Offer "Self Managed" Project Workspace Solutions to Your AEC Clients

The document management needs of the AEC marketplace are changing and reprographers who fail to acknowledge these changes will be challenged to survive in the years ahead.

Over the last several years we have seen more and more AEC end-users starting to adopt low-cost file sharing tools that are diminishing the needs and value of traditional reprographic offerings, even On-line Plan Rooms.

Owners, GC’s, Sub’s and Design Professionals are aggressively moving towards using self managed solutions for distributing critical project information to project stake holders. Many are choosing to use CD’s, E-mail, FTP and web-based technologies like: BaseCamp, iSqft, SmartBidNet, Yousendit, BoxNet, DropBox, FileGenius, and a slew of others products to share and exchange project documents digitally.

Questions that you need to ask :

1. If you are experiencing these workflow changes with your key clients, what are you doing to stay relevant?
2. Does your existing plan room offering meet the needs of your clients today?
3. Are you having a difficult time getting your customers to pay for your plan room services?

Many plan rooms offered by reprographers today are mostly Repro-Centric (developed by reprographers for managing files at the repro-shop along with a web component for end-users to view and order prints and digital files). Although plan rooms are still a valuable offering from reprographers, I hear almost every day that posting and organizing documents into plan rooms is being done at a loss or with the hope of future print or download orders. This is a very risky business model for reprographers!

AEC end-users who were once comfortable using plan rooms and paying for digital services are now resisting paying for these tools and services and are now requesting the use of these services for free (due mainly to some repro companies who have not charged for digital services or subscriptions to their plan rooms). Others are just not interested in using plan rooms at all and are looking at using inexpensive managed file transfer (MFT) solutions mentioned above; by-passing the reprographer all together.

If you are struggling to overcome these challenges you might want to take a look at what PlanWell's Development Team  has been working on to respond to these new paradigms.

The reality is, many AEC end-users want the ability to manage and distribute project information themselves. More and more, Project Managers are asking for tools that simplify the process of notifying and distributing documents to select team members.

Reprographers who respond by offering these capabilities will have an opportunity to remain valuable to their AEC customers. Reprographers who fail to introduce these capabilities will be overlooked by the AEC community because the services they offer are not relevant to the workflow needs of today!

To learn more about The “New PlanWell Solution” click here:

Sincerely

Shaun Meany

PEiR to Power Sales with New 2011 Theme

Over the last few years The PEIR Group has used centralized themes to help our members focus and rally their businesses toward facing specific trends, challenges and practices in the reprographics industry.

In 2010 our theme was Innovate 2010. The idea behind this theme was to help our members and us (The PEiR Group) to review and assess how things were being done in all key functional areas of our businesses and to identify areas that could be run more efficient or ways that our customers could be better served.

Many of you were innovators on a variety of fronts: introducing new products and services to existing customers; identifying new markets and clients to serve were some of the most successful innovative approaches we observed in 2010.

In 2009 and 2008 our theme was Strategic Moves. What strategic moves were made back then you may ask? Many reprographers recognized the need to position their companies towards subcontractors and general contractors. Others realized the need to move into display graphics and make investments in flatbed printers and electronic cutters.

As we look back over the last 12 months, I think you will all agree, 2010 was one hell of a year for reprographic companies and their AEC customers!

In the US, many reprographers experienced double digit declines in revenues due to the Great Recession. Some repro firms were fortunate in 2010 and had small declines or in some cases small increases in sales. In talking with those company owners who reversed the industry trends most attributed their good fortune to their unique markets and/or their diverse mix of customers and services.

Throughout 2010 the recession had a major impact on all sectors of the Global Economy. In the US, the unemployment rate began the year at 10% and remained steady for most of the year. Just recently the economy is beginning to show signs of growth—however it is not coming from the AEC marketplace.

The US construction industry’s unemployment rate began 2010 at 24.7% (highest on record since 1976) and ended the year somewhere around 18% (the highest of any industry and roughly double the overall unemployment rate).

