Back in August, I published an article on the main WhatTheyThink site that highlighted my top five software trends to watch at Graph Expo. In general, this year’s show was an indication that solutions are just as (if not more) important as speeds and feeds, and software is top-of-mind for print businesses looking to succeed in the face of still-challenging times. Now that Graph Expo is over and I’ve had some time to reflect, I’d like to revisit the trends I outlined and see how they matched up with what was at the show.

1. Integration, Automation for Print and Beyond

As Cary Sherburne reported in her Graph Expo retrospective, production automation is a critical technology that will help drive efficiency and scalability in print businesses. Collaboration among different vendors to help their customers meet their goals is happening at a greater rate than in the past, as evidenced by many of the larger OEM vendors showcasing partner solutions and integrations at their booths. Hybrid Software, which specializes in providing software technology that integrates disparate information and production systems, had a consistently packed booth. Enfocus also generated a lot of interest with the new release of its Switch automation tool. Regarding the “beyond” part of this trend, the inaugural marketing pavilion that featured a variety of marketing-related solution vendors exhibiting also generated a significant amount of traffic despite its somewhat undesirable location toward the back of the show floor.

2. The Next Wave of Web Enablement

There were a number of developments and even some new entrants at Graph Expo related to the Web services space. As I mentioned in my original post, I was anticipating the launch of a new print eCommerce solution from Keen Systems. I was able to grab a pre-show briefing/demo, and the solution definitely has some potential; it also won a “Worth-a-look” award, which is great for a first-time exhibitor. Another company that has been around for a few years but just started exhibiting again was PrintNow, which offers three easy-to-understand software packages that service providers can leverage. Aleyant Systems, creators of the Pressero system, debuted their updated online interactive design tool, which was rebuilt on HTML5 instead of Adobe Flex/Flash for broader device support. EFI also previewed the latest version of its Digital StoreFront product, which included a revamped interface and ordering workflow. All in all, the future of Web enablement is shaping up quite nicely, and was on display at Graph Expo 2011.

3. Taking a Fresh Look at Print MIS

While production automation was one of the critical technologies outlined in Cary’s piece, MIS was the top critical technology, and there was plenty of activity related to MIS at Graph Expo this year. While EFI’s dominance in this space was certainly apparent, there were plenty of developments from other players. Heidelberg highlighted its Prinect Business Manager based on its CERM acquisition; the company plans to begin initial implementations of the solution in October or November. Technique received a great deal of attention at the show because of its new mobile application (iTechnique), which provides sales reps and managers with access to information such as customer profiles, active jobs, and the ability to submit new proposals. Avanti Systems highlighted its recent integration with Ultimate Impostrip, as well as its Customer Relationship Management capabilities. Finally, the very recent merger of vendors printLEADER and PrintPoint resulted in shared booth space and a showcase of how their products work together. With a renewed focus on operational optimization, MIS continues to be a key enabler, and printers are taking note.

4. Harnessing the Cloud

As I mentioned in my last post, utilizing the cloud results in easier implementations, reduction in software costs, and provides scalability as needs change. For print businesses to be more agile and make changes or shift directions as the market requires, flexibility and scalability are key factors. Many vendors were offering different flavors of cloud computing at Graph Expo. We already mentioned Keen, which is a true multi-tenant, cloud-based service. Many other vendors are taking the approach of leveraging virtualization, enabling customers to deploy software with less hardware footprint and greater efficiency. Kodak mentioned that it enabled virtualization with its Prinergy workflow suite earlier this year, and many customers have taken the opportunity to optimize their deployments.

5. Getting Serious About Mobile

While this trend was listed as number five on my list, I really think that mobile made a huge splash at Graph Expo and the issue of mobility will become a focal point for both vendors and service providers in the near future. I counted at least a dozen different mobile-related product announcements and features at Graph Expo, and I fully expect more to take shape between now and drupa. Some of these developments are around mobile marketing, including the ability to make print more interactive. Other developments are around the concept of mobile production management. My colleague, Barb Pellow, went into many of these announcements in further detail in one of her recent articles. It will be interesting to see how these applications are adopted by service providers and what benefits they provide.

Overall, Graph Expo was pretty great this year, and I think many of the software trends I highlighted were fairly prominent themes at the show. These are just my own views, though. What did you see at Graph Expo that really stood out to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Note: This is Part 9 of a 9-Part series based on the book “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”

Since I first started writing the book Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry, things sure have changed a bit in the worlds of marketing, communications, and technology.

