We're thrilled to announce that Novell iPrint won a Mobile Star Award for best Mobile #Printing for Enterprises! http://t.co/xb7bg5PUgr
— Micro Focus Collaboration (@MicroFocusColab) December 20, 2013
First of all, congrats to Novell on winning the award. From the looks of it, iPrint is getting some well-needed accolades for the work they have been putting in. I’m looking forward to playing with it soon myself.
When I retweeted that link today the back of my head was screaming PRINTING IS DEAD as loud as it could. I had to ignore it and retweet it anyway because if there is one thing I have learned over the past few years it is that printing might be dying, but it is not dead and printing will still be a vital part of any organization for a while to come.
As people steeped in technology, we might see the end coming and might even be able to get there ahead of others. However, if we want to bring everyone else along for the ride we need to do a few things:
- Stop yelling that it is going to happen.
- Figure out what problems your current solution is not solving for them.
- Solve those problems BETTER than their current solution.
You need to respect the people you are working with first because you’re not going to find out why they are doing what they are doing until they are willing to sit down and open up with you. Then work to solve those problems in a manner better than they are already doing. People aren’t going to give up their solution until it is worse in some way that affects them directly and painfully.
Then everyone is happy!
2 replies on “Bringing the Change”
Printing may not be dead, but it’s still a good strategy to work to find ways to decrease the costs and manage it effectively. It’s one of those hidden costs that people don’t fully appreciate because it’s just “supplies”. We order them at will without much thought.
iPrint is a fantastic service. it gives you so many capabilities that most print servers don’t give you out of the box. That’s another Novell product I miss.
Exactly, but you need to replace what they were doing with something better. That’s the gist of the article. Mandating change can bring contempt towards many people. Offering change through better solutions will bring about a more positive relationship.