We’ve all experienced the ‘light bulb’ moment when we realise that an Excel spreadsheet we’ve relied on for years can be replaced by a dynamic, automatically-generated report.
Sure, it’s a bit annoying when you realise how often you’ve been left frustrated by the time taken to create static reports of this kind, but the benefits of discovering an automated equivalent are significant.
Here’s why it’s time to stop using static print reports and switch instead to user analytics:
(The image above is example data from User Analytics to demonstrate recharging)
From two days to twenty minutes
Let’s take a look at a genuine example of the difference user analytics can make to a business operating in the architectural industry.
This particular business has multiple sites across the UK and, as you would expect given the nature of their work, there’s an awful lot of printing undertaken by users each week.
That means a lot of recharging across each site, too.
Before the introduction of user analytics, the responsibility of print recharging lay on the shoulders of either an office or finance manager, who would spend two days each month calculating the cost of printing.
The number of sites involved is partly why it took so long, but the real issue was the method used to compile the information. It involved delving into disparate reports for each site and manually entering data into a spreadsheet.
Apart from the time required to undertake such a task, the manual nature of it meant there were numerous points of failure which could easily result in unreliable ROI calculations.
Clearly, this wasn’t sustainable, and after implementing user analytics, the business was able to rely instead on a live feed of data from each site. The cost of printing was suddenly fed into a single report automatically, thus consigning the original spreadsheets to the trash can.
The result? A job that once took two days every month was suddenly achievable in just twenty minutes.
Accessing information that’s already there
It’s simple when you put it like that, isn’t it?
The power of user analytics lies in simplicity. In our example above, the architectural firm had the data to hand for each site - it simply lacked the ability to collate it quickly and accurately.
User analytics enables you to use the data that’s already being captured by your MPS. It’ll help you drive down costs, improve processes and eliminate bad printing behaviour.
An introduction to User Analytics: