When it comes to the implementation and management of technology solutions, multi-site organisations are faced with a unique set of challenges. These challenges are multiplied when the business in question, has an international presence with offices in multiple countries on multiple continents.
Adopting an integrated approach to rollouts, security, maintenance and management can prove difficult when an organisation spans multiple geographies and time zones. What works on a local basis may not be scalable, especially when compliance obligations vary across jurisdictions. However, attempting to manage multiple local vendors that provide the same service adds unnecessary complexity and risk.
Supply chain challenges come in many shapes and sizes. The more vendors and contracts you have to manage, the more time-consuming the process becomes. If you have vendors and offices in multiple countries, you have the added complexity of dealing in multiple languages and currencies.
Partnering for success
Choosing the right technology service provider can make a world of difference when it comes to transparency, consistency and reliability. If your partner is able to provide a global deployment, with centralised management, it can deliver a wide range of business benefits.
The role of project management within any technology rollout cannot be understated. The larger the deployment, the more essential the planning and execution becomes. More than simply alleviating the pressure on internal resources that have a “day job” to do, the project manager is responsible for quality assurance, the implementation of global standards and, of course, making sure the project is delivered on time and within budget.
A single point of contact for your global support contracts helps deliver a single version of the truth, with a centralised knowledge base and a team of professionals that are intimately familiar with both your product fleet and service agreement. Sunrise to sunset support provides a consistency of service that users will appreciate, and getting to talk to qualified personnel during the first call can help significantly improve early resolution of helpdesk calls. Proactive monitoring and maintenance can play a major role in reducing the number of IT support tickets generated, which can result in significant cost savings.
Agility and scalability have become key watchwords for technology providers. The workplace landscape has changed significantly in recent years, with larger headquartered offices being replaced with smaller offices, often featuring hybrid working, hot-desking and shared workspaces. The ability to rapidly scale a proven deployment and provide the necessary connectivity, applications and security helps contribute towards productivity and accelerates time to value for new facilities.
The final advantage I want to talk about is business intelligence. Centralised management of multiple sites provides a wealth of data for augmentation and analysis. Insight into user behaviour and consumables across a diverse fleet of devices or applications help support better, faster decision-making. It helps identify areas of over or under utilisation, which may deliver further cost savings or help eliminate bottlenecks in critical business workflows. It also helps identify any security or compliance risks and allows for the implementation of global security standards.
About SOS
At SOS Systems we have over 35 years’ experience of deploying and managing large-scale rollouts of printing technology. A Canon Platinum Partner, our professional services team work to Prince2 management standards and are ISO 9001 certified. For more information, email us at info@sossystems.co.uk or give us a call on 01932 562525
