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Variable Data Printing Leaders
October 2, 2007
In the last blog I mentioned a presentation done last Friday on Variable Data Printing. Now that I have purged the nightmares of St. Louis airport I can return to that discussion. During the presentation a few interesting discussions emerged.
One question was “With all the different types of companies offering variable data printing services, do any certain types of company have a particular advantage”? In other word, in our hypercompetitive industry there are companies with different backgrounds and categorized as different types of companies who are offering database and variable data printing services. These include design companies, prepress service bureaus, printers as well as the group I was presenting to - which were companies that offered mailing and fulfillment services. Did one of them have an advantage?
This was a question I was never asked before - so it made me pause, think, and then answer “no”. In my mind every group offering variable data services has there own unique advantages and disadvantages. For example, the MFSA folks in the room may have the database and mailing expertise, but the designers would have the ability to create more compelling campaigns and have more experience with the consultative sales approach. The printers may be better at achieving good color and achieving a better utilization rate and ROI by cannibalizing offset work. But the prepress service providers may have more experience in getting all the different software components to work (web to print front end, PURLs, databases, desktop software, preflight, file and print streams) because the are good problem solvers.
In my mind what separates the variable data printing leaders, from the rest is: a willingness to create new and innovative services as well as a willingness to use a consultative and problem solving sales approach. The subject of leaders vs. laggards led to a discussion about the latest research we announced at Graph Expo last month which focuses on companies that are digital leaders. The research, sponsored by Canon, focused on identifying the common denominators that the leaders posses that the others don’t.
After spending a lot of time analyzing the results and weeks writing much of that report I can say that there are many interesting points about a wide variety of digital services including digital and variable data printing. Here is a small taste. The greatest challenges in offering variable data services are not about the equipment or print quality but understanding how to sell the service, master the workflow, acquire the database and most importantly finding, hiring and keeping the right people.
A bigger taste next time!
Posted by Howie Fenton on October 2, 2007 | Comments (2)
