The Real Cost of Traditional Software

One of the fundamental decisions an organization has to make is to whether they should use locally hosted or cloud software.

Historically, companies reserved large portions of IT budgets for management software hosted in-house. But with more options, budget-savvy organizations are looking for more efficient and cost-effective alternatives to hosting their own software.

Moving to the Cloud

Traditional software has acquisition, maintenance, management and upgrade costs. Cloud software is hosted remotely and accessed, on-demand, via the Internet. Many enterprise-grade cloud applications are configurable and nearly all require minimal client involvement in terms of management.

Cloud-based software often eliminates a high percentage of the maintenance, management and upgrade costs. Choosing cloud software enables organizations to shift resources normally applied to management and maintenance of locally-installed, self-hosted and hard copy software to other more critical areas of operation. In addition, cloud software frequently offers a level of flexibility – in terms of accessibility, choice and dynamics – that traditional software has trouble keeping up with.

Hardware and Infrastructure Cost

The infrastructure required for locally installed or hosted software can require significant capital. If the software is server-based, as many powerful enterprise-grade applications are, the hardware and operating systems required to run an application can be tens of thousands of dollars. Even in the case of simple software that is locally installed on employees’ computers, larger hard drives, additional memory and more powerful processors may be required. Aside from the infrastructure required for reliable, high-speed internet access – which is a given for most organizations today – cloud software requires no special hardware or operating systems.

Staff and Overhead Impact

The costs of physical resources such as servers, network equipment, operating system licenses and workstation upgrades required for traditional, locally hosted or installed software are easy to see, the costs of staff and overhead required to keep everything running are not always as visible. If an organization has network or workstation resources dedicated to the hosting of traditional software, it also has highly-skilled, technical staff and overhead costs like electricity, security, climate control and crisis prevention dedicated to it.

Hindrance to Growth

As organizations grow and needs evolve, expensive traditional software and the costly infrastructure and overhead it requires, can be like dragging an anchor around. Deep investments often keep organizations tied to software and technology that no longer provides all of the capabilities they need. The thought of becoming even more deeply entrenched with additional costs and assets make organizations think twice about adding new capability or capacity.

Of course none of this is to say that there is no place at all for traditional software or that cloud software exists to answer every need. It should, however, bring to light the fact that there is more costs than just the purchase price to consider when choosing traditional software. Cloud software in addition to being a cost effective alternative, can eliminate the hindrance to growth as it constantly improved without additional upgrades. This keeps your company up-to-date with the latest software possible.

The Real Cost of Traditional Software

Not-for-Profit and Association Sector Saved over 25% in 2014 with eLynxx

eLynxx Solutions, a leading provider of software for the marketing supply chain has released data showing marketing material savings of over 25% among its clients in the not-for-profit and association sector during 2014. This savings continues a multi-year savings trend for this sector.

Increasing efficiency and reducing costs is a key factor in the way organizations in many sectors, including not-for-profits and associations, do business today. Faced with a highly competitive marketplace, the use of custom-printed marketing communication materials has become crucial to the fundraising, membership and special initiative efforts of not-for-profit organizations and associations. Organizations must sometimes make decisions that impact critical operations and materials. For nearly 40 years, companies have turned to eLynxx Solutions to maximize efficiency, reduce costs and achieve better results from their marketing and communication materials.

“Printed communication materials are critical to this sector,” said Mike Jackson, chief executive officer of eLynxx Solutions. “Not-for-profits and associations rely on these materials to attract new members, communicate with existing members, raise non-dues revenue and promote events. Cutting per-unit cost of the printing used in not-for-profit outreach campaigns means a greater return on marketing investment. However, there is generally no room for sacrifice in quality or timeliness.” That is exactly why leaders in the association and not-for-profit sector turn to eLynxx Solutions. Purpose-built for the sourcing and management of direct mail, marketing and print communication materials, eLynxx provides the highest possible level of efficiency and coordination. Combined with an exclusive patented sourcing method, eLynxx users across all business sectors regularly achieve per-unit cost savings of up to 40% on all kinds of custom printed materials while increasing efficiency by an average of 53%.

“Considering the scope of many of the outreach campaigns in this sector, any amount of savings makes a positive impact. eLynxx Solutions is pleased to have been able to save its not-for-profit and association clients an average of 25.54% in 2014. This level of savings continues a multi-year trend of eLynxx Solutions clients in this sector achieving average annual savings of over 23%. Naturally, the efficiency and savings achieved through eLynxx is not limited to associations and not-for-profits.

eLynxx Solutions helps organizations in the education, financial, manufacturing, heavy equipment, building products, shipping and logistics and technology sectors as well. eLynxx Solutions takes an approach of helping organizations extend their capabilities to get better results from a traditionally hard-to-control area of operational spending. With other approaches there is always some level of sacrifice. With the eLynxx approach organizations achieve the best possible price, quality and service on custom-printed materials while retaining control through their own people, processes and vendors.

