MIS: the core of a successful team

Winning is fun. 

We’re taught at a young age that as long as you do your best, that’s all that counts. That may be true, but let’s keep it real – we still want the win. Especially in business. 

Business leadership is a lot like coaching a winning sports team:  putting the right people with the right tools in the right places at the right times.  

Developing the individual skillsets, advancing the team’s progress and most importantly, watching our customers succeed is the win. But as with any high-performing team and workflow, success does not happen by accident. By evaluating and transforming the way you work and adding the right tools while cultivating your team members’ and processes’ strengths, you will contribute to your team’s overall achievements. 

Before you start building out your team, you need to understand the core. 

In any print organization, the Management Information Systems (MIS) is at the heart of your operations: online ordering, scheduling, estimating, order management, soft proofing, fulfillment… the most successful print organizations wouldn’t be winning without it. 

Where Do You Start?

MIS is the heartbeat of your business. Think of it as a mission-control for all your business operations. 

Your workflow isn’t a single person or function.  It’s the sum of the parts between the people you chose, the training you offer, and most importantly, the tools you provide for the overall team success. You certainly need had a strategy and a commitment to building and cultivating the right team with the proper training. And ultimately, those people need the right tools to win, so be sure to work that into the plan as early as possible. 

The Team

Business leadership is a lot like coaching a sports team: every person has a specific job to do, and with a plan, the right people, and the equipment they need, the team reaches their goal. 

Does anybody wake up thinking – ‘I don’t mind losing today,’ or ‘we don’t need any more sales, we’re good’? 

A successful team is made up of contributors who are not perfect but are willing to learn. They understand the end goal and their role in the big picture. 

The Training

It’s pointless to invest in the right tools for your people if you aren’t going to provide the right training and then set a continual improvement process. Success means benchmarking, assessing and optimizing your tools for each individual, team and process. 

Make it easy on yourself by selecting tools that are simple to understand, easy to use, and have ongoing training available. 

As with any new application, you want to optimize your investment and having a training program that onboards the team then keeps them at their best is the smart path to success.  

The Tools

Yes, MIS can be complicated – but Ricoh’s Avanti Slingshot Print MIS is not. Get technology that puts people first. 

Avanti Slingshot offers built-in intelligence that provides real-time information when and where you need it. It can be accessed anywhere, at any time and from any internet-enabled device, giving you the flexibility to get the answers you need, even when you’re ‘on the go.’ 

The platform is scalable, so it properly supports companies of all sizes, from sole proprietor shops to franchise operations to multi-company, multi-division and multi-plant operations. Where other print MIS solutions force you to conform your processes and workflows to the software, Avanti Slingshot is built to provide flexibility and the ability to adjust to your unique business processes, people and needs. 

The tools you choose are team members, and your MIS at the centre of your operations. There is simply no other way to win without it. We can help.