Imagine your company just hired a new employee. It's up to you to locate your company's business card art files, edit them to include the new employee's contact information, and then print and distribute them to the new employee, all while ensuring the art remains on brand and free of typos. Now imagine if your company hired 5 new employees back-to-back, the sales team just requested a reorder, or your company is looking to rebrand, resulting in everyone in each department needing new business cards.

This is a time-consuming and often frustrating challenge many marketers and designers face. So how can a company solve this issue and free up the valuable time of key members of their organization? The solution is a Print Portal, which streamlines the entire process of business card management, and we have everything you need to know.

The Challenges of Business Card Management

Inconsistency in Branding & Design

Many designers and marketers either update their company's business card art files to accommodate information for new business cards or create new designs for each new hire or new order. No matter how well the art files are set up or if they have locked-in-place layers to lock in branding, there is potential for error. These errors often include a logo slightly shifting in placement, wrong colors, incorrect fonts, varying font sizes, or a typo.

Ordering & Reordering Business Cards is Complex

An internal team member, typically a marketer or designer, is responsible for designing, ordering, and distributing business cards. Creating them for each employee is complex enough; ordering for each employee and ensuring they are delivered to the right employee's hands is a whole other challenge. They must make sure each individual order is ordered through the right vendor, upload the correct art files, and select the right paper stock, coating, and other printing specifications. Even if they are just reordering business cards for a current employee, depending on the vendor, they may need to go through this process again.

Multiple Vendors

Companies that have multiple locations may not go through just one printer. Instead, they may go through several. This can become a massive problem regarding accounting and branding. For example, pricing will vary from vendor to vendor. Each vendor doesn't have the exact same printing equipment, inks, paper, coatings, or processes, which can result in inconsistent business cards and materials across each location, compromising your brand's identity.

Business Card Management is Time-Consuming

Contacting your design team or locating, updating, and exporting business card art files for a new hire or reorder may take 20 minutes to 2 hours. Finding a vendor, calling your vendor to get a quote and place an order, or placing an order on their website may take up to 15 minutes to 5 days. You then wait a day or several for them to be printed and shipped to you or the employee. You then need to take the time to ensure they are distributed to the intended employee. You might also need to take time to share information with the accounting team to ensure the order payment is accounted for.

How Print Portals Simplify Business Card Management

Centralized Ordering System

Managing business cards can be a real headache, with so many details to keep track of. That's where Print Portals come in – they centralize the entire ordering and managing process, making everything much more manageable. Imagine a single online storefront where all your company's branded items, like business cards, direct mail materials, promotional items, and digital assets, are available to order within seconds. That's what a Print Portal does.

Think of a Print Portal as your company's online brand store for all branded materials. It's really easy to use. Say an employee needs new business cards, or you onboard a new employee. All they need to do is visit your portal, select the business card option, enter the correct contact details, and place their order. It's that quick. This way, your team can order their business cards, making the process much more straightforward and efficient.

Consistency & Brand Control

When you have a Print Portal in place, there is no need to update art files when personalization is required, eliminating the risk of inconsistent branding. Every single user who has access to your portal has access to the exact same art files. Even when materials, such as business cards, need to be customized to accommodate contact information or locations, the overall design, typeface, colors, and branding remain the exact same, even if you have a location in California and Pennsylvania. In addition, if you rebrand, all you have to do is update the branding for your materials in one place, your Print Portal. Your entire company then has access to the new and correct branding.

Also, a Print Portal is provided by one single printer, meaning every material ordered by every location, department, and employee is produced with the same level of professionalism and quality, creating consistency in every aspect of your company's branded materials.

Streamlined Process for New Hires & Reorders

Whenever a new hire needs business cards or someone needs to reorder theirs, they must contact the person in charge to request them. The person in charge then must go through each challenge we mentioned above. Instead, with a Print Portal, when it's most convenient for them, employees can personalize and order their business cards in one place, on their own, and even choose the best shipping address for them in seconds, streamlining the entire process.

Billing & Account Management

With a Print Portal, billing and account management is entirely controlled by you. You have control over who has access to your portal, what materials they can order, how many items they can order, and when they can order. For example, you may only allow new hires to order 250 business cards, while long-term employees can order up to 1000. Or you may give your sales department access to only business cards and apparel while your marketing team has access to signage and direct mail materials. Each order is even reported so that you can see who is ordering what, when, and how many.

In addition, the way billing is set up is up to you. You may want to require payment at check out or send billing to your accounting team at the end of each month. No matter your needs, payment for your business cards and all other branded items is effortless when you have a Print Portal.

Conclusion: Print Portals for Streamlined Business Card Management

Managing business cards is challenging and time-consuming, from maintaining brand consistency to ordering and distributing them. However, business card management becomes seamless and efficient when your company has a Print Portal.

The complexities and time of designing, updating, and ordering business cards are significantly reduced with Print Portals. These online storefronts ensure that every business card and branded asset is consistent in quality and design, even across different locations and departments.

In addition, Print Portals transform the way orders are placed and managed. Employees can independently order their own business cards within seconds, reducing the workload typically placed on design and marketing teams. Print Portals also offer unparalleled control over billing and account management. You can set specific permissions and limits, tailoring the portal to meet your company's needs and ensuring your company's resources are utilized effectively, without compromising quality or branding.

If you're looking to save time by streamlining your business card management, then Print Portals are your solution. With a Print Portal, you can turn a traditionally challenging process into a streamlined, efficient, and error-free experience, allowing you to focus on what matters most.

If you're interested in the benefits of a Print Portal, click below to schedule a free demo with our portal experts today.