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eLynxx Solutions has been providing innovative products and services for helping organizations manage projects and connect with vendors of custom-produced graphic communication, direct mail, marketing materials, publications, labeling, packaging and all things print since 1975. Born, raised and still located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania along the east coast’s graphic communications corridor connecting Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City, today’s eLynxx Solutions is a leading innovator and provider of cloud software for the marketing supply chain. As a software boutique, eLynxx Solutions tailors its cloud software to fit the needs and requirements of its customers, providing the functionality of custom software with the economy of out-of-the-box solutions. eLynxx print procurement software empowers an organization’s people to work with their own vendors and strengthen their own processes to achieve better results. For more information regarding eLynxx software, please visit eLynxx.com.

Not-for-Profit and Association Sector Saved over 25% in 2014 with eLynxx

The Price of Relationship-Based Print Buying

I regularly meet with procurement and marketing people responsible for buying custom print projects. They all seem to share a knack for dealing with details and working under tight deadlines. Where they often differ, however, is in favoring varied vendor sourcing strategies. Many prefer working with a single or limited number of vendors while others support a multiple-vendor strategy.

No doubt the level of vendor collaboration involved in procurement of custom print is greater than when buying inventoried goods. For this reason, print buying often becomes a largely relationship-based transaction. The buyer trusts in the vendor’s capabilities, has come to expect responsive service and feels that their prices are fair. It’s an age old peace-of-mind scenario.

But peace-of-mind can come at a high price. This recent article in the Chicago Tribune deals largely with the ethical factors in relationship-based print buying. But those issues aside, it clearly illustrates the financial risk of not exposing preferred vendors to a competitive scenario. In this case, a vendor that produced a newsletter for over 10 years without competition reduced their price by nearly 50% when forced to bid against competitors.

At eLynxx Solutions, we agree that organizations should only do business with vendors they know, trust and approve. We offer a means to objectively manage vendor capabilities and pre-qualify the vendor pool – no matter the size. And our cloud software allows print buyers to easily compete work among their own trusted vendors as frequently as they choose. The result – print buyers maintain peace-of-mind regarding quality and service while ensuring that they’re always getting the most competitive price available from their preferred vendors.

The Price of Relationship-Based Print Buying

Higher Education Institutions Consistently Save More Than 35% Through eLynxx

The pressure being faced by many colleges and universities to get their messages out while staying within ever decreasing budgets is enormous. To survive many institutions have had to search for ways to increase efficiency without sacrifice of quality and on-time delivery, gain more marketing coverage for the same marketing spend, bring full transparency and instant reporting, substantiate compliance with minority, woman owned, small disadvantaged and other important initiatives, and improve control over their own people, processes and vendors.

This is not easily accomplished in an environment consisting of semi-autonomous operating units – like administrative, educational departments, athletics, alumnae affairs, student and staff recruitment, placement, marketing and communications, foundation, entertainment, student affairs, etc. Each operating unit has its own constituency, processes and trusted vendors. Yet there is also a need for centralized policy making, reporting and shared experiences.

Yet, during the first half of 2014, the higher education sector experienced a 36.11% savings on their print related spend through the deployment and adoption of eLynxx software. And these same institutions were also able to reach their parallel operational goals.

According to Mike Jackson, chief executive officer of eLynxx Solutions, “The eLynxx purpose-built software works well in a decentralized semi-autonomous environment where centralized policy making, reporting and transparency are highly regarded. The eLynxx software readily adapts to the specific needs, requirements and processes of its users.” Jackson continued, “only eLynxx provides centralized reporting, financial insight and sharing of resources at the institutional level without disrupting autonomy, people, processes and vendors at the departmental level.” Combined with an exclusive patented competitive sourcing method, eLynxx users across all business sectors regularly achieve per-unit cost savings of 20% to 40% on all kinds of custom printed materials.

Besides higher education, eLynxx Solutions also helps organizations in the non-profit, financial, manufacturing, heavy equipment, building products, logistics and shipping, grocery, insurance, medical, retail and technology sectors. Helping organizations extend their capabilities to get better results from a traditionally hard-to-control area of operational spending has been the primary focus of eLynxx Solutions since 1975. Other approaches always require some level of sacrifice. With the eLynxx approach organizations achieve the best possible price, quality and service on custom-printed materials while retaining control through their own people, processes and vendors.

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eLynxx Solutions has been providing innovative products and services for helping organizations manage projects and connect with vendors of custom-produced graphic communication, direct mail, marketing materials, publications, labeling, packaging and all things print since 1975. Born, raised and still located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania along the east coast’s graphic communications corridor connecting Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City, today’s eLynxx Solutions is a leading innovator and provider of project management software for the marketing supply chain. As a software boutique, eLynxx Solutions tailors its cloud software and services to fit the needs and requirements of its customers, providing the functionality of custom software with the economy of out-of-the-box solutions. eLynxx project management software empowers an organization’s people to work with their own vendors and strengthen their own processes to achieve better results. For more information regarding eLynxx Solutions, please visit eLynxx.com.

Higher Education Institutions Consistently Save More Than 35% Through eLynxx

eLynxx Solutions Goes Back to School with Hometown Neighbor Wilson College

As the summer winds down and the 2014-2015 academic year begins, eLynxx Solutions will be among the masses heading off to college, but there won’t be any classes to attend or dorms to move into. In fact there won’t even be much of a trip to make. That’s because eLynxx Solutions is pleased to announce that it has been selected to provide marketing supply chain software for Wilson College in its hometown of Chambersburg, PA.

Founded in 1869 as a liberal arts college, Wilson College welcomes undergraduate and graduate degree-seeking students from around the globe to south central Pennsylvania. Wilson—with a long and storied past—is now excited about a bright and promising future. Having recently implemented a wide-ranging plan for improved enrollment, the College is adding academic programs and improving facilities. Coeducational expansion across all programs has widened Wilson’s horizons. Of course along with those widened horizons come additional responsibilities in marketing and communications. Wilson has also increased its marketing and communications program to meet the challenges of covering an ever-increasing number of communication channels while maintaining the budget discipline many marketers face. Wilson College also has some challenges that are unique to its situation.

Although technology has opened new avenues for marketing, printed communications still play a major role in higher education. Wilson College is no different in that respect. What is different at Wilson, however, is that the college has only recently centralized marketing operations and is in the process of rolling out a newly defined brand identity and rebuilding its print program to meet the needs of a greatly expanded prospective student audience. That translates to a lot of new design work to create new materials. It also means increased pressure on the people, processes and vendors that make up an institution’s marketing supply chain to produce quality results within budget. That’s where eLynxx Solutions comes into the picture.

“Wilson is growing and moving through change, and the marketing and communications department plays a central role in reaching our audiences. We’ve put a comprehensive marketing program in place that is very bottom line oriented—cost and results,” said Brian Speer, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Wilson College. “Given our new position and expanded market, we have a lot of work in front of us. eLynxx allows us to enhance our capabilities, expand our print marketplace, ensure product quality, meet tight deadlines and extend our budget as far as possible. With the work eLynxx has done with other educational institutions in helping to improve results, they were a good fit for Wilson.” Because eLynxx is cloud software, there are no additional requirements placed on the college’s IT infrastructure. After the eLynxx Solutions team gathered the required information, Wilson College was up, running and ready to take advantage of increased efficiency and savings.

“We are extremely proud that Wilson College has selected eLynxx to provide its marketing supply chain software,” said Mike Jackson, Chief Executive Officer at eLynxx Solutions. “eLynxx has been helping higher education institutions achieve the best possible price, quality and service on printed marketing and communications materials for years. Being able to do the same with Wilson College, an institution with which we share so many ties in the community, is especially rewarding.”

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eLynxx Solutions has been providing innovative products and services for helping organizations manage projects and connect with vendors of custom-produced graphic communication, direct mail, marketing materials, publications, labeling, packaging and all things print since 1975. Born, raised and still located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania along the east coast’s graphic communications corridor connecting Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City, today’s eLynxx Solutions is a leading innovator and provider of project management software for the marketing supply chain. As a software boutique, eLynxx Solutions tailors its cloud software and services to fit the needs and requirements of its customers, providing the functionality of custom software with the economy of out-of-the-box solutions. eLynxx project management software empowers an organization’s people to work with their own vendors and strengthen their own processes to achieve better results. For more information regarding eLynxx Solutions, please visit http://elynxx.com.

eLynxx Solutions Goes Back to School with Hometown Neighbor Wilson College

The Magic of Print - IKEA Gets It - and Makes Us Laugh Too!

Common Sense – In Furniture and Marketing

Leave it up to a company that has successfully made knock-down furniture, hex key wrenches and one-word names packed with Nordic accent marks stylish to not only get what makes printed communication important, but to make it sexy and desirable too. Taking a jab at the hype surrounding the upcoming fall releases of new products from the high-tech world, Swedish furniture purveyor IKEA has decided to call attention to all of the positive and user-friendly aspects of its printed catalog.

