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PRINT.IT
01732 759725
DIGITAL PRINT
The successful printer of the future
will deliver a full-service offering
that extends well beyond printing
and finishing. The exact mix of
digital communications, value
added print, data manipulation
and logistics will depend on
the printer’s customer base,
its market positioning and its
partnerships. But it’s already
clear what’s needed if print is to
be a successful communications
medium in the next decade: print
has to be relevant.
This wasn’t a necessity when
print was the prime channel for
advertising, information and customer
communications. However, much of
this mundane printing has transferred
to digital and will never come back,
forcing print to evolve into something
smarter, more versatile and, above all,
more relevant to those who receive it.
If a printer (or corporate print
centre) is not part of this development,
the only option is to sell print services
as cheaply as possible, and this is no
way to build for the future, nor to create
enduring partnerships with customers.
IT drives relevance
Tomorrow’s print service provider must
become as comfortable with IT as it
is with offset litho. This encompasses
everything from operating a website
to creating automated workflows
that minimise touch points where
errors can occur; and from using
management systems (MIS) to view up-
to-the-minute performance information
to the handling of data needed to
create personalised communications
so that clients can engage with
customers in the most relevant way.
If that means using social media
alongside print, the new print house
has to deliver.
The problem here is that printers
continue to prefer to invest in new
printing presses than in IT, with few
giving thought to how jobs are to be
processed before reaching the press or
once printed. In the first drupa
Global
Insights Report
published in October
2014, only 23% of the drupa expert
panel said they had increased their
IT spend in the previous five years.
Almost all decision-makers highlighted
a lack of IT specialists.
Yet IT knowledge is key for
automation at the process level. Those
supplying software to the industry
take it as read that JDF compliance
is essential. Producing an eight-page
section on standard paper is simple,
but tomorrow’s customers will want
more than this; they will want their
printed products to stand out from the
thousands of marketing messages
their targets receive each day.
Highlighting this trend, drupa
President and CEO of KBA Claus
Bolza-Schünemann says: “Some years
from now there will be fewer printing
companies but they will be larger and
more industrial with a broad service
range. In the commercial sector,
printers will turn into marketing service
providers for print and online services.
The connection between print,
online and mobile activities will grow
stronger.”
This transition is in its infancy.
Last year, a well known commentator
on advertising and the internet
pointed out that although consumers
spend vast amounts of time with
their smartphones, mobile attracts
only a small proportion of the overall
Print in the digital era
High-speed,
variable PDF
printing on an
inkjet press
Printed
electronics by
Novalia
In the run up to drupa 2016, show organisers Messe
Duesseldorf have commissioned a series of articles on
the future of print. Here, Gareth Ward outlines some of
the key trends and developments affecting commercial
printers, corporate print centres and their customers.
Continued...
