convincing users to buy laser printers 5

[shoalcreek]

I imagine I don't have to convince anyone here. But in the office, I still find it difficult to convince users to buy laser printers, instead of inkjets.

Last week, I sent a little sheet to a user. I showed her how many pages she would get per inkjet cartridge and how many pages she would get per laser cartridge. I also showed her the cost per page and that the inkjet would cost twice as much per page. She wasn't convinced and still wanted to buy the allegedly "cheaper" inkjet, which would actually be more expensive.

How do you convince users to buy laser printers? I personally can't believe that inkjet printers are still around. PT Barnum was right--there's a sucker born every minute.

 

[kmcferrin]

I doubt that the user in particular has much use for color.

But do you know? Did you actually find out what their color needs are, or did you just decide that since you don't think that they have a need for color that a laser is a better choice? Lots of people in accounting/finance end up printing charts and graphs, and those usually do need color.

Even if they don't have a strong business case for a color printer, is it the end of the world if they get a color printer?

As a tech, I was hired by the CEO of this company to do what I think is best overall for the company. It went against all my integrity as a tech to order an inkjet printer. I presented the information the best I could. I didn't want to argue because it wasn't my budget, and I am still quite new here.

Actually, you were probably hired by the CEO to do routine technical work. You might think that firing someone would be best overall for the company, but I doubt that you have the authority to do so. More to the point, if you are still quite new there how do you know what's best overall for the company?

You say the person only works part time, so how much printing do they do? The laser printer is almost 3 times the cost of the inkjet, including supplies. If the difference is only 5 cents a page and they only print 20 pages a week, then it will be over a year before having the laser printer begins saving money (assuming that they don't need color, of course). But did you also take into account the fact that most laser printers also have a maintenance kit that needs to be replaced at regular intervals? That also adds to the cost.

As you progress in your IT career you will discover that there are some battles worth fighting, and others not. In this case letting someone have a cheap color printer probably doesn't hurt in the long run. The biggest mistake that people in IT make is in thinking that they know everything. They often times think that just because their solution is technically accurate or correct that it must therefore be the "right" or "best" solution. That is often not the case. The key to a long and successful career (in most fields) is being able to recognize when that is happening and adapting to it.



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[svanels]

Maybe the person has to print the expenses of the IT payroll in [COLOR=red yellow]red[/color], because the boss likes it.

Steven

 

[wlfpackr]

wlfpack, I disagree, the company can't be your customer, because you are employed by the company. If you are an outsider providing service... that is something else.
Any handbook on quality control, certification etc.. will second that.
The customer is every person you work for. If you don't respect their opinion, they will not respect yours.
By the way respecting the opinion of others does not necessarily means agreement.

Not sure where you're going with the "any handbook on QC" would agree with you comment. None of our policies/handbooks/mission statements, etc use that approach. Ours basically preach providing highest quality at the best cost to weed out wasteful expenditures. Heck we're forced to work on time/cost cutting projects once a quarter. Surely we're not the only company that does this?

Besides, how much stock should you put into an uninformed opinion anyway? Users come and go with regularity. No need wasting a company's funds on some average Joe User that probably won't be around. I've got plenty of users that say I should go to Linux or Macs b/c they're better. They have no clue the costs and problems that would cause. Should I listen to my customers? Where do you draw the line and who decides where it's drawn?

shoalcreek, keep up the good fight. Use your common sense and the knowledge you have to make the company better. You won't always win every fight, but you'll more than likely get rewarded at some point in the future for it. It's the exact reason why I'm in the position I'm in today. Not saying you should go around and rock the boat and piss people off, but anytime you see a better way to do things that can save time and/or money you should bring it to someone's attention that has a say so in the matter.

=================
There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that do not.

 

[svanels]

Any handbook on quality, certification, ISO etc.. will say 3 things:
supplier - product - customer

You deliver a product/service, can be internal, or external, the customer is the reason of your existence.

Besides, how much stock should you put into an uninformed opinion anyway?

We don't even know the size of the company, nor what is their core business, it is only one IT guy, maybe they don't even have internal e-mail, or a "store", maybe 75% of the people is on a part-time contract. Does one printer out of paper will bring the whole business to a stop or will the owner lose revenue or business opportunities?
I doubt that printers are part of the critical processes necessary to generate "money" for the business.

Steven

 

[CajunCenturion]

As a tech, I was hired by the CEO of this company to do what I think is best overall for the company.

If you presented your case to the end-user, and to the appropriate powers that be, then you did your job.

I presented the information the best I could.

Then again, you've done your job.

It went against all my integrity as a tech to order an inkjet printer.

