COMPUTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -- Pain-free Installations

Once a vendor has been selected, it's time to establish some implementation goals and a realistic timeline for the installation. "We always suggest setting some small, easy-to-achieve goals to help make employees feel good about implementing the system," Evenson adds.

One area that printers often fail to take into account is the amount of time and effort that is involved in an implementation, reports Meinhart, of Tailored Solutions. "The biggest thing that management underestimates is the time and manpower that it takes to implement a system. Many think that they just install a system and it magically solves all of their problems."