For one thing, social networks such as Google+ have come into play and quickly added tens of millions of users. Apps such as Instagram and Postagram have arisen and are given new life to photos taken with mobile phones and to postcards, accordingly. Also, we’ve seen a tremendous increase in the amount of people that are carrying around smartphones and tablets.

No matter what your role in business might be — as an owner, sales rep, marketer, IT personnel, consultant, etc. — shifts in communications and technology can be intimidating. But if you are in the printing or marketing industries, these shifts should also be seen as something else: as opportunities.

Service providers have opportunities to help businesses maximize their presence on new channels. Many companies today face the same challenges: how to get more people to their website; how to build up their following on social networks; how to measure what’s working. Service providers can help their clients to identify solutions to those problems. But along with simply providing the consulting services, many print, mail, and fulfillment service providers are in the position to do more than that! Many have the resources to actually build, manage, execute, and measure the marketing initiatives that their clients need. This may include print, email, landing pages, mobile, and more. Yes, many now have the opportunity to truly offer full marketing services.

But as the worlds of communications and technology continue to change, how can you keep up? Here are a few suggestions:

• Be a Practitioner: The easiest way to learn how a marketing channel or tool could help one of your clients is to use it yourself. The same applies to keeping an eye on new trends. If you are committed to doing whatever you can to promote your business, then you will take steps to devote time and energy to find out what’s next. The only way that we can keep up is to make it a priority. And when we have a stake in keeping up for ourselves, it will be a lot easier to do so.
• Invest in Technology:  As a printer, we may certainly become frustrated if a potential prospect turns down our solutions to go with an online-only solution (i.e. rather than print the book, they tell you that they’re simply going to offer a version for eReaders) . However, rather than simply become frustrated at those moments, we should find ways to put ourselves in their shoes.

One way to do that is to invest in the same technology that they may be using. If you don’t have a smartphone, you need one! If possible, acquire a tablet as well. Take the time to experience what it is like to browse, search, find, and consume information on those devices. For one, you may start to realize some of the benefits those devices provide. But it may also help you to identify possible solutions that you can offer to your clients the merge the online and offline worlds together! For example, perhaps you can encourage a client to use QR Codes to make their brochure interactive. By adding QR Codes, the client may be pleased that they get to incorporate their online content “into” their printed materials. Also, this may give you as the service provider the opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of the items that they do continue to print.

Of course, there are other ways that we can stay on top of emerging trends. We can subscribe to the right eNewsletters. We can join Groups in LinkedIn that have forward-thinkers. We can start following people and brands in the worlds of marketing and technology that are freely sharing information on social networks. And of course, we can attend offline events, conferences, and meetings that are covering topics that we want to learn more about.

No matter what our preferred method might be, the bottom line is that we will need to be committed to keeping up! Yes, some of these trends may fizzle out before they have the chance to mature. But if we are willing to invest the time to see how new technologies and trends can help our business, we will find ways to grow faster than some of our competitors.

Moving Forward

This is the final installment of my summary series regarding my book, Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry. I hope that you enjoyed it and found the information helpful!

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the book, please visit http://NewPathToProfit.com.

The Business Communication Industry and print in particular, continue to face challenges from many fronts. The demands and requirements placed on business communications by the end consumer have changed. People want to be able to get their information where they want and when they want it. The technologies utilized in communication are changing at a very rapid pace.

Print itself has gone from mass production and distribution of the same information to all, to communication targeted to a market segment sharing a specific characteristic, to highly personalized one-to-one communications. Production has gone from high speed web litho print with lots of offline finishing, to digital print and inline finishing, and “onserts”, (even our language is changing).

New channels for communication have emerged and are being adopted at very high rates, from e-presentment of documents to social media and mobile applications.

Competition has increased among the providers of communication services with consolidations and companies going out of business, and yet still there is a lot of underused capacity.

How are companies in the industry going to survive and even thrive?

One possible answer comes in the form of an old and proven education technique, “Cycles of Learning.” Jack Welch used the cycles of learning principle in building GE. Jack Welch and GE went through three cycles of learning for the improvement of the business. In the first cycle, he focused on the elimination of variety in GE’s portfolio of businesses by reducing the non-performing business units. During a subsequent learning cycle Welch focused the company on simplifying and eliminating non-value-added activities. The third phase of discovery focused on the elimination of variation. This business approach would be valuable for today’s print businesses.

