5 reasons you should invest in  print MIS management software

Most printing companies understand the benefits that an MIS brings to their business, like faster estimate turnarounds, increased efficiency and greater production visibility to name a few, which is why the majority already have an MIS solution that they use to run their business.

But for those companies who are perhaps just starting out or have grown to the point where your manual systems are taking too much time to administer, you might be considering investing in your first MIS solution. 

To help you out, I spoke to our Implementation Specialists about the main benefits that printers get from investing in their first MIS system. They've been helping printing and packaging companies digitize their processes and improve efficiency for many years, so they've got some great guidance and insight to share. Here’s what they told me.

1. Your data is in one location, accessible by all

A print MIS removes the need for disconnected pieces of software to track the different areas of your business. Instead, your data is stored in one central location, making it much easier to track, analyze and update.

This will also save you time training your employees on lots of different software, they’ll just need to know how to use the MIS.

2. You will free up a significant amount of time that’s currently being spent on manual processes and tasks

As production technology continues to advance, bottlenecks are being created in the administrative area of printing companies, pre-production, and the average time spent on jobs is increasing.

But by introducing an MIS and adding these time-consuming tasks into a streamlined workflow, you’re able to reduce touchpoints by at least 25%* and free up valuable time and resources so your employees can focus on more complex jobs and on continually improving customer experience. In other words, you’re able to do more, with the same resource.

3. The information you gather can aid business decisions

Providing Management Information is the raison d'être of an MIS – it’s why this type of software was originally created back in the 80s. So one of the key benefits that MIS solutions provide is the ability to assess data that aids KPI analysis, strategic decision making and sales forecasting. They also make it easier to forecast stock requirements, analyze financials and identify opportunities for growth.

This data also acts as a cornerstone for your business Systems and for departmental and individual performance reviews too, so you can identify areas where improvements could be made.

Any and all of this information can then be generated into reports, making it easier to analyze and share.

4. Production visibility will be improved 

Order statuses can be hard to track without using an MIS – Is your order in production? Has it been packed? Has it already been shipped?

Finding the answers to these questions will usually involve tracking down the person in charge or going to the shop floor to see for yourself, both of which are time-wasting exercises. But with an MIS, you have all the information you need at your fingertips. As a CSR, you don’t have to move from your desk to find out where something is.

Having access to all this information at the click of a button will also improve communication with your customers. You can send them updates about the status of their order, and in the off chance that something goes wrong, you’re able to check where the problem has occurred and rectify it quickly.

5. You can generate estimates much faster

Manually creating estimates is a laborious process and prolongs the time it takes to communicate with both new and existing customers. If they then want to revise their quote, you will need to start from scratch which further increases the turnaround time of the quote.

But by digitizing this process and using an MIS to generate estimates, you’ll significantly speed up both the creation and the revision process, giving you the capacity to quote for, and win more work.

Amy Durham, one of our Implementation Specialists at Tharstern, told me about a recent project she had been working on, where the customer dramatically decreased the time it took to create an estimate.

For complex jobs, it could take this customer up to 2 hours to complete an estimate. But now, they’ve reduced that from 2 hours to 5 minutes, which is huge! It blew their mind really, they couldn’t fathom how that worked. And this is a general comment, lots of customers say how much faster their estimating process is.”

Think about how many more estimates you could complete with an MIS solution!

With all these benefits available to you, investing in an MIS is definitely worth some serious consideration. Hopefully, these insights from our Customer Success Team have helped you with this, and you can now see how an MIS can seriously help you digitize your business and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

* [Source: Infigo report: "The benefits an MIS offers to your web-to-print business"]