DO YOU NEED A TECHNICAL DIRECTOR?

Mar 1, 1997 12:00 PM, Kennard S. Cloud

Years ago, the graphic arts was a comfortable place in which to learn a trade. Everyone knew their roles and progressed through extensive journeymen training to hone their skills. As new technology was introduced, manufacturers installed the equipment and trained the operators.

The world today isn't simple, and printers wonder from where the technical expertise to support an increasingly complex business will come?

As the graphic arts industry began to digitize, finding the right skill sets to staff newly defined and expanding prepress organizations became a serious challenge. Craftspeople were willing to learn, but technology was evolving so fast that it became a full-time job just to stay abreast of the changes.

Larger and innovative companies began to add specialized staff trained in computer technology. These individuals helped the company stay ahead of the technology curve, and, soon, these pockets of expertise began to provide more than just in-house services.

American Color (Phoenix) was one of the pioneers in this area. During the 1980s, the trade shop developed a technical support staff that not only provided support to the American Color family of companies, but worked with hardware suppliers to develop Mac-based design products that could link to customers.

Quad Graphics (Pewaukee, WI), another early innovator, put in place a technical support group that developed applications to support its customers. The technical support staff was not only critical to keeping the organization up-to-date, it was a tool for attracting and keeping customers.

Another company with an extensive technical support operation was Lanman Systems, a special arm of The Lanman Companies. It served as a systems integrator for Lanman customers, providing systems integration and installation services to such companies as L.L. Bean, Publishers' Clearing House, the Home Shopping Network and Smithsonian Magazine. Lanman's services ranged from helping customers configure and acquire desktop systems, extensive customer education programs and, even, complete facilities management of new desktop installations.

By the 1990s, most leading prepress operations had technical support groups ranging from a few people to support in-house computerization efforts to extensive groups prepared to train and completely automate customers' operations.

Unfortunately, some of those skilled staff members put in place to automate the early pioneers found they didn't have the time or resources to stay abreast of changing technology. Others found that with bright young computer experts flooding the market at entry level wages, customers added their own technical support groups and no longer required this service. With the desktop revolution over, does it still make sense to devote precious resources to keeping up with technology that changes in the blink of an eye?

To make things even more confusing, the computers that formed the basis for prepress operations became a commodity product, and vendors no longer included free resources with every system. At the same time, it became more difficult to justify having an extensive technical support group to support client needs. Does this now make it more important to have an in-house staff?

The answer depends largely on your company's market focus and the size of your operation. A mid- to large-sized fully integrated commercial printer can't afford to be without a skilled staff of technical support people focused on understanding how the various hardware and software work together--and keep working together. On the other hand, a smaller organization with a sophisticated corporate clientele may be able to get by with little or no specialized staff, depending almost exclusively on outside support services.

The primary purpose of a technical support group is to serve as a system administrator. The system administrator function is not the applications expert. Instead, this person serves as the network and configuration expert who keeps the operation working smoothly and manages the integration of new components and software upgrades.

An outside supplier will not understand the nuances of your operation as well as a staff person can. With the pace of change in computer technology and the increased dependency of most printing operations on computer-based tools, additions to the staff in this area can be easily justified. The elimination of one network or system crash at a critical time alone can pay for a year of support.

The size of the staff will depend on the complexity of the computer network being administered. A single-shift operation with a network of five to 10 Macs and various peripheral devices usually can be handled by one person. Add 15 to 20 Macs with links into client operations, computer-to-plate or digital printing and the requirement can rise to three or five people for a multi-shift operation.

The responsibilities of the technical support group can and should go beyond basic systems administration. Equally important is the role of education and training your staff and clients.

The technical support group can be a key component in developing complex bids for new work with extensive digital links. They should be on call to your salespeople early in the selling process and available to customer service after the sale to optimize the flow of work through your operation.

By having the technical group share their knowledge and training, your non-computer personnel will be better equipped to perform their responsibilities and integrate their work into a digital operation. Technical support primarily is a workflow management issue. It helps determine how to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible with a minimum of errors and remakes.

What skills are necessary to staff a technical support group? That is the subject of much debate, with one side arguing it is best to train existing print-literate personnel in computers and the other side recommending that you start with computer-literature personnel and train them in printing.

