In-Plant/Data Center Integration
Is your in-plant's future dark? Then illuminate the path ahead. Merge with your data center and let the glow that surrounds them surround you.
THERE IS an old saying: When all signs point to Rome it's time to buy lira and go.
Right now, all signs point to merging the in-plant and the data center.
• The skills required to run data center printing equipment and in-plant printing equipment are increasingly similar. After all, running a DocuTech isn't that different than running a high-speed laser printer.
• The technology involved in running both shops is aligning and networkable.
After all, the data center has traditionally been in the on-demand world and the print industry is rocketing in that direction.
• Corporations are employing company-wide print strategies, saving money by sharing equipment and increasing efficiency. The DocuTech that sits idle for even a moment is wasted. Why not have it work an extra shift printing statistical reports from the data center?
Bob Tierney knows. Tierney, director of print communications operations at Allstate Insurance, merged his Wheeling, Ill., in-plant with Allstate's data center in May, 1995.
"There's no question that this is the way the wind is blowing," Tierney asserts. "And the wind is a gale right now."
One concern in-plant managers have with merging is that they might lose control of their shop. It's natural for a manager to fear ceding control. After all, the biggest threat to in-plants is the facilities management vulture, circling overhead with an eye toward assuming control of and devouring your shop.
It can, however, be a huge benefit to join your Information Technology (IT) department. Partnering with IT may or may not cost you some authority, but it will definitely increase your shop's stability, stature, access to technology and technological expertise—and it will be the best thing for your company.
Tierney bluntly acknowledges that when the two departments merge, IT is often put in charge.
"But it's not a bad thing," he assures. "People focus on losing power, losing authority. But when you sit back after it happens and time passes, you're not only as strong—you're stronger than you were. The reason why is you're now a part of a core process.
"I don't care if you're in insurance, banking, technology or sales—information technology is a core process of that business. Printing is not and never will be. But when you fall under the umbrella of the CIO of your organization, as opposed to the umbrella of administrative operations or facilities services, your prominence grows."
Letting Go
Carol Doffing, formerly of Blue Cross/Blue Shield in St. Paul, Minn., said one good way to take control out of the equation is to recognize it is a secondary issue.
"I had been telling my boss for several years that I saw a need for the data center and printing to start merging," Doffing, former vice president of operations, recalled. "The technology was blending and we really needed to take a look at what economies of scale we could get by merging those areas together. I stated the case that they belong together, then considered who should manage it. I took the emotion out of it at the very front."
Once the change in the infrastructure is accepted you still have to deal with the differing perspectives held by the IT and in-plant departments. Everyone interviewed for this article acknowledged the cultural differences between print shop and data center staff. But they also agreed there is no way through it but to do it.
Letting the staffs interact, organizing meetings and scheduling joint social activities are the most popular and highly recommended courses of action.
Dual-platform Technology
Though handling the politics may be tough, finding a multi-platform device to handle the different files produced by the data center and the print shop can be even more difficult. Equitable of Iowa, in Des Moines, is currently looking for a solution.
"We haven't seen a lot of proven conversions of mainframe printing to DocuTechs," notes Tim Steenhoek, director of printing and distribution services. "So we decided to go the other way and buy a dual-platform printer that will not convert mainframe print but will let us reboot as a mainframe printer."
Steenhoek has the right idea. According to the sources interviewed for this article, a true, production-oriented, multi-platform device ready to handle all MIS and print shop files is still in the future. That means managers have to be prepared, like Steenhoek, to make allowances for the technology.
Listen To The Wind
Rest assured, your CEO will call these problems minor as compared to the economic benefits. That's why you should be the one to suggest it. Ingratiate yourself to upper management by saving the company money. Ingratiate yourself to your employees by saving their futures.
Examples abound:
• William Beaumont Hospital, in Troy, Mich., merged its operations in 1994. Paul Peabody, chief information officer, couldn't be happier with the increased production. In the two years since the merger the shop nearly doubled its number of electronically printed pages—even as it lowered staffing by one, reduced its budget by nearly $40,000 and maintained its space-efficient facility (see sidebar: "Three Who Did It").
• Pittsburg State University, in Pittsburg, Kan., joined its IT and in-plant operations in early July.
"I haven't figured out if I've been promoted or demoted," Director of Printing Services Linda Grilz states. "I'm reporting to a man who had been equal to me on the chain of command. But that's OK because I vowed a long time ago that if this will give printing services long-term security I'm all for it."
Grilz is proud to point out that she will soon be training her staff in everything from Web page design and maintenance to producing CD-ROMs and running and maintaining high-speed printers—all with the help of her new friends from the data center.
The Future
The University of Louisville, where the in-plant and the data center were merged in 1990, is a perfect example of the way the digital future of the print industry begins to look a lot less frightening if you've paired yourself with IT.
"My personal opinion is that offset printing died three or four years ago," former Assistant Vice President Ray Chambers stated, without a trace of remorse or anxiety. "It just doesn't know it yet. That's the reason I say my next press is going to be a CD burner."
Chambers foresaw a migration away from printing, predicting that university marketing professionals, for example, will go digital when they discover that a snazzy, interactive CD-ROM catalog can be produced for less money than it costs to print the same information.
While at U of L, Chambers witnessed this migration first hand. For many years his shop printed a company newsletter. Now they post it on the Web. If a hard copy is requested, someone from Chamber's shop logs on and prints one off the net.
"Learn everything you can about the technology," Chambers urged. "Learn HTML. It's not that difficult. When you sit a bunch of typesetters down and say this is what HTML is they'll say, 'We were doing this 25 years ago.' "