The eBook section of the Avanti website contains a wealth of information for printers interested in learning about how to buy a Print MIS solution and implement it.
How to Buy a Print MIS is a free eBook that covers the best practices for making a print MIS purchase decision. This eBook is designed to help you navigate the Print MIS selection process, reduce your anxiety and make the best decision for your print shop – whatever that may be.
Important Lesson #1 – Buying the Right Print MIS Depends on Your Business
Vendors are experts on their products. It is your responsibility to understand your unique business procedures, plans, and needs. The best vendors will assist you in the doing this, but it is up to you to prepare and manage your decision process.
Important Lesson #2 – Your Print MIS Vendor Relationship is Long Term
Print MIS selections are rarely buy-and-forget decisions. You should expect to continue to work with your vendor partner over time to enable additional features, acquire new capabilities, and update your system as your business and the technology evolve. A partner whom you find to be responsive, helpful, and easy to work with during the selection cycle will be likely to continue to behave that way throughout the years in your relationship.
Important Lesson #3 – Think Change Management When Purchasing a New Print MIS
Introducing any form of change can be challenging, with impacts far beyond the selection process. Setting out well-defined goals, sticking to them, and establishing a team to lead this change will assist you in the process of buying a Print MIS. They will also facilitate a more straightforward implementation as the whole team will already be familiar with the software and the method, and can be proponents to the rest of the organization with their buy-in, expertise, and support.
Idea Flow for the eBook ‘How to Buy a Print MIS’
Chapter 1 – Understand Your MIS Needs
- Assess Your Current MIS system
- Examine Your Process
- Research and Benchmark
Chapter 2 – List Your Key Objectives and Results
- Capacity
- Profitability
- Growth
Chapter 3 - Build an Evaluation Team
- Project Manager
- Core Team
- Extended Team
- Print MIS Plan
Chapter 4 – Determine Your Budget
- Software cost
- Software support costs
- Implementation costs
- Infrastructure costs
- Training costs
- Business disruption costs
Chapter 5 – Prioritize Capabilities
- Needs
- Essential elements
- Enhanced Requirements
- Future needs
- Verify the solution
- Mapping the features
- Meaningful Demonstrations
- Peer Input
Chapter 6 – Software Integration
- JDF Certification
Chapter 7 – Evaluate the Implementation Process
- Transparency
- Work-flow Assistance
- Implementation Tools
- Implementation Project Plan
Chapter 8 – Select the Vendor Partner
- Market Focus
- Added Services
- Adaptability and Growth
- Product Roadmap
- Vendor Longevity
Check Out our Other Helpful eBooks on Print MIS
We have written three other eBooks to help you with your Print MIS purchase and implementation decisions. They are:
- Is There Really an ROI on Print MIS?
- The Ten Time-Consuming Tasks You Should Automate Now
- How to Implement a Print MIS
At Avanti, our goal is to help you deliver more jobs, in less time through one, integrated powerful platform. More information on Avanti’s Slingshot Print MIS platform is available here.
