Some people have a problem with letting go. "I'm just an old-fashioned printer who wants to do everything, even sweep the yard," explains Peter Arnel, joint managing director at the White Horse Press. That desire to do as much as possible has filtered its way to the company's management information system (MIS). Buying an off-the-shelf product from an MIS vendor was never an option; Arnel started working on his system as far back as the early 1970s.
"Then in the late 1980s, I installed an all-singing MIS product at the company I was working for, and it was hopeless," he recalls. "I developed my own again using Filemaker. It does estimating, order entries, job schedules and invoicing. The beauty of it is that we can alter it as our market develops."
White Horse Press is not alone in developing its own MIS. Arnel says that there are other kindred spirits in the industry who are almost in a "secret club". On the face of it, there are good reasons to develop an MIS that is specifically geared to the needs of your own business. But there are plenty of warnings from doing so, particularly, as you'd expect, from vendors.
The pitfalls are numerous - if you don't have that keen an interest in MIS, then attempting to develop your own from scratch can cause major headaches. It might be best to hold up your hands and bring in an expert. Whatever approach you adopt, there is broad agreement that print firms need an MIS product incorporated into their business. "An MIS has its tentacles in every part of a print business," explains Prism's technical director for QTMS products, David Sparling. "It touches every aspect of your operation and moves the business towards being more productive. You need to have real-time data at your fingertips especially with ever-decreasing margins, fierce competition and even fiercer customers."
A daunting task
"If you're going down the in-house approach, you need to understand the task you are undertaking," warns Fujifilm business strategy manager John Davies. "It can start off with a simple estimating or tracking module, but very quickly you may need other things. It can snowball," cautions Davies.
However, another print company that's not daunted by the issues associated with setting up a MIS in-house is Centreprint, which won a BPIF Excellence award last year in the e-commerce category. The firm's director, Mike Robinson admits that programming is one of his interests so eight years ago he embarked on developing his own MIS. He started with an SQL server. Since then it's gone from strength to strength and is now fully integrated into Centreprint's workflow.
"Our customers use it as well and they can view the production process and find out when a delivery is due," says Robinson. "It updates a job instantly and we can even check it on our Blackberrys if we're out."
Centreprint's in-house system has all the features that an off-the-shelf product has. The advantage, says Robinson, is that the company can adapt it easily and quickly. For example, Centreprint has just gained the PEFC and FSC accreditations, which has quickly been added to the MIS. It can also be accessed through the internet.
"We can build and adapt the system as we go along," he says. "Everyone in the business knows how to operate it. The press minders can even go into the system and get up-to-date details on a job."
From a kit manufacturer's point of view, it doesn't always make much difference as to whether the customer has built their own MIS or called in a vendor. What is of important is whether or not the system can be integrated into a workflow. "It should open up your general worklow capabilities," stresses Trevor Dodsworth, Canon UK head of product marketing. "The production workflow solutions we are installing for customers can be easily integrated with their MIS, whether it's a bespoke or off-the-shelf system."
"The upside to creating your own MIS is that it does exactly what you want it to do," explains Prism's Sparling. "The downside is that people underestimate the total cost of ownership."
Sparling adds that to keep a MIS product going requires plenty of financial commitment. The advantage of having a MIS product from a vendor is that the ongoing development is done for the customer.
"We have around 400 firms with an input into the development of our product," explains Paul Deane, joint managing director at Shuttleworth. "Also JDF and JMF compatibility will put pressure on clients who have gone down the bespoke route. To build that into a system requires a lot of work."
The benefit of experience
Deane adds that Shuttleworth has 28 years of experience and has had plenty of time to develop its product. "When you write your own MIS, within a month it will have changed because your market is evolving all the time," he says. "It's very difficult to predict where your business will be."
Ewan Thomas, technical sales manager at Technique, concurs that the customers a vendor has can make all the difference in terms of development. He argues that to build your own MIS is a "dangerous thing to do" if you don't have the resources to follow the commitment through.
"It's a massive process," says Thomas. "For example, designing your own inventory-handling module is a big undertaking. An MIS company could take a year to develop that. We, on the other hand, release a new version of our software every six months. Our customers are able to provide us feedback and it helps develop the product."
Creative and production agency FMG is one company that has decided to outsource its MIS, It's adopted Proad and production director Steve Waller says that the system needed to report good, accurate information, especially as its handling several different workflows.
"Using an outsourced MIS meant that we can move with industry trends and support any print production initiatives, such as JDF, with much less hassle," he says. "Add to this the support of an experienced team to help with the roll-out so that we can start getting the benefits as fast as we can, and it is a no-brainer for any complex agency structure."
For many businesses, the amount of time that needs to be invested in developing an MIS is something they don't have, which may explain why vendors claim they haven't recently encountered many printers with DIY efforts. "I would say that the market isn't taking that route," says Prism's Sparling.
He reckons that many print companies have been using vendor products over the last 10 years, and says it's rare to find a self-developed system. Technique's Thomas further notes that the number of DIY systems has dipped.
However, that doesn't mean that an MIS from a vendor has to strictly adhere to the same standards. Many are almost bespoke in their implementation; tailored for an individual company's needs. Shuttleworth's Deane explains that one customer wanted to use its own web front-end, which went on top of its existing standard Shuttleworth package.
He adds: "If you want the true benefits of a fully integrated MIS then you have to go all the way. It is a means of displaying data and bringing data in. The recession has forced people to look very, very closely at their operating efficiencies."
While the recession has meant that companies have struggled to raise capital to buy kit, vendors say that the initial outlay on an MIS runs to thousands as opposed to the hundreds of thousands or even millions. That said any print firm that does have its own system might feel that it will save money by not buying such a product and sticking with what it's got.
Going down that route is not easy and vendors argue that the costs in time and money are huge. But those that have created their own MIS have a real interest in programming and have ensured the system runs right the way through their business. Its horses for courses as to which approach is right, but MIS is best left to someone who has a detailed knowledge - whether that's someone inside or outside your company.
DIY MIS: WHAT TO CONSIDER
? It helps to have someone in your company who knows plenty about the subject. MIS touches every part of your business so you need to fully understand the number of modules you’ll need. If you have no experience or haven’t shown any interest in the subject in the past then its best to bring in outside help
? Be warned: the person who designed the MIS probably knows the system inside-out. What happens if that person leaves the company? There’s a chance that if no one else in your business has been paying attention to how the MIS operates, it may be a considerable barrier – a vital business tool that no one can use
? Plenty of time and money is needed to keep the MIS up-to-date. If you want to go in-house then remember that you’ll need plenty of resources