I also think a more tactical day-to-day approach and process can provide results and accelerate business improvements. At the core of this approach is to begin every project or quality improvement with the idea that you are going to teach others about your experience and results at the end. Educational research has proven that performing a task or learning experience knowing that you will need to teach it will improve your understanding and memory of key principles.

Cycles of learning means being able to apply what was learned from one activity or project to the next or similar ones. The progression is depicted in the following graphic.

Looking for new information and ways to learn about Production Printing for your business?

Note: This is Part 8 of a 9-Part series based on the book “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”

Social networking is certainly one of my favorite passions. I truly believe that it can help print, mail, fulfillment, and marketing services providers in many different areas — including marketing, sales, customer support, and HR. However, many companies still primarily view channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn as ways to simply distribute press releases.

While there certainly is a place for using social networking channels for distributing news, they can absolutely help companies in other areas.

Here are 3 ways that your company may be able to find success through social networks:

• To Provide Customer Support:We have probably all done it by now. Maybe it was to an airline or a restaurant. Perhaps it was to a manufacturer or retail store. For one reason or another, the company treated us in a way that we didn’t appreciate. Thus, we turned to social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to express our complaint to others. While it might simply feel good to let out some steam, don’t we feel much better if the company does something to react to our public grievance?The same thing could be happening to your business right now. Someone could be displeased with a print job, the time it takes to get a call back from a sales rep, or the lack of information on your website. If those folks complain on social networks, you certainly may cringe. But at least you’ll have the opportunity to know about the complaint and then address it!

  How can you know if someone’s complaining about your business online? There are absolutely tools and services that can help you.  For example, you could use Google Alerts to set up notifications for your company name. You could use Twitter’s search feature. Or you could partner with a 3^rd-party.

  No matter what the case, social networks give you the ability to listen to what people are saying and then quickly take action to provide some sort of customer support to them.

  Of course, social networks also allow you to proactively provide customer support. Through your social networking accounts, you could provide links to how-to-guides that provide suggestions and best practices for ordering a print job. You could provide links to other resources and case studies that may inspire a customer or prospect to do more business with you.

  If your customers are on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, then you should absolutely be there to provide support when they need it.

• For Finding Leads:This one may sound obvious, but I do not believe that companies are using social networks enough to actively find and connect with leads.One way that this can be done is to search Twitter for terms and phrases that may indicate that someone needs help with a print job. While you certainly could search for variations of the word “print”, you also could look at companies that are exhibiting at upcoming trade shows or hosting seminars. No doubt, they may have printing needs. Social networks may allow you to quickly connect with them.

  Also, LinkedIn offers plenty of opportunities for sales reps to engage with potential prospects across the verticals that they may sell to. If you take the initiative to join and contribute to the Groups that your target audience participates in, you may increase the chances that they’ll turn to you when they need your services.

• For Finding & Recruiting New Employees: When a printer is transforming their business to offer additional marketing services, they may recognize the need to find and invest in employees that may have slightly different skill-sets than they’ve looked for in the past. You may need someone that has website design skills, that can write prolifically, or that has a passion for social networking! One way to find these people is via social networks.It’s fairly easy to search for students or recent graduates from schools that traditionally produce people that are interested in the graphic arts and printing communities. Once you find them, you may be able to find out what other passions or talents they may have, and then you’ll have the opportunity to engage them in possible employment discussions.

These are just a few of the ways that companies could use social networking to improve their business. If you’ve had any success with these, I’d love to hear about it!

To learn more about my book, “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”, visit  my book’s website.

There has been a lot of reflection and praise all across the Web over the past week following the announcement on August 24 that Steve Jobs, Apple’s iconic CEO, resigned from his top spot at the company, likely due to his worsening health condition from a long bout with pancreatic cancer. Commentary has ranged from high praise to personal experiences with Jobs to some people saying “it’s just not that big of a deal.”

