The average medium-sized to large company can vastly improve its efficiency and the productivity of its workforce by training its employees to use office automation equipment correctly, and to take full advantage of the features and functionality the equipment offers.
That`s according to Holger Groenert, manager product marketing at Itec South Africa. He says that companies waste millions in lost productivity and potential efficiency gains because their employees misuse office automation equipment or are not properly trained how to use all of the features and benefits their printers, copiers and other devices offer.
To efficiently address this problem, companies should be investing in proper end-user training across their office automation equipment environments, says Groenert. But many organisations neglect this vital aspect of keeping their offices running smoothly, even when it is formally included in contracts between clients and service providers.
"The reasons that companies should be looking at doing more end-user training in their document output environment are to achieve cost-savings, improve efficiency and enhance risk management," adds Groenert. "But many companies are lax when it comes to office automation training. The result is usually frequent downtime and expensive repairs in the office automation environment, because of end-user errors. One example is the admin worker that causes a paper jam in the main multifunction device (MFP) and then tries to fix it without knowing what he or she is doing."
Employees and organisations are often reluctant to embark on comprehensive training programmes because it is expensive and they question how difficult it can be to use a new copier/printer. But "the new copier" is usually much more than just an output device.
"Staff are taught the most basic functions, but seldom do they learn to operate machines properly. The other side to this is, of course, that they are not fully aware of the enormous functionality that this equipment comes with today," says Groenert.
However, one reason that companies invest in new equipment is to take advantage of new features and functionality that their previous devices lacked. It is a waste for them not to use these features to increase efficiency and save time and money.
For example, many MFPs now offer the ability to store documents on their internal hard drives - a feature that many users are unaware of. Another commonplace, but underused feature, is the ability to log into the printer from a Web browser and ensure that it has toner and paper, and is fully operational, before sending a document to print. One can also configure the device to notify a user when a print job is finished so that he or she doesn`t need to walk backwards and forwards to the printer to check.
Simply by providing a few hours of basic training, companies can reduce the number of support and service calls logged by their helpdesks. The formal training should cover the basic operation of the machine as well as more complex tasks, such as what to do when paper jams or when the machine does not print.
Groenert adds that in order not to overwhelm users, training should take place over a period of time, and should include a fair amount of repetition that continually covers the basics and allows users to ask questions based on their experiences and their day-to-day needs.
"Because there are no training standards in this arena, one needs to find a service provider that offers high-quality training and is committed to helping you optimise your office automation environment," he concludes. "Organisations must motivate end-users to co-operate with the trainers and to see it as a way of improving their performance."
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