Your purchase of a Print MIS/ERP happens on a certain date. The journey of extracting the return-on-investment from this purchase is ongoing. We tend to overly focus on the event and under focus on the journey. You can manifest the buying event whenever you want. There are an endless number of vendors who are willing to sell you a dream and take your money. There is no limit to the number of times you can experience this event, I’ve seen printers change Print MIS/ERPs SEVEN times!

The event is exciting. Potential and energy are high. “We’re finally going get rid of all our frustrations with our current Print MIS/ERP and move into nirvana with the new system.” I never had children, but this must be what comes over mothers—they forget the pain of childbirth, the sleepless nights, and have more children. My mother had 14 children, I’m still in awe of how she did it. I was 13th and thankful she kept going! Print MIS/ERPs are a little like children: they cost a lot, they keep you up at night, and they force you to evolve along the way.

The journey of truly adopting your Print MIS/ERP as a part of your business family is a true differentiator in the marketplace. Nobody is outcompeting anyone else simply by buying a Print MIS/ERP. The differentiation is all in the journey of extracting the ROI out of the purchase. This is not exciting, nor does it include a lot of features that demonstrate well on a tradeshow floor. You know what determines the ROI more than anything in a Print MIS/ERP? The accuracy of the data in the system. Is the data in your Print MIS trusted by your employees? Accurate data doesn’t demonstrate well on a tradeshow floor. Accurate data is a pain in the butt to get at implementation—you know what I’m talking about. You are asked to fill out data import files to get started with your new Print MIS/ERP implementation. Do you take the time and the skilled labor from your team to make sure that data is absolutely accurate? Sadly, most businesses don’t. They literally spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a Print MIS/ERP and then import inaccurate data to launch it.