Much is being made of Jobs’ influence on Apple’s highly successful products: the original Macintosh computer, along with the seminal line of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices. Additionally, there is a lot of talk about Jobs’ influence on Apple’s advertising and marketing efforts, of which many memorable ads have come. One area that hasn’t gotten as much light shed on it during this time of reflection is Jobs’ influence on our own industry of graphic communications. Whatever your feeling about Steve Jobs and Apple, there is no denying that the Macintosh helped spur the desktop publishing revolution and catalyzed a transformation across the media production landscape, including print, video, and now interactive applications.

Much of this revolution can be pointed back directly to Steve Jobs’ influence on the first Macintosh PC and its successors. Jobs once noted during his graduation speech at Stanford University that when he dropped out of Reed College, he still snuck into a number of classes (even though he wasn’t enrolled), and one of those classes was calligraphy. He learned not only about calligraphy but of typography and what comprises good design aesthetic. Good design and typography were, therefore, major factors that influenced the design of software for the Macintosh, as well as the form factors that are prominent in today’s popular Apple products.

The first Macintosh PC had a variety of fonts to choose from, as well as pre-loaded software for word processing and layout. Soon after the Mac’s initial release, LaserWriter printers could be connected to the Mac, and third-party applications like Aldus PageMaker, Adobe Photoshop, and QuarkXPress were developed and initially touted Mac-only support. With creative software primarily available on the Mac platform throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Apple held a dominant presence in the graphic communications industries.

While Windows-based PCs have made inroads in these industries, especially from a pure business administration perspective, recent InfoTrends research indicates that the Mac platform is still holding strong throughout the graphic communications industries. Apple’s market share in terms of operating systems is comparatively larger in our industry than in other industries, and companies are generally very good about upgrading to the latest operating system releases. With Apple still on stable footing and creatives still attracted to Apple and Mac, it’s hard to fathom this will change anytime soon, even with Jobs’ sudden departure.

All told, Steve Jobs had a tremendous influence on the creation of the Macintosh, which in turn had a significant impact on the core creative processes and workflows we’re all now accustomed to today. You could say that he’s doing it all over again with the rise in popularity of mobile devices, with Apple at the center of that transformation. While it may be disconcerting to those thinking about from the perspective of the future of Apple, Jobs has created an innovative culture that is instilled through every aspect of the business, from product development through its retail stores. It’s definitely hard to imagine Apple without Jobs at the helm, especially considering the downward spiral it went into after he left the first time. This time, however, he has built up a strong team that he can confidently pass the torch to for at least another generation.

Vice President, Mountain States Printing Education Foundation

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics had promised it was finally going to post many of our industry’s real production-related job titles/occupations on July 15th after almost a decade of work, initiated by Mountain States Printing Education Foundation. They are now saying that the “16.0 Database will come out the end of July/beginning of August. New O*NET online with 16.0 database will be released in September.” This continues to be one of the most frustrating endeavors that those of us who have been working on it have ever encountered.

In 2001 we (Mountain States Printing Education Foundation and Printing & Imaging Association Mountain States) were approached by the City & County of Denver to begin a funded training program for our industry, which they considered one of their largest and most important industries. The impetus changed after the tragedy of 9/11, but the following year we began working with them again.

What came to light at the time was a major discrepancy with what we and the City knew to be true and what the Department of Labor (DOL)/Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) had to say about our industry. We learned that all of the Federal industry data was completely incorrect and most of the information that they were reporting about the industry was 30-50 years old, although there were a few current job titles/occupations listed. We were extremely fortunate that our information prevailed at the time and we began training programs for current and potential industry employees. The funding underwrote training for 36 employees, one of which is now a member of Mountain States Printing Education Foundation – Melissa Rogers.

Prior to starting the classroom training, we assembled a number of Colorado printing related firms to review the job descriptions/occ upations that were posted on the Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Once that was accomplished (changes made to existing job information, very outdated jobs listed for removal and new jobs added) we hired an intern to gather and prepare a list of all current industry-related jobs and submitted them to our first contact person at the Department of Labor. That process took until early 2004. At the same time, a gentleman who had been hired as a consultant by DOL’s Employment & Training Administration (ETA) contacted Ben Cooper, former VP of Government Affairs at Printing Industries of America, to get his approval of the printing industry information posted on O*NET. By then, Cooper was aware of what the Foundation had discovered and sent the gentleman to work with us. With the approval of all the PIA Affiliates around the U.S., the Foundation took on the task of being the voice of the industry to “fix” the misinformation that was being purported about the industry.