Experience the Power of…a Catalog!

IKEA’s launch video for the latest edition of its catalog has already been hailed for parodying the style of tech giants like Apple. Its dry humor presenting a traditional printed piece using terminology common to technology has made it a viral smash. But it also strikes a chord for marketers who know that printed communication is still a vital part of their promotional mix. While it may be funny to see a catalog being described as if it were an iPad; it brings awareness to the fact everything that digital media has to live up to was, and still is, based in good old-fashioned print. IKEA definitely gets it – print and digital communication can not only live side by side, they can drive one another as well. Check out the video below.

The Magic of Print - IKEA Gets It - and Makes Us Laugh Too!

Maintaining Control vs. Brokers and BPOs: What’s Right for You?

Printed materials in some form or another are integral to the branding and marketing of most organizations. When it comes to the organization, acquisition, production management, implementation and distribution of these materials; there is a decision to make. Organizations usually choose to either manage the entire process on their own, keeping control of the process in their own hands, or they can hand control over to a third party. The third party is often a print broker, who is a middleman between the organization and one or more print vendors, or a BPO (Business Process Outsourcer), who takes over management of all aspects of the process.

When making this decision an organization needs to consider what is best for its particular needs. Here are some key considerations of maintaining and relinquishing control.

The Pros of Maintaining Control over Your Own Print Marketing Materials

Some of the pros that people consider when managing production of their own marketing materials include:

Control over the Process

As mentioned above, handling the process on their own provides organizations with the freedom to make sure everything fits according to their requirements. They use their own trusted employees and vendors to manage and produce a finished product in a way that is completely integrated with the way the organization does business.

Integrated Management

When any part of your company is being outsourced, you lose a certain amount of visibility into what is going on. Most third party outsourcers don’t provide you with continuous updates of the project. You may not have any information until it is complete. Critical decisions on unforeseen issues that could impact operations beyond marketing will be made by an outsider. You cannot be certain if your specifications and requirements are being followed to the letter, or if corners are being cut, when someone else is in control.

Hence, retaining control within your organization not only ensures that responsibility lies with trusted individuals, but also that every piece of every process is handled in an approved manner. When it comes to coordinating marketing with other operational areas like finance and legal, there’s no better means for success than retaining control.

Vendor Choice

Managing printed marketing material production in-house also allows you full control over vendor selection. Choosing a vendor is not a one-step decision. Capabilities, equipment, quality level, service history and speed are among the variables to be considered. Each variable can mean success or failure in a marketing material project. While it’s near impossible to have total control over the success or failure of a project; you can get much closer if you retail control over vendor selection.

The Pros of Hiring a Third Party to Produce Your Print Marketing Materials

To most organizations there is an undeniable benefit in maintaining control over their marketing material projects. There are some who make the choice, as scary as it may sound, to outsource control of their marketing materials to a third party. The number one reason organizations opt to give control of their marketing material projects to a print broker or BPO is because they don’t feel they have, or want to take on, the capacity to do it themselves. They are looking to simplify and possibly reduce head count. Admittedly, managing printed material projects is complex; it requires a lot of collaboration and communication. To organizations that choose to outsource operations to a third party, sacrificing control is seen as a trade-off for avoiding complexities. It may even be perceived to be a way to save money through cuts in resources.

Isn’t There Another Choice?

Perhaps by now you find yourself asking “but what happens when I really don’t want to give up control, but I need something to stretch my resources and make these complicated operations more manageable?” If so, you are not alone. Many organizations have faced the same question. In fact, just about every organization that manages its own marketing material projects seems to have tried some method of making the job easier. Spreadsheets, files, adapting generalized project management and procurement systems, or combinations thereof are common attempts. While these may seem like viable solutions, complexity and the need for collaboration and communication eventually rear their ugly heads again.

The real solution isn’t to try to avoid the complexities and challenges of managing one’s own marketing supply chain and the projects within it. Rather it’s to embrace with purpose-built tools that extend an organization’s capabilities, enable collaboration, foster communication and help it achieve better results in managing its marketing material projects. Providing organizations with those tools is the force that drives us here at eLynxx Solutions.

Ultimately an organization has to be comfortable with the choices it makes. Those that choose to trade control for the promise of simplicity have their reasons just as those who choose to retain control have theirs. It’s your choice and we understand either way, but if you choose to retain control over your marketing supply chain and the projects it produces, we at eLynxx Solutions are always here to help you do it even better.

Maintaining Control vs. Brokers and BPOs: What’s Right for You?