Was it your decision to select the printer? It doesn't sound like it. Your integrity does, and should, drive the first two points. Up until the decision has been made, it's your job to present your case, present the pertinent data, express your opinions - fine and good; but once the decision is made, and it sounds like you did just that. However, once the decision is made, I think you should stand behind and support the decision. It's no longer your job to question the decision; it's your job to support the decision. Make it work.

There will be many times in your professional career where decisions will be made that you don't agree with, and I know you know that. I don't understand why you're getting so worked up over a printer decision, which in the big scheme of things, is fairly insignificant.

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[shoalcreek]

I don't understand why you're getting so worked up over a printer decision, which in the big scheme of things, is fairly insignificant.

You are right about that.

 

[Kjonnnn]

We didnt support Inkjet printers. And the company didnt suppose order inkjet cartridges without special permission. That did the trick for the most part.

 

[gbaughma]

Wow.... a couple of interesting comments made, that I'd like to comment back on.

Your customer is the company you work for, not a single user.

I couldn't disagree more. Everyone has both internal and external customers. If you think that users are not your customers, then your boss is probably going to be looking to replace you at some point.

As an IT person, you are hired to support THE USERS in performing their jobs. To make them more efficient, with less down-time. It's not an IT person's job to dictate what users can and cannot do in their jobs. And, unless you're in charge of the budget, it's not an IT person's job to deny people the ability to do their jobs. (That's the accountant's job).

Let's look at it this way. If I were the IT person at a hospital, would I dictate to a doctor what he did and didn't need to do his job? I don't think so. I am not qualified to make that judgment.

In this particular case, the user is someone who does accounting work. She doesn't need color at all.

What qualifies you to say that? Are you an accountant with more experience than her?

Every accountant that I have ever worked with wants color. Either inkjet or laser. I would imagine that she does as well. Accountants show loss lines in red. Hence the term "In the black" or "In the red", which have their roots in accounting. Black means a positive balance, red means a negative one.

In some companies, one way to "force" them to go to the laser prints is to impose a rule whereby the user/department buying a printer also has to buy supplies for 6-12 month worth of printing.

Once again.... unless it's your budget, forcing a user to do anything is not your place.

I think that the thing to remember here is that we are here to support the users. [bold]Our Customers[/bold]. Anyone who thinks that the users are not our customers are in the wrong field.

Remember... if the user can't do their job, and you're dragging your feet, or putting up resistance to resolve their issue, that that is YOUR SALARY plus THEIRS that is wasted.

Shoalcreek, I found it interesting the part of CajunCenturion's quote (a person whom I respect) wasn't the pertinent one. The one you should have read and quoted was:

However, once the decision is made, I think you should stand behind and support the decision. It's no longer your job to question the decision; it's your job to support the decision. Make it work.

Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[audiopro]

That must be so frustrating for the company IT guy when the suits make a decision which is going to cost them more than the alternative.
I am not sure how I could cope with that situation.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> That must be so frustrating for the company IT guy when the suits make a decision which is going to cost them more than the alternative.
Are you factoring in both hard costs and soft costs?

How frustrating is it for the rest of the company when some IT person makes a decision that is going to make their job harder than it needs to be?

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Good Luck
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[gbaughma]

People just need to remember that the "IT Guy" is there to keep computers running and support users.

Based on what I read of shoalcreek, he is in the *wrong* business with his attitude.


Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[fredericofonseca]

IT guy may be there to support users, but IT department has the responsibility of supplying and making sure the items supplied are the best suited for the business.

There is no point in the IT department buying a HUGE 400 pages per min printer, if the company only needs one that does 20 ppm.

And printers do need to be maintained and this falls into the IT department area and resources, so having 200 printers over the company or having 20 does make a huge difference, so it is up to the IT department to impose and decide on the type of printers that best suit the business.

Except on very rare occasions (higher managers one of them, due mainly to confidentially required), there is no need for a individual user to have its own printer (being it colour or not).
Having a colour printer for each individual department also depends on the size of the department. if you have 10 departments with 10-20 people only, having one colour per department is most likely not the best if they are within the same physical area. Having a bigger printer can satisfy the colour needs of 2-3 such departments (or even more).


Regards

Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd

http://www.syssoft-int.com

FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[svanels]

We don't know the size of the company, how many printers, how many people, but IMHO the whole math for justifying was too simplistic, comparing the "cost per page" from some article in a magazine.... and base business decisions on that.
Any case must be analyzed with is own constraints and circumstances.

Steven

 

[tnphoneman]

The real cost per page depends on the usage of the printer.

You are discussing $65 vs $170 and with your example that person would need to print 1400 pages just to equal the amount paid for the laser printer and one cartridge versus the ink jet and 8 cartridges. If they print less than 1400 pages per year then the total cost per page would be less with the inkjet even though the cartridges print less.

In a head to head competition I agree that the laser is cheaper per page but you have to look at the real world use. If this user is a low volume user then the inkjet might very well be the cheaper route.

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