Part of the “fixing” process was to have our intern, Nelson Alfred who was attending Platt College at the time, collect a list and short job description of every job in the industry and prepare a brochure which was sent to BLS noting every job that “Requires Industry Related Education or Formal on-the-Job Training”. That information was basically rejected by BLS since it was industry generated. We then partnered with the Colorado Department of Labor to generate a survey (in government manner and lingo) which confirmed our information, forwarded it to BLS and again the information was disregarded. At the same time Jim Kyger and Ron Davis from Printing Industries of America sent their surveys of job information (wages, job titles and The Print Market Atlas) to their contacts at the DOL – same result.

There were many theories about why the government information was wrong, one of which was that because there were no current apprenticeship programs, it was suggested that by writing new, modern apprenticeships – the information would be updated. We worked with the Colorado representatives from DOL’s Bureau of Apprenticeship & Training (BAT) to write the needed programs which were approved by DOL and the Union only to have them listed under classifications that no longer exist in the industry. At that point we pulled the apprenticeships until changes were made to the “job titles/occupations”.

Throughout the process former PIAMS president and Foundation secretary/treasurer Kathy Lauerman had ongoing dialog with various BLS/ETA/BAT representatives. One of the BLS representatives was also on an international SOC Code group (Standard Occupational Classification codes) that adopted our updated titles on an international level – but not in the U.S. This gentleman also took it upon himself to informally confirm our information in the Washington DC area, and of course it was confirmed.

Requests for approval and input continued from the BLS and at that time Carol Hurlburt of NPES and Kathy Lauerman of PIAMS, who have both since retired, were both heavily involved in the dialog. Promises were made over the years from various DOL departments to update the information but none came to fruition. In 2007 the Education Summit Group for Graphic Communications, a group sponsored by the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) adopted the cause as one of their action items. By then many Graphic Communications programs around the country were being closed – Most of which because of the misinformation being purported by the BLS about our industry. In addition the number of industry employees generated by the Department of Labor was also underreported because they only count production related numbers not full industry employment numbers.

The Education Summit Group active sub-committee members who continued the effort under the chairmanship of Mark Nuzzaco of NPES included Pat Klarecki from Ferris State University and Kathy Lauerman with tremendous support from Jim Kyger at Printing Industries of America, who ultimately took the reins to continue pestering BLS (and still does) to get correct industry information posted.

There are so many people to give credit to for helping with this decade long project and the list is far too long to cover – but you all know who you are. Thank you for your input and persistence. We would be remiss though in not thanking the woman who first came to us from the City & County of Denver who believes strongly in our industry and is a great proponent of what we do – Priscilla Bohl, not your typical bureaucrat. And, an additional “thank you” to Alexandra Hall and Joe Winter of the Colorado Department of Labor, who we can’t wait to eventually send a note to when the Feds finally update our information. Having correct job title/occupation information will also help them collect proper statistics on a state level.

Now all we can do is sit, wait, and continue to pester the DOL to get what has been approved and posted in the O*NET/SOC taxonomy placed on the actual O*NET website that is used by schools, economists, and all government agencies.

One of the major challenges faced by a printer that wants to offer marketing services involves changing their sales strategies and tactics.  There really is a big transition from commodity-based sales to solution sales. In my book Business Tranformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry, you will not find a how-to-guide on how to sell. Rather, you will find a chapter that focuses on the changes that you may need to make to your sales process.

Identifying Other Opportunities

One of the biggest changes will involve taking the time to investigate what other sales opportunities may be available. Let’s think of the the example of a seminar.

A seminar requires promotional planning, production, and follow-up. Registering attendees, mail and email notifications, collection of registration fees via e-commerce, creating informational items, and much more, are all a part of putting on an event of this sort. In the past, your business may have only received a small portion of the work involved in those items; perhaps you were printing the postcards that invited people to the seminar. But as a marketing services provider, you will absolutely want to find ways to get more of that business.

How can you go about doing this? One thing that may help is to simply ask more questions. Find out how the company plans to promote their seminar besides the printed piece that you are doing. Also, share tips and advice with them to position yourself as a partner. Suggest that they can improve the success of their registration efforts with personalized URLs or QR Codes. Share statistics that demonstrate the lift some campaigns get by including emails and social networks in their promotions. Then, find ways to demonstrate how you can help them with those items too.

