Gaining the proper insight and making sure the right people understand individual roles is critical to making sure an enterprise labeling solution is running optimally and that the business is getting the most out of an investment.
Given the mission critical nature of labeling, companies can’t afford downtime or anything that slows or impacts production. When companies are looking for assistance, they need answers that are timely and accurate. Also, for many organizations with continuous operations, they require that those answers be available 24/7/365. No business wants to be faced with a production down issue, while waiting for Monday morning to resolve a printer issue. This is why it is essential to partner with someone who fully understands and can troubleshoot the labeling. This provider must know how to react quickly and efficiently regardless of the day or time and independent of where your business is in the world. The only way to get the right answers at the right time is to partner directly with the solution manufacturer since they know the solution inside out.
A smooth transition to support is an essential part of the post-implementation hand-off from services. This must be a two-way transition. Users need to know who to call, when to call, and what to expect from the technical support center. On the other hand, the technical support team needs to know and have documented every detail of a company’s implementation. They need to know what components in use, what integrations are at play, details about the print hardware environment, any other nuances from the implementations as well as who the key contacts are for the labeling solution at the company.
Without the right type of technical support and a solid understanding of the solution and its technologies, companies put continuous operations at risk and may lose valuable time and energy troubleshooting issues. This is why it’s key to have access to technical support with extensive knowledge of the solution and its capabilities, backed up by a knowledge base, and an integrated team from software engineering. In addition to technical depth, the support team must appreciate that downtime is expensive, and that, when a customer in distress calls, responsiveness matters.
With all of today’s regulatory and compliance issues that have an impact on labeling, providers should have specialized, industry specific knowledge. These regulations and emerging standards are impacting a wide range of industries around the world and labeling is a specific area where constant change is necessary to comply with evolving requirements. Companies need solutions/providers that will assist them in meeting compliance so they can avoid fines, disruptions to the supply chain, and loss of business.
Thornton has over 25 years management experience in the printing and labeling industries and is currently the director of technical services and support at Loftware. Reach him at [email protected].
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