Self-service is definitely all the fashion.  These days we pump our own petrol, change our bank and insurance details via our on-line portal, process our own groceries though the self-service checkout and who would have thought even a decade ago that we'd be checking into airlines ourselves? Personally, if done right, I think self-service is win-win - everyone saves money and the customer feels in control. There is of course time and money investment in development of self-service tools, but if done well it is well worth the effort. That is why, in addition to our support email and phone line!, ePrint has  invested time and a lot of effort  in providing online manuals  which empower our customers to install and configure Skyline themselves. 

This is the first of what we hope will be a more frequent number of blogs focussing on our customer’s topical questions, experiences and suggestions.

April has come (and nearly gone!) and with it a new financial year. Unsurprisingly then, we have recently had questions relating to how Skyline can support the Print Room’s communication with their accounts department. This month I want to focus in particular on creating order numbers within Skyline and how this is designed to be flexible and quick and easy for the Print Room, without requiring complicated admin.

Is it any wonder than that so many industry experts use Drupa as an opportunity to showcase the latest in technology? As a Xerox Business Innovation Partner, ePrint Direct will be showcasing Skyline with other leading Partner products to demonstrate how really sophisticated workflows are within the reach of most print shops.

Management Speak – love it or hate it, there is no getting away from it. The latest term doing the board room rounds is ‘cloud computing’, which apparently is the future of IT. However, cloud computing comes under many other more self-explanatory aliases which arguably have been doing the rounds longer , Software As A Service (SaaS) and plain, old fashioned “hosted service” being two examples.  One could get confused and it’s no wonder that people are often unsure of what might benefit their particular needs, but come now it is important we are ‘moving forward’.

A key feature of Skyline is the fully editable web page. Each Skyline portal has its own powerful editing toolkit that enables you to easily apply your own style and content. Because it is so easy to use you can quickly update content with news, comments and directions helping to attract customers to your website and to keep them informed of your services.

Using your own brand can provide your customers with reassurance about the product and price they will receive. It presents them with the simplest and easiest choice.

'Brands are the express checkout for people living their lives at ever increasing speed.'- Brandweek

There are many arresting facts you can read about office paper waste. In the US, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average office worker in the US uses more than 10,000 sheets of paper each year. Clearly there are environmental implications which need to be carefully considered and addressed, but in the current economic environment this is also surely a clear area of interest for any customers looking to drive efficiencies

However, there is an English saying that may apply here – ‘old habits die hard’ – and many could admit to being guilty of overuse of the desktop printer. It always seems easier to use the locally networked inkjet when you want to produce your batch of documents. The false economy of the above is evident when you work out how much could be saved by using the correct printing device for the job and by noting how costly desktop inkjet printers are to run.

I am sure I am not the only one who often finds sending attachments via email a hugely frustrating process. Almost always the document is too large to email. Often your own inbox, or that of the recipients, is too full.

If only ePrint’s recently launched Mydocs was already available, if so I would certainly have made use of it. Since it has launched I have found it valuable – especially as I often work from home and need colleagues to approve or contribute to large file documents. I now feel I can reclaim my crown as the most organised person in my house.

By the way the actual definition of organised is being able to find anything within a minute or two. This includes items in your home to an email, document or photo on your computer.

Mydocs is a free service provided by ePrint via the Skyline Hosted service. You can register at www.mydocs.eprintnow.com for your personal on line document share and PDF service.

Perhaps you want to combine a few documents together to make up a report before sending it to a colleague. Alternatively you may just want the convenience of a free on-line PDF conversion service to ensure that it is formatted correctly for printing

Whilst the jury is still out on whether we are reaching the end of the line for traditional libraries, what is not in debate is our need to create spaces for exchanging information and documents. For many companies and organisations online documents are a localised, team sharing requirement.