Formalize Your Sales Process

If your company has had the same sales reps for many years, there may be some folks that are used to doing the majority of their work on their own. However, the transformation into a marketing services provider requires a team approach.

To get everyone on board, you may need to put forth efforts to standardize your sales process, to hold weekly meetings to share ideas, problems, concerns, and successes, and to develop that tools that will help people forecast sales opportunities.

Find Ways to Automate!

Next, let’s look at sales force automation. SFA records all of the stages in a sales process. It also allows you to track all of your contacts. SFA systems are also capable of sales lead tracking systems, sales forecasting, order management and product knowledge. This creates a streamlined, productive environment for your sales reps.

This is not limited to your sales reps, however. Your marketing department will also benefit from SFA. As your customer database grows, your marketing department can do a few things with this. For example, they may be able to identify who your most profitable customers are. There are obvious benefits to this. This will enable them create a market of similar companies to target.

Also, SFA will help in understanding the competition. Any lost sales opportunities should be documented in the system. Marketers can examine trends and cycles among sales reps and help develop a stronger competitive strategy. Also, this helps marketers and sales reps work in tandem. If you are conducting a self-promotional campaign, that information should be included in the SFA system, including who was contacted and what their responses were.

There is also marketing automation. This allows you to send out consistent and relevant messages efficiently. Marketing automation enables you to automate marketing functions, including campaign creation, market segmentation, and response analysis. Simply the gathering of data that can be used to target your audience in a valued way.

Technology is your friend. Use it to make your sales and marketing processes more efficient and effective. You will see results.

Next week, we will look at social media, and where it fits in with your new business.

To learn more about my book, “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”, visit  my book’s website.

Consider the following desirable equation:
New projects ≤ Projects completed

 Do you find that for yourself and your organization the number of projects added is at a rate disproportionate to the number of projects completed? Why is that?

Organizations place a high value on project management skills, which are critical for successful project completion on time and on budget. There are numerous classes and certifications in project management and major software programs dedicated to providing discipline and consistency to the project management process. The importance of managing project resources and scheduling the project timing is well understood. Time and effort is devoted to identifying the tasks and understanding the inputs and outputs of each task for completing the project. The tasks are sequenced and dependencies and end points of each element of the project are identified.

So, why is it that so many projects fall short of their goals?

I submit that the main reason is that we don’t apply the same effort and discipline to compiling and managing the list of projects itself. A few companies have created Project Management Offices, but their scope is often limited to projects in one department or function such as IT. Every company and department has a project list that seems to continually grow. Is the list complete? Does it include projects or activities which are required to keep the business going, such as audits? Is there a way to track all of the efforts underway in our organizations and what resources are assigned? To manage the project activity going on in our organizations, we need a disciplined approach.

Projects should support the corporate or department Strategic and Business Plans. The objectives supporting these plans should represent “filters” that each proposed project should be evaluated against before it is started. Does the new proposed project help us meet a defined strategic or business objective? All too often a project is conceived and started without ever considering the overall impact it will have on other efforts underway. Once filters are applied and priorities are established, resource requirements can be addressed.

Understanding resource requirements and availability is critical before proceeding to launch projects. What staff or other resources are needed for a project? Simply adding projects to resources that already have full plates will guarantee that current projects as well as the new ones will experience delays. Projects with overburdened resources will suffer starts and stops while resources bounce from one hot project to another. This causes inefficiencies and increases the risk of errors in critical project steps.

Another part of the project management process that should be applied to managing the project queue is determining the sequence for project implementation. An assessment of the organization’s project list could reveal that completing one project first will make other projects simpler and easier to complete. Consideration should also be given to breaking major projects into smaller ones, allowing a quicker return on the efforts and creating a sense of accomplishment. With the reductions in the workforce over the last several years, a growing sense of frustration exists as to having too much to do and never accomplishing anything.

The overall process of managing the organization’s activities and projects is really simple:
• Apply filters to the list and set priorities
• Assure necessary resources are available and have adequate band width before starting
• Avoid the mega project that goes on and on from inception by breaking it into shorter term achievable efforts

The process to manage the project efforts for maximum efficiency and results is easy, but implementing it is hard and must be supported at the top. With many pressures in all companies today, management generally tends to continue to distribute new important projects, unknowingly creating unsupportable goals. Limited resources cannot complete an ever-increasing project list. The final challenge in controlling projects comes in creating a culture that allows the people involved in a project to push back and seek some relief when the number and complexity of their projects gets to the point that nothing is getting completed. Without that culture, neither the company nor the employee wins.