The Architectural and Design community also suffered significantly in 2010. Unemployment statistics for architects indicate that approximately 13% of all architects are unemployed and in some communities, like Phoenix, 20% of the architects are unemployed. As the year progressed the AIA’s outlook for Architects was mixed; November Architect Billing Index began to climb to 46 but in December the index dropped 3 points to 43 (indicating that there are still more building jobs finishing than starting).

So what is in store for reprographers in 2011? The beginning of a whole new business cycle (recovery)! The big run up in construction projects has ended and the new normal is what we can expect. This means projects will begin to be reintroduced to investors, design firms will begin doing a lot more preliminary project design, construction companies will be going anywhere they need to, to find new projects and, everyone will be in need of marketing and sales support.

In order for reprographers to be successful in 2011 and beyond, they will need to stay close to their existing customers, prospect for new customers and new projects and develop new products and services that are relevant and purposeful to the project stake holders.

Reprographers must realize that technology (digital files and the internet) has disrupted the reprographics industry; new digital workflows are being implemented throughout the project life-cycle and as a result drastically reducing the need for prints. Reprographers who think that print volumes will return, as in past economic recoveries, will be in for a real shock.

So what should a reprographer do? Reprographers need to have a sales culture that empowers their employees to sell other stuff besides printing. What stuff and how?  We will get to this in later posts!

I think we all agree sales are the key to your company’s success. If you noticed (above) sales and marketing is key for your customer’s success also. So if we all agree sales is vital for success; how do we learn to be more effective at selling and at the same time helping our customers become more successful?

This is where our theme of SalesPower2011 comes into play.

The PEiR Group will be sharing strategies and offering training programs to help improve your overall sales effectiveness. However, in order to be successful in sales, it is essential to have the right products and services that your customers are looking for. So in addition to sales help, The PEiR Group will be sharing ideas and strategies for selling the right combination of products and services that will help your customers be more successful!

So let’s not dwell on the past and let’s get out and talk to our customers and prospects and find out what they are doing and identify some of the challenges that they are facing and how you are postioned to help solve them.

Happy New Year...Shaun Meany

On the Road with Fellow Reprographers (Part 1) BIM

Over the last month and a half I have been traveling to a variety of regions in North America, visiting with reprographers and learning about their challenges and what they are doing to position their companies for the future.

In my next few articles in “Point of View” I will be sharing some of my observations and experiences from these trips along with some updates on what the PEiR Group will be doing to help our members develop strategies to grow their businesses.

In late September I went to San Diego to attend the (WRA) Western Reprographics Association annual convention. The attendance was light but the networking opportunities were great and some of educational sessions were extremely interesting.

One educational session I found most enlightening was a presentation on BIM (building information modeling) from Chuck Goodman from iPda (integrated Process design associates). Chuck’s company, iPda, is a design firm that has been working with BIM for several years and has developed a BIM solution that helps owners, AEC firms and others; leverage the technologies and processes used with BIM. iPda helps project stakeholders strategize on how to implement BIM so that the benefits of BIM can be maximized in all stages of a project’s lifecycle (design, bid, build and operate).

Today many in our industry think that software tools like Revit, Bentley Microstation or Graphisoft are BIM but in reality they are just that, tools.

When implemented properly, BIM can save owners millions. BIM helps design and construction companies build a project virtually which allows project team members to do a variety of “what if’s” before a single hole is dug in the ground; eliminating change orders, reducing inventory and material costs, conducting water and electrical cost analysis, scheduling labor more accurately and a whole lot more. A few of the biggest issues that many who want to embrace BIM are struggling with are:

• Knowledgeable personnel capable of understanding and implementing BIM.
• Multiple tools are used to develop BIM projects and there is a technological challenge of making these various tools all work in one model. i\If BIM is to become truly effective there is a necessity for the software tools to interoperate.  That means that the BIM model needs to be accessed and  updated by multiple disciplines regardless of the software manufacture (Autodesk, Bentley, Graphicsoft) .
• BIM Models are huge and to be effective they need to have the abilitiy for all team members to access the model, so it can be kept up to date with all pertinent data.  

