The birth of any good product starts with acknowledging the problem. The only reason the product is accepted and becomes a success is because it offers a solution to a pressing problem.

Today we all work from home, and it’s become a new normal. However, Ankul Nanavaty, director for business development at Mumbai’s Unik Printers and the man behind the Getquickprints project, likes to differ a little bit. “Today, we are expected to work out of everywhere and that’s a global reality. We are expected to be quick, efficient, precise, and have complete control. We need to have complete control of all systems, processes, and all operations. This calls for a choice of a very smart business tool, like any other operation. And that’s where our product kicks in.”

So, first, let’s establish and understand what print management as seen today is, what it needs to do, and how Getquickprints can answer all those challenges.

The problem
So, if we were to talk about what print management currently is, sadly, it is not 
a very well defined system. “That’s because it’s manual, it’s unstructured, it 
is inefficient, and it is data deficient,” says Nanavaty.

Nanavaty says most organisations do not have a formal print management platform, but they somehow manage to print.

He explains, “Most organisations have basic indenting modules, which only capture requests in very ineffective ways. They fail to acknowledge and appreciate the need for a well rounded print management platform mostly for the lack of understanding of it. The current print systems, if investigated, even in large organisations, will reveal high levels of manual intervention and people dependency.”

In short, these organisations collate all the requirements that come in from branches, product-wise, assimilate them together, send out tenders to four vendors for quote, negotiate, and place the order. “It’s manual, unstructured with no SOPs, inefficient as it leads to loss of productive time, and data deficient as it offers no information to take progressive future decisions,” says Nanavaty.

He adds, “Trust me, it’s a dynamic job. It’s like managing the MIS of your customer.”

Hence, this calls for using technology and tools that help to be quick to respond, efficient in function, precise in output and in control of all our operations.

Pulling pieces together
A well defined print management platform offers an exceptional user experience at every level of operation. It offers complete control to all its publics on a single dashboard – from simplifying the ordering and tracking of indents (for the user), to the ease of approval, efficient print production and last mile supply (for the administrator), to robust MIS systems (for the management) that serves well-curated information to study current and future trends for making informed management decisions.
Nanavaty says, “It’s like a big book of ingredients. We prepare the recipes and using the exact ingredients, which we call Getquickprints – the print management platform.”

So, how should a print management platform (PMP) be?
First, it should be automated, where placement of indents, collation, production, packaging, push notification, logistics management and close of indent is free of manual interpretation. It has to be structured – offering a well-defined user interface with clear SOPs. It should also be efficient, leading to optimal use of human efforts and eliminates waste, while offering abundant data for effective decision-making.

 

Comparing traditional system with PMP
Let us compare the performance of the platform to the traditional systems that are being used in the market:

Time taken by a print manager to collect indents of monthly print requirements from branches:  Industry average seven hours and 42 minutes. With PMP there’s no time lag. Real time indenting gives the user the flexibility to order products anytime through the platform or the mobile application 24x7x365 and has it delivered within the acceptable TAT.

Time taken by a user to place monthly print indents: Industry average 40 mins. With PMP this is achieved within 60 seconds. The platform guides the user to place orders through its friendly UI with ease and speed. This makes it a delight to use.

Time taken to get updates on indents: Industry average three days. With PMP, one can get real time instant updates. The user gets instant push notifications and updates on the order as it moves from one level to the next, until delivery.

Time taken to get updated MIS across functions: Industry average seven days. With PMP, there are real time instant updates.

“Getquickprints comes with a robust real time MIS dashboard that helps the management with in-depth insights to take timely and effective decisions,” says Nanavaty.

 

Access points
Getquickprints, upon a signup, comes with an exclusive mini-site for every customer, which is used by its users across the country and abroad to log indents for printed, non printed collaterals and merchandise. The platform offers a mobile application for Android and iOS users to place indents on the go to offer 24x7x365 seamless functionality.

Nanavaty concludes, Getquickprints is a tribute to our fellow printers, customers and print custodians who are passionate about this art and want to keep the tactile magic of ink on paper alive. “As we always say, Long Live Print."