So, what kind of company or department is yours?
New projects ≤ Projects completed, or
New projects ≥ Projects completed

Check out webinars that could help you along the way!

When do two seemingly similar-sounding service offerings present completely different business models? When comparing Managed Print Services to Print Management Services. These sound the same, and in a certain situations can be used interchangeably, however the industry definitions are quite distinct and different.

Managed Print Services (aka; MPS), Managed Document Services, Enterprise Printing Services, or any other variation on this theme refers to the active management of fleets or groups of hardcopy output devices and by extension the digital output, capture and/or dissemination of data and/or images which are a by-product of such technology, all of which should be a strategic component of an organization’s (enterprise) document management strategy.

Of the many goals this service represents, that of cost-effectively controlling how, when and where organizationally necessary enterprise printing is accomplished rises to the top of the heap. This is closely followed by operational efficiency, productivity, storage, retrieval and security.

Depending on the model employed, this can either be a boon or a disaster waiting to happen for an organization with a widely distributed fleet of desktop laser or inkjet printers, faxes, scanners and small-to medium MFPs (or MFDs) where the task at hand is deemed unmanageable.

The premise of MPS is that through an initial discovery phase, an entity, either internal or external to the organization can root out every localized ineffective, underutilized or overutilized print culprit, assess their individual efficiencies or inefficiencies, and implement wholesale positive change in the way the organization manages how they print on an enterprise level. This is accomplished through mandates, decommission and installation of appropriate devices, actively monitoring usage, and in some cases, outsourcing or shifting higher-quantity work to devices or outsourced facilities utilizing appropriate cost and time-effective technology.

That’s the simple explanation and it sounds great in theory, however in practice the promise may not ring so true. Just about every OEM and/or their regional resellers offer one flavor or another of this kind of service. They all tout amazing savings with the ability for the organization to concentrate on their core business activities without having to worry about managing documents. Their profit motive should be seriously considered with a cost-benefit analysis. Quite frankly in some cases it makes sense.

For the organization that does not consider enterprise document management to be strategic to their core mission, the out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach MPS provides may seem perfect. After all, the provider of this service will always do what’s in the best interest of the organization, right?

This wholesale technology alignment/replacement strategy can even extend to in-house services where “copy” centers are present organizationally or departmentally. An adept MPS provider can be very convincing, again where enterprise document management is not considered mission-critical, with reasons why they should outsource this service.

Quite frankly, this may be true where an organization doesn’t have (or anecdotally doesn’t believe they have) the economy of scale to dedicate staff to research, identify, negotiate and implement the best solution for the best interests of the enterprise, or where little or no fiscal oversight or responsibility is required or deemed to be necessary for this segment of the organization’s business for whatever reason. What a perfect customer to have! On the other hand, a well managed operation will always know where their true, fully budgeted costs are for all facets of their hard-copy output needs, and this extends to knowing what is best printed when, and where.

Depending on the complexity of the enterprise this could be all encompassing enough to include micro-run desktop-applicable printing (both monochrome and color) where local office printers or MFPs are appropriate technologies, to medium-to-large production runs (also either monochrome and/or color) where CRDs (central reproduction departments aka copy centers) are more appropriate for given run lengths, to print runs which have no business being run locally and are outsourced by the individual department or the enterprise to either an in-plant possessing the appropriate technology or to an appropriate outsourced facility.

This is where Print Management Services (which for some reason I’ve never seen the complete acronym used for, so we’ll just call it PM Services) comes in to the picture. Now not only does the enterprise have the opportunity to “control” costs through either internal or external service providers for their enterprise document needs, but they can extend this process, again either internally or externally to encompass all printed material including digital printing, offset printing, wide format, apparel, specialty, novelty, etc.

PM Services, like MPS, can be implemented by an external service provider who purports to have the resources necessary to answer any need within a certain scope of work, or by an internal (in-plant) resource, without the organization necessarily having the ability to produce everything in-house while keeping the faith to serve the organization’s core mission.

