Should MPS Providers Hire Psychiatrists?
Summary: The multi-function printer (MFP) device is the new water cooler and serves as a meeting place as much as a printer. A good MPS plan has to factor in the human element. There are the neat freaks, the clueless, the control freaks, and the know-it-alls. Each one interacts with the machine on a unique level and is likely to have a slightly different experience.
Doc is wondering when the Managed Print Service (MPS) suppliers out there are going to start promoting their psychiatric services. Everyone knows most organizations are dysfunctional, and you can only go so far in planning and implementing an MPS program before you run into the “people” problem.
The multi-function printer (MFP) device is the new water cooler and serves as a meeting place as much as a printer. A good MPS plan has to factor in the human element. There are the neat freaks, the clueless, the control freaks, and the know-it-alls. Each one interacts with the machine on a unique level and is likely to have a slightly different experience.
Doc is somewhat of a specialist in studying how people can screw things up, so he knows how difficult it is to design an interface that works for all the different people you find in a modern office. Avoiding paper jams seems like a piece of cake in comparison.
I know the big guys in MPS have, indeed, studied human behavior and many of them probably have specialists on staff that can predict all the personalities you’re likely to encounter at a typical office. This capability, it seems to me, is just as important as how quickly a supplier can get a toner cartridge delivered or how much each copy costs.
In Doc’s experience, the people are the variable in the big MPS equation. You can plot out on paper exactly how an MPS system should work, but if you don’t take personalities into account, it may not function in real life.
Take Doc, for instance. I’m the guy who can never remember that the good paper goes in drawer 3. Or is it 2?
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ZDNet introduces Doc (The DocuMentor), sponsored by RICOH. Through his blog, Doc will educate you about Document Management. So who is Doc? Doc is something of an enigma. He was born to a Russian ballerina and a German electrical engineer who some believe was running covert operations for shadowy corporate interests. Doc grew up in various locations in the United States, although no one seems to know precisely where, least of all Doc. His early schooling was unremarkable except for the time he was caught trying to replace all the mimeograph machines with high-tech color copiers that had mysteriously disappeared from a shipment to Albania. At MIT, he made a name for himself by transforming a large printer into a robot that hunts and eats Roombas. Professionally, he reportedly has seen the insides of more brands, versions, and generations of printer and printer-related hardware than almost anyone. Some say his obsession with paper, printing, and mechanical movement was either started by, or evidenced by, a traumatic childhood episode when he crawled inside an old Xerox 2400 and tried to print himself.
Anyway, Doc has hands on experience with stuff like printer maintenance and fleet management, but his mastery of document management leaves no stone unturned. Important issues like sustainability, security, and regulatory compliance are top of mind for Doc, as are other business technology needs like networking and IT services, making him a true blue IT renaissance man.
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