Most businesses need print management and document capture solutions, regardless of their size. However, SMEs in particular can benefit from the right solutions in terms of cost savings and flexibility.
SMEs tend to be concerned about protecting cashflow and maintaining flexibility for growth. This necessary focus on cashflow can sometimes prevent SME owners from investing in solutions that can, in the long term, help boost their business performance. Print management and document solutions provide clear benefits, such as reduced costs, increased security, productivity, and ability to innovate, without requiring significant changes to the print infrastructure.
There are three ways SMEs can make print management and document solutions work for them:
1. Protect cashflow and access the latest technology
It can be challenging for SMEs to access the latest technology due to typically high costs, long contracts, and fewer suitable options. However, with subscription-based pricing on software and support, SMEs can implement the latest print management and document capture technology without a significant upfront investment. Using software-as-a-service, SMEs can access technology in new ways, only paying for the features they need today and scaling up as the business grows. Paying monthly or quarterly helps protect cashflow, provides consistent and predictable costs for the finance team, and makes access to technology achievable.
2. Support growth and protect investments
In the past, businesses have had to invest in expensive, monolithic solutions just to access some key features. In practice, this made it impossible for SMEs to access those features because they were priced out of the market. Now, SMEs can access the technology in modules only investing in the parts of solutions they need. This approach helps save money now while positioning the business for future growth. It removes the traditional barriers that prevented SMEs from accessing enterprise-grade software and its benefits.
3. Prepare for the year ahead
Efficiency and productivity are vital in business but can become harder to manage as the business grows. This can be because the business outgrows its existing systems and solutions, because the business’s processes can’t scale up to meet demand, or because it becomes harder to get visibility into costs as the business gets busier and bigger. The key to overcoming these challenges is to find solutions that support the business at every stage of growth. For example, print management and document solutions can streamline previously-manual processes, supporting the business by freeing up key staff to add value rather than re-key information into multiple systems.
The bottom line is that almost no business is too small to benefit from print management and document solutions. An effective print environment can deliver flexibility, security, and productivity to SMEs and help them get ahead in 2018.
Adam O’Neill, Managing Director – Australia, Y Soft
