FULL STORY
Founded in 1996 above a chip shop in East London, Millnet is now a document management company with a turnover of £9 million, specialising in the production of paper and electronic documents for the legal, financial and professional services markets. Occupying state of the art premises in the heart of the City and also in Leeds, Millnet employs 45 permanent staff, 120 part time operators, and is open 24/7 to satisfy the demands of customers needing fully comprehensive print services around the clock.
Digital printing technology has been key to achieving Millnet's projected year on year growth rate of 10 – 20 per cent, and furthermore, a recently installed Web-to-print solution, EFI Digital StoreFront, has resulted in an overall 60 per cent reduction in admin time, and job submission to production time by 50 per cent. The award-winning Digital StoreFront solution eases print job specification and file handling for the customer while automating workflow at the printer. It offers an end-to-end e-commerce workflow, and features inherent connectivity with other EFI solutions such as Fiery servers.
Millnet's Fiery servers deliver precision colour, consistent high-quality output and workflow innovation, providing such features as the fastest, most open VDP solution; WYSIWYG imposition; and advanced production management tools that optimise the Fiery's power to deliver the fastest output in Millnet's demanding print production environment. And because EFI solutions comply with JDF, PDF, PPML and other open standards, Fiery and Digital StoreFront readily integrate into Millnet's overall print shop operations.
Digital printing technology has greatly impacted Millnet's core business now that the quality of digital output meets the high standards of the company's specific customer base. The time savings offered by digital solutions have enabled the company to grow its business by capitalising on the fast-turnaround times that are imperative to customers in the highly pressured financial and legal markets. Around 40 per cent of jobs undertaken by Millnet, particularly those which are short-run, are now executed in-house on the firm's three Fiery-driven Xerox DocuColor 6060s, and twelve Ricoh black-and-white printers, whilst the remainder (mainly high-volume work) is outsourced to a litho print partner.
Importantly, the instalment of digital technology has allowed Millnet to expand its business offering by undertaking ancillary work for existing customers, such as presentations, proposals, training materials, research reports and shareholder communication. As demand for these products has grown, Millnet realised that an automated, Web-based job submission capability would be invaluable if it could reduce the admin and job-to-print time.
John Walker, director of Millnet, commented, ‘Having had previous experience of working with proprietary Web submission tools, I was aware of the potential impact that such a solution could have internally at Millnet and for our customers. However, products I have known in the past tend to be either very print-centric, which can be baffling for customers not accustomed to print environments, or very complex.
‘Ultimately, we needed a solution that our customers would find simple and easy to use, as well as secure, and customisable. Having experienced great success with our EFI Fiery-powered Xerox 6060s, we decided to contact them about their Web to print solution, EFI Digital StoreFront, as we knew there would be workflow synergies.’
Nikki Murray, Millnet's business development manager commented, ‘Streamlining and demystifying processes across our entire business is a primary objective, whether undertaking legal support work, electronic data gathering, right through to the printing function. It is very important that we simplify workflows and eliminate jargon, as our customers are not always marketeers or print buyers - for example, a city analyst wanting to submit a job for print at 3am, ready for 8am, does not want to be confronted with a complicated process full of terms he/she doesn't understand. Digital StoreFront fits the bill here.’
In Spring 2006, Millnet implemented EFI Digital StoreFront to deliver a complete, streamlined job management and workflow solution, with a personalised, interactive Internet site branded as 'Millnet Online'.
Customers that register with Millnet Online are asked to set their own password and security questions, enter their names and contact details, and agree to terms and conditions. They are prompted to install Digital StoreFront's Print Messenger driver, to allow them to upload files from their system. The customer is then ready to use Millnet Online through this printer driver, just like a Fiery-driven multi function printer down the hall. Print Messenger is based on PDF, so it automatically converts the files into print-ready PDF documents, which are also available to the customer for internal use.
Once a file is attached and job details are specified, such as paper, quantity, and delivery deadline, the job is submitted. The customer receives an automatic email message to confirm that the order has been received. Another email is sent within 30 minutes by a member of Millnet's pre-flight team, to confirm the details of the job and that the deadline will be met, asking the customer to sign-off the delivery charge. The customer then has a named contact to go back to from this point forward.
Walker commented, ‘In the past, a customer would have had to telephone, fax or e-mail Millnet to place an order. Several lengthy conversations might take place during which the job details would be discussed and explained, often with the customer communicating their requirements through a process of elimination. However, human contact is very important to our customers - we emphasise that should customers want to, they can pick up the phone at any time and talk to us. Though, we have seen that once users become accustomed to Millnet Online, they have full confidence in the system and appreciate the time-savings Digital StoreFront enables.’