Possible Solutions

BIM Knowledge Transfer and Technology Outsourcing Services 

Companies like iPda offer expertise and outsourcing of personnel to help owners, designers and contractors ramp up and implement BIM. As reprographers we need to position ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities to team with companies like iPda to market their services to our own clients; TOS (Technology Outsourcing Services).

IFC

To address the need for multiple team members to update the BIM model with various preferred software tools, a new file format has been developed, its called IFC.  The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) data model is a neutral and open specification that is not controlled by a single vendor or group of vendors. It is an object oriented file format with a data model developed by buildingSMART - an international alliance of built environment sector professionals, contractors, suppliers and client groups who promote the benefits of interoperability and open standards for information sharing in the building industry, and is a commonly used format for Building Information Modeling (BIM). The IFC model specification (ISO-PAS 16739) is available at http://www.iai-tech.org/.

BIM Servers

BIM models are huge and multiple team members need to securely access, add, change and delete sections of the model as needed. In the not too distant future there will be a need for a provider to host and manage BIM models in the Cloud. As an industry reprographers are perfectly positioned to offer BIM Hosting Services but, it will require us to understand BIM and the technologies required to support this initiative and, how do we can charge for these services.

I will continue to add more about my travels so please check back on a regular basis.

Sincerely, Shaun Meany

From the Road with Fellow Reprographers (Part 2) Color in Construction

This is my second article related to my recent roads trips around the country. If you read my previous post you learned that I have been attending a variety of industry events along with visiting with reprographers to learn about their challenges and their strategies for success in the future.

As I promised, I am sharing some of the more valuable information I learned along the way and at the same time I want to reinforce the message that there are opportunities “still to be had” in these challenging economic times.

I recently headed to Dallas, Texas to attend the Central Reprographics Association  (CRA) Conference. Overall the attitude of the attendees was fairly optimistic, a little better than those who attended the WRA in San Diego. The attendance was a bit light but there was good educational material presented and there were plenty of opportunities to network and exchange ideas.

Like I said, the educational sessions were great. There were several educational sessions that I attended but the presentation from Peter Lawrence (Océ) Where's the Color? Sales Opportunities in the construction project lifecycle was particularly insightful!

Peter is a very knowledgeable guy and has been around this industry for some time, since the days of PageMasters. It was interesting to hear his perspective on where he sees the applications and benefits of color for the construction industry.

Peter sees color being used in several areas in construction:

1. Construction documents that are produced in color can be more accurate and more trustworthy; color can transform rich 3D data set into a powerful guide for the installers.
2. Color can reduce errors by 80%.  Color can reduce direct costs (errors and changes) and also the associated litigation cost of errors and omissions.
3. The Document coordination process might be much easier to tackle if the construction documents were in color.
4. Scan As Built’s in color; these hard-copy records usually have color mark-ups and notes (color markers. pens or pencils) about changes that were made over time. Capturing this color data is critical for records keeping purposes.

As an industry we need to help educate our customers on the benefits of using color. If you are interested in learning more about the opportunities for color in the construction industry please visit Peter’s blog at http://colorforconstruction.com/.

Shaun

End of a Decade

Woo, what a wild ride the last decade gave the reprographics industry. I thought it might be fun to look back over the last ten years and highlight some of what I thought were the most memorable or maybe the most impactful events that occurred.

