, and we entrust our employees to know their boundaries and use their best judgement in common courtesy.

That isn’t to say we don’t see the value of keeping desks clutter free – especially when it comes to printing.  Keeping desks free of paper isn’t just about tidiness – it’s about business efficiency.  That’s why we’re currently working with organisations across Australia to move them away from paper filing toward electronic filing systems.  Moving toward electronic filing makes it easier to access documents, track the flow of information and reduce the wasted costs and resources associated with printing materials.  The fact it also cuts down on the amount of paper stored on employees’ clean desks is a bonus.

Clean desk conclusion?

So, what do you think?  Are clean desks the key to greater efficiencies or are organisations better to first focus efforts on the cause of messy desks?

What’s in a business name?

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Choosing your business name

naming business What’s in a business name?It might sound trivial but when you’re setting up a new business deciding what name to give the business is an important decision.  Especially today.  In the past the main considerations concerned picking a name people could remember and a name that wasn’t being used elsewhere.  These considerations are still important.  So much so that the Australian Federal Government has launched a tool to ensure business owners don’t pick a name that’s already been trademarked.  The tool’s called TM Check and as reported by Dynamic Business, it will help business owners avoid legal bills, disputes and even the closure of their business.

But it’s not just about legal requirements.  Businesses owners today also need to think about the online world.  That means picking a name that can easily be spelt so people can search for it online.  It also means picking a name that encapsulates what you do.  People today are overloaded with information online and offline so the simpler and more focused you can make a name the better.  Take us as an example.  We’re widely known as Upstream but our officially registered name is Upstream Print Solutions.  It’s a name that’s not too long but one that clearly articulates what we do.

The name Upstream has an interesting origin. The name was adapted from an old story about a group of villagers who lived by a river. The villagers’ river and main water supply became polluted and a number of solutions were floated to fix the problem such as filtration plants and chemical treatments. One villager however asked “Why don’t we go upstream, find what is causing the pollution and fix the problem at its source?”

Given that’s what we do to help business improve efficiencies (i.e. help organisations reduce printing rather than simply selling more printers to meet their needs) the founders of our business thought the word Upstream was a great name.  And over the years it’s served us well.  It’s short, easy to remember and of course, simple to spell.

Things to think about when choosing your business name

What led you to pick the name for your business and what advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to name their first business?