Hal Gaffin, director of the School of Printing Management and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) argues both sides are missing the point. The real requirement is a systems' mentality--a person who thinks with a systems' perspective--regardless of his or her background.

A systems' perspective implies the ability to look at a collection of independent tasks as part of a complete workflow and understand the interrelationship between components. Unfortunately, this isn't often found in basic training courses. Rather, it is the result of a complete educational process.

Another important trait to look for when selecting a technical support person is the ability to work with others. The technical support group has to deal with many different levels and disciplines within both your organization and your customer's. The ability to communicate new ideas simply and clearly is especially important. Remember that a technical support group works with individuals who already are intimidated by the technology in some way.

However, there are operations where it may not make sense. For example, some corporations have developed skills sets exceeding those that a small printer can assemble.

Harvey Halperin, production manager of the Atlantic Group, a 12-year-old Connecticut commercial printer, has been computerized since day one. The company recent went computer-to-plate (CTP) without adding to its technical support staff. Instead, the Atlantic Group selects and relies on its suppliers to provide the level of support required. In the case of the Gerber CTP system, this approach paid off well for the company, but not all new technology acquisitions can be supported by the vendor alone.

In the early years of digital technology, vendors were able to provide a high level of service based on the premiums they could charge for the equipment. Those days are over; vendors no longer have the dollars to pay for free unlimited support.

Training also used to be a business opportunity that supported the maintenance of a technology support group. This is not true when the industry shifts to products that are sold as commodities. No one wants to pay $500 a day for training when you can buy a training disk for $49.95.

The quality of support a vendor offers is an important component in any purchase decision, but it can't be counted on for all your support needs.

Fortunately, for those who chose to go with a small support staff, there are other resources available. The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) in Pittsburgh, has a technical support hotline that receives more than 300 calls a month. John Sweeney, vice president of marketing for the foundation, points out that while many of these calls deal with electronic workflow problems, the bulk of the calls still are centered around the traditional printing processes.

RIT's Gaffin agrees on the need for traditional printing process support, observing that less than 40 percent of the printing operation today is digital. One particular area of technical support needed is an understanding of color. Having a person on staff who understands the interaction between the scan, the proof and the press sheet, plus the tools used to read color (densitometers, spectrophotometers, etc.) is a real asset.

Both RIT and GATF provide specialized services to assist in this area. GATF, for example, has an extensive lab testing service that can be used to reproduce printing conditions in order to pinpoint problems. RIT's Technical and Education Center also can provide advanced testing services, both analog and digital.

Whether you use an in-house support group or rely on outside services, there is no substitute for effective training. There is a wealth of technical information available from a wide range of providers. Industry seminars, for example, offer short, focused topics that are worth their weight in gold in helping keep printers abreast of the latest technology. For more in-depth knowledge on specialized topics, there are technical training programs ranging from two days to two weeks, which are offered by RIT and GATF. There also are a wide range of other outstanding graphic arts schools and specialized training programs around the country, each of which can provide technical support and training.

A good rule of thumb is to provide a minimum of one week per year for personnel development of all your skilled people. Six weeks of training per year is not uncommon for your in-house support staff in order to keep them up to date.

Clearly a void exists between what the vendors once provided and the training provided by industry associations. According to David Steinhardt, president of NAGASA (Washington, DC), graphic arts dealers are aggressively moving to fill this void, prompted not only by users but by the vendors as well.

Dealers have the same problems vendors do, and the industry can't continue to expect support for free. But dealers are closer to the customers and potentially more knowledgeable about their operations, which can be an advantage in providing support. Dealers are changing the level of and type of support they offer. Figuring out how to organize this support, and how to get paid, however, is almost as difficult as figuring out how to make a profit on the Internet.

The face of technical support has changed dramatically in the past 10 years and will continue to change as we redefine the printing industry. As we move from a craft to a manufacturing industry to a service business, there won't be easy answers to much of anything.

Developing a level of self-sufficiency in making purchase decisions and troubleshooting problems is important. But, there are a wealth of resources available that can help. More importantly, you need to know where to get the answers. As always, finding and retaining competent, resourceful people who can get the job done is the real difference between success and failure.