As well as being an easy-to-use solution, Digital StoreFront removes some of the common, traditional pitfalls from the job ordering process. The fact that customers create their files via the Print Messenger and are able to save them at their end, is an important factor, as Murray explained, ‘Unlike other web to print solutions on the market, EFI includes Adobe software as part of the Digital StoreFront package. The Print Messenger actually does the PDF creation, so it means that we receive all the right fonts, the right resolution, images, and all other specific elements of a job. In the past, we would often receive jobs that might have been put together in various different ways, meaning that the fonts might have been lost and other details would have altered.’
Digital StoreFront will not allow a customer to proceed with an order without attaching the file, so that the simple but frequent problem of a customer emailing a job but forgetting to attach the file and then leaving for the day, is avoided. Instances of this previously caused much frustration both for Millnet and the customer, especially when a job was time-critical. Murray commented, ‘Thanks to Digital StoreFront, we have greatly reduced the time spent trouble-shooting, and jobs are delivered far quicker.’
Digital StoreFront has enabled Millnet to offer a true print on demand service: there are no minimum run lengths, order values, or setup fees for customers using Millnet Online. Walker commented, ‘Some of our customers are analysts, for whom we hold reports electronically. When they sell one, we print one and ship it out, directly to their customer if required. In the past, they would have had to commit to having, say, 50, 100, or 500 printed. Now their cash flow improves, they have no stock and, therefore, no storage costs, and as they have no surplus products they avoid wastage, so the process is also environmentally friendly. They also benefit from the very slick, quick job submission process.’
Whilst Millnet's focus is on serving organisations in the City of London, its online presence has attracted customers outside of this sphere. People find Millnet when they search for digital printing on search engines such as Google, so 'joe public' is becoming a customer of the 'City printer’. Also, Millnet's geographical reach is now infinite - for example, Millnet has a customer in New Jersey with whom they have never met face to face, but who sends regular work via Millnet Online.
Walker commented, ‘This is a really good example of how digital print solutions are developing day by day rather than year by year. These new customers have really helped us to develop our online offering, and consider ways in which we can diversify and appeal to new sectors. For example, producing books for unpublished authors is an area that we might consider tapping into in the future.’
Millnet has also found that Digital StoreFront has been pivotal in gaining additional business from existing customers: those who have always used Millnet to produce a specific product soon realise that they can undertake other jobs too. ‘We are just one of hundreds of printers that might try to contact a particular customer over a period of a year, and maintaining a competitive edge is crucial. Digital StoreFront has been a catalyst in opening a dialogue with new and existing customers about printing needs across their organisations, and once we have a foot in the door, we almost certainly find that we can do more for them.’
The ability to heavily tailor Digital StoreFront has been very important to Millnet. As well as reflecting Millnet's branding, Millnet Online includes a list of print services including terms and language that customers are familiar with. For example, if a contracts manager wants to order a perfect bound proposal, he simply clicks on the relevant icon in the print services section of the site.
Millnet has also taken the ability to customise the service one step further, and provides personalised accounts for different departments within one company. Murray explained, ‘This is the ultimate in ensuring that the job submission process is simple and streamlined for larger organisations, especially in cases where products are frequently re-ordered. Marketing collateral would perhaps be printed on different stock than financial documents, so by only giving the user the correct option for job specifications, the process is quicker and confusion at the customer's end is avoided.’
To gauge how successful Millnet Online is from its customers' point of view, Millnet devised a questionnaire. Murray added, ‘We have had outstandingly positive feedback from our customers, and importantly, we have gathered some great ideas about how this service could be enhanced. The great thing about Digital StoreFront is that it can be heavily tailored to suit our needs, on an ongoing basis.’
Walker summarised, ‘Digital StoreFront not only provides a clear, simple way of walking our customers through a print order, it has helped us grow our business in many ways. Perhaps most importantly, it has enabled us to achieve amazing efficiencies. Now, we have a job delivered back to the customer before it had even arrived at the printer previously. This efficiency has clear benefits to our customers, and has had a hugely positive impact on our productivity as well. We believe that Digital StoreFront has given us a competitive edge, and will be a key attribute in the development of our business in the future.’
© Graphic Repro On-line, 20 October 2006.
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