Digital Output - March 2008 - (Page 19)

Investing in an MIS is risky business, Long warns. Choose unwisely and the business will suffer. Choose wisely, and watch it grow. “We have seen our profit margin and billable sales increase over the past five years,” Long confides. “One of the features we’re able to exploit in the ePace system is the ability to find out what types of jobs we make the most money on. We analyze that in the reporting module, and we convey information to the sales team. So, our strategy has gone from ‘let’s take any job we can get’ to ‘let’s take the work that we can do well and that’s smart for the company.’” “That’s really enabled us to refine our business and focus on sectors that are profitable. The value in that alone tells us that the system is paying for itself,” Long concludes. “You’ll find that most of the systems available today are appropriate for virtually any type of print business,” suggests Tom Dodge, marketing director, Pace Systems Group. “And there’s a lot of overlap in the market today. You’ve commercial print shops that are bringing in wide format printers, and conversely, you’ve got a lot of wide format shops now bringing in narrow-format digital printers. So, there’s a tremendous amount of crossover.” As with most software, the cost of an MIS can run the gamut—from a few thousand dollars to well into the sixfigure range. In fact, it’s difficult to nail down precise figures because so many variables impact the level of investment. These include whether the solution needs to be integrated with other business—or workflow—management solutions; the size of the company—users, sites, locations; what features and modules may be added to a core system; and the level of support and training required. “We have found that our data supports other industry studies [that] say that printers should expect to spend between one and two percent of annualized revenues for an integrated MIS,” Dodge suggests. Implementing MIS like a Pro transformed itself, refocusing its business model entirely on large format graphics. They provide signage and other large format display graphics to a wide range of corporations with as many as 500 locations. “Retail POP graphics is our primary market focus,” says Dave Richman, CTO, ProlabWest, Inc. “We saw that large format was the growth market,” Richman recalls. “Photography was dying pretty rapidly.” Tapping into the new market Circle 10 on FREE Product Info Card With three locations its primary headquarters are based in Seattle and additional facilities are located in San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR. As the name implies, ProlabWest, Inc. was originally founded as a photo lab, but in 2004, the company completely Circle 13 on FREE Product Info Card www.digitaloutput.net March 2008 Digital Output 19 http://www.neschenamericas.com http://www.onyxgfx.com http://www.digitaloutput.net

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Digital Output - March 2008

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