It's not a good thing when FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Services customers have to copy a file to a disc and drive down to the nearest Kinko’s store. And though customers also have the option to go online and use a Web browser to connect to FedEx Kinko's, even that route isn't exactly the epitome of convenience. So the problem was posed to FedEx Kinko's managers: How can we devise a quick, easy way for customers to create high-quality documents, on demand, from their own computers? Customer convenience is paramountCompanies such as Kinko's have traditionally connected their external customers' computers with corporate server infrastructures by using a Web browser. But customers must be online for Web-based interfaces to work. And, in FedEx Kinko's case, a Web-based solution couldn’t easily mesh with how customers create documents in Microsoft Office. They were asking their customers to perform just too many steps to complete a transaction. "Everyone is time-constrained," says Laurie Zeitlin, senior vice president and chief information officer at FedEx Kinko's. "Our goal at FedEx Kinko's is to lessen the burden for our customers." So, FedEx Kinko's came up with a solution: integrate a smart application—File, Print FedEx Kinko's—with Microsoft Office so customers can print documents directly to any Kinko's location across the United States. Customers could then pick up the prints or ship them by FedEx across the globe. "File, Print FedEx Kinko's creates a virtual printer cable from your desktop to any U.S. FedEx Kinko's location," says Zeitlin. File, Print FedEx Kinko's extends customer access to our digitally connected network of 1,100 domestic locations, which transforms the meaning of ‘print on demand' for Microsoft Windows users." .NET connects customers to printersFile, Print FedEx Kinko's works like another printer on the customer's print menu. Developing File, Print FedEx Kinko's, however, meant connecting the smart client to Kinko’s existing e-commerce infrastructure without starting from scratch. To solve that problem, Kinko's turned to Microsoft .NET technologies. .NET technologies comprise a set of development tools and infrastructure solutions for connecting people, information, and devices. .NET integrates support for Web services—a set of protocols that let computers exchange messages. Web services, developed in .NET, provided the key to unlock File, Print FedEx Kinko's features. "Our customers heavily favor Microsoft productivity and office applications when creating documents for printing," says Anthony Norris, director of commercial and e-commerce technology at FedEx Kinko's. "As a result, the choice to use .NET was easy. We were able to integrate with the desktop applications that our customers prefer and connect to our infrastructure in a very efficient way." Kinko's assigned six developers to the project. Except for some work on extending Kinko’s e-commerce infrastructure to .NET, the development team did its work using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2004 development systems. "The extensive prebuilt functionality that the .NET Framework provides for building smart client solutions helped us accomplish a lot in a short period of time," says Richard Maranville, vice president of field systems at FedEx Kinko's. Fifty copies, color, two-sided pleaseTo use File, Print, FedEx Kinko's, customers download the smart client program, choose a print option, then pick a Kinko's location. Print options include color or black and white, paper stock, binding options, and even whether to add a cover. FedEx delivery is also an option to anywhere FedEx ships. "File, Print FedEx Kinko's pushes quality controls to the forefront of the customer experience, ensuring that we will have a print-ready file and accurate instructions on how to complete the order by the time it reaches a FedEx Kinko's store," says Tom Leverton, senior vice president of products and strategy.
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