Item: Printanista
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Printanista

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Printanista every workday in order to assist our Billing dept. to send out accurate and timely invoices. Without Printanista, I can't imagine the workload or time and aggravation to contact or visit each and every customer as their invoice comes due. I am the primary user of Printanista here at Seamless Solutions and have been using it as well as its predecessor FMAudit since October 2010.

Pros and Cons

Pros

It allows me to gather and organize meter data in relevant and useful ways. It works very well with MS Excel spreadsheets.
It provides complete meter data so that you can provide your Sales dept. with enough useful information so that eventual upgrade proposals can be constructed. It also provides real information that tells how much print volume may or may not have to suggest changes to a customer fleet of printers.
It is also simple enough for customers with smaller printer fleets so that you can isolate certain areas of the meter data that may prove useful in certain applications.

Cons

While trying to go through a list of printers, or list of customers, it would be nice to allow you to navigate to the next printer or customer so that you don't have to completely go back out to the entire list of customers to find the one you want. It would be especially useful when the customer asks for a complete inventory of their fleet and you can have to go back to the entire list of printers to find the one you want. I put in a feature request several years ago and, in my opinion, it has been ignored completely.
It would be nice to remove old DCAs when necessary. I like clean and efficient screens of information. Right now it can just be a cluster of information that isn't necessary.
I know that creating MDF files for printers on the market can be quite time consuming so I would like to see more manpower put towards that endeavor.

Return on Investment

It definitely helps in the area of customer satisfaction when they can receive replacement toner even before they know they are getting low.
Many customer regard meter collection as a task that only a clerk or intern should be worried about. What they don't consider is all the information it provides when you can 'read between the lines' of all the data that is collected. When things are running well, customers don't always notice, but when they don't, look out!
Without Printanista, or any data collection agent for that matter, the task of getting meter data would be monumental. You would have to send out techs or other personnel just to get a meter not to mention the cost of their time and travel. I would guess that efficient use of Printanista and the size of our customer base, you would only need one detail-oriented person that can monitor the software and provide meters in a timely manner. Otherwise, you would probably need anywhere from 5-10 more personnel just to collect the data and keep it organized and useful.

Remote Print Management

Absolutley! There have been occasions that remote access has prevented us from sending a tech to troubleshoot or otherwise recon the situation. With the remote access, I can see the actual web interface of that printer and gather meter information and toner levels when the customer won't quite give me the true nature of things, or not know how. It can also confirm their story when necessary.

Integration with e-automate

Yes. The synchronization with e-automate is very helpful, but can be problematic when the printer manufacture changes something internally to their firmware for a printer and then we get the wrong meter data. Unfortunately, we may not see that problem right away until a customer calls to inquire about an invoice that seems to be too high or just wrong. However, it is a tremendous time saver when gathering meter and toner data.

Cloud Migration

We use the cloud version, but previously to the implementation of Printanista we had the on-premise version of FMAudit. With the cloud version, upgrades are seemless and, so far, not problematic. With the on-premise version, you had to take specific steps and get your IT dept. involved with the next upgrade. I would recommend all dealers to use the cloud version. The main benefit would have to be less time and aggravation given to the upgrades when ECI controls the upgrades and their implementation.

Alternatives Considered

Lexmark Managed Print Services and Kyocera Document Solutions ECM / CSP solutions

I prefer Printanista because it can be used industry wide. Some of the other DCA softwares don't seem to care alot about getting data from other makes and models of machines that aren't their own. The Kyocera product I mentioned was called KMNetViewer when I used it, but it seemed to only gather Kyocera information reliably as opposed to other makes. Not useful when you have multiple lines of products that are sold and serviced by this company.

Key Insights

Do you think Printanista delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Printanista's feature set?

Yes

Did Printanista live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Printanista go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Printanista again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge

Likelihood to Recommend

It has been very useful for fulfilling my job responsibilities and seems to be leading the way for gathering printer information across all makes and models. However, there are some areas that need to be improved such as toner alerts and how and when they are activated and sent out.

Comments

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Printanista and printer fleet monitoring

Modules Used