• Death of the Blueprint Machine
• No More Vellums
• No Large Format Cut Sheets Inventoried
• Azon who?
• 18-22 “D” PPM LED Large Format Plain Paper Plotters
• Plotting tools like ReproDesk and PLP made Plotting more of a Commodity
• Buzzsaw Collaboration and Plans & Specs were going to eliminate the need for Reprographics
• Project Control Transferred from the Architect to the Owner’s CM or General Contractor
• Océ overtakes Xerox in Engineering Systems
• HP acquires Indigo and ColorSpan
• Death of the Monochrome Inkjet Plotter
• GSA and US Army Corp of Engineers mandates Electronic Bid Sets
• American Reprographics taken Public and Traded on NYSE "ARP"
• Introduction to On-line Plan Rooms
• IRgA issues Best Practice “ Reprographers need to charge for digital services”
• Fewer Pick-ups due to Electronic Orders
• Manufacturers introduce Lower Cost Wide Format Machines
• More FM Placements
• Design moves from 2D to 3D CAD and BIM
• Flatbed Printers and Electronic Cutters Introduced
• Decline of Centralized Printing Volumes (Distribute and Print vs Print and Distribute)
• Green Sustainability and LEEDS
• Double Digital Growth of Half Size Printing
• Smaller Print Shops
• Projects Delivery Methods Moving Toward Design Build or IPD
• Océ Merges with Canon

As you start thinking about all of the significant changes that took place in the reprographics industry over the 10 years it is important to keep in mind that change will continue to occur but at a much faster pace.

I am sure I just scratched the surface on the various changes that occurred in our industry, if you would like to add to the list please make your comments below and share your thoughts about the last 10 years.

Happy New Year


Shaun

“Are You Truly a Digital Reprographer?”

I know many of you will quickly respond with a resounding “yes” if I were to ask you: “Are you a Digital Reprographer?”

Sure, all your printers are digital, all the hardcopy originals you print are digitally converted (scanned) to electronic files but does that make you a truly digital reprographer?

I would say that some of you are not.

Why? Ask yourself and your colleagues; “what is it that we offer your customers?” Most reprographers will say “printing and other related printing services.” But a digital reprographer would say something like: “Our business serves the design and construction industry. We manage and distribute critical digital information to project teams. The information we manage is stored electronically and is distributed in a variety of mediums which can include paper, CD/DVD, email and the Internet. Our business requires huge investments in digital technologies and training so we can help our customers (owners, architects, engineers, contactors, subs and suppliers) get their critical project related information in whatever format they want it, when they want and where they want it.”

Whew. That was a mouthful, wasn’t it? But it's true.

If a customer called you today to get critical time sensitive project documents to various project team members in five cities across the North America how would you handle that request? If you are like most reprographers you would offer to print all the documents in-house and ship the packages overnight using an express shipping company like FedEx. But consider this: How much of the total revenue in the print and distribute model is going to you the reprographer and how much of the revenue is going outside of the industry and to the express shippers?

Digital reprographers offer customers an alternative (distribute and print model) which gives them the power to remote print these documents within a “community” of digital reprographers who print and deliver these documents, in many cases the same day.

The same day. In every city. For less than it would cost using tradition methods. In this distribute and print model, 100 percent of the revenue stays in the reprographics industry. Printing is priced at a premium but total costs are less than those incurred with the print and distribute model.

The “distribute and print model” is the future of the reprographics business and the principle behind a new service and technology called, simply “ishipdocs.”

ishipdocs is scheduled to be launched at the upcoming IRgA convention in Pittsburgh, PA on April 30-May 1.

To help PEiR Group members become more familiar with the concept behind this new service we hosted a webinar highlighting the key features, advantages and benefits. It was well received. So well received, in fact, that we are hosting another. If you could not make the first webinar the second will be held on Thursday April 23rd at 9 a.m. Pacific.

ishipdocs is an exciting new service that you’ll want offer your AEC and Non-AEC customers who need to distribute critical time sensitive information outside of your local market.

They save money, you make money, and a lot of the usual headaches that come with the traditional distribution model are avoided entirely (more on that later!).

To sign up click HERE.

You'll be thankful you did!


Sincerely,

Shaun Meany