In either case the PM Services provided for should be in the best interests of the organization. Not based on the service the provider has available. The question then comes down to how the enterprise decides what is best for their needs. It is only in rare cases that an outsource vendor can provide all of the services most medium-to-large enterprises require, so multiple service providers are the usual order of the day.

The best approach however is to integrate all the document needs of the organization under one roof, even if it means outsourcing some services while retaining others. True MPS on the one hand, which can include printer and MFP fleets, CRDs and print centers, and PM Services which can encompass high-speed digital, conventional sheet-fed and web offset, and all of the other print-mediums out there, in a perfect world should be centrally controlled from a cost-and-operational efficiency procurement standpoint with capable internal enterprise-level oversight and expertise in place.

It is only then that the organization, whether we’re talking about you specifically, or your customer, can effectively manage (or have you help manage with integrity and trust) what arguably should be considered a strategic, core, mission-critical business activity.

Note: This is Part 5 of a 9-Part series based on the book “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”

When you take the plunge into transforming your business, you owe it to yourself to give it your all. The transformation to a marketing services provider is not always easy. There have been a lot of printers who have started going down the path, but then changed course when things did not go as smoothly as they may have hoped.

In chapter 5 of my book, Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry, I have outlined five simple steps to help you successfully make the transformation into a marketing services provider.

1. Stay well-read and educated. 

There is a lot of material out there. New technologies are constantly being rolled out. The world of marketing is being changed every day by mobile platforms, social networks, and more — look at how quickly the tablet is changing our daily activities! While you may not feel that easy an every new technology will have an impact on your business, it is worth it to at least have a handle on these things. For example, your customers will perhaps think of you as more than a printer when they start discussing those channels and technologies with you. Being able to have a knowledgeable conversation across a variety of marketing and technology topics with your customers will bring benefits.

2. Be forward-thinking.

It’s one thing to read about the latest trends. It’s another to apply what you learn. We should all constantly be thinking about how we can incorporate your new findings into our business. When consuming new information, aggressively take notes. Mark down what you think is interesting or potentially useful. Mark down topics that you do not understand! Having an open mind can lead to the spark of innovation that will lead your company to greater success.

3. Be aggressive.

Once you have made the transformation, your natural ambition has to take over. Always be actively thinking about how you can further your business. Constantly find ways to attract new clients. Be determined to continually find new ways to impress customers with your service. By getting your entire staff on board with putting in the work, the transformation will certainly go a lot smoother.

4. Be prepared.

I mention in the book that “you need to prepare for the day when you truly become a one-stop marketing services shop.” In order for this to happen, you need to be prepared. As time goes on, you will need to offer more services. You cannot exist on providing personalized URLs  alone or QR Codes for that matter. In a sense, you are preparing for a necessary expansion.

5. “Walk the talk.”

You will need to certainly be willing to bring your very best Sales skills to get clients on board with your new venture. Promising quality service and helpful products is part of the game, but you need to make sure that your service and products really are as good as you say. Also, you should be able to prove that the marketing channels you are selling have worked for you and your company.  Not only will that help you to sell your expanded services, but it should also make it easier for your staff to implement them for clients.

Next week, we will be examining how to promote the heck out of your new business.

To learn more about my book, “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”, visit  my book’s website.

As I regularly share with employees there are two main ways I think about this question. First is being a good corporate citizen and recognize that we have a responsibility to secure the data we are entrusted with to protect the privacy of individuals. According to ITRC more than 35 million data records were compromised in corporate and government data breaches in 2008. Considering that number is 3 years old I’m sure it’s growing so our focus needs to be “do no harm.” Each of us wants those that have our personal data to protect it and we need to give others that same respect. The second consideration is core in building a strong, healthy business in today’s information based world. It’s a matter of “Trust”. We work hard every day to continue to earn our customers’ trust and in this, as well as many industries, our ability to keep our customers’ data secure is one of those “make it or break it” triggers. So it can’t be an annoyance, overhead, or an afterthought…it must be part of the business as much as quality control, hitting mail dates, or even invoicing.

So what’s the point of this blog…it’s important that we all keep the ‘why’ in mind as it’s the ‘why’ that ensures all the procedures, hardware, and people come together to achieve the goal of protecting data.

Special thanks to Sourcelink for this post. Check out their blog here.

Note: This is Part 4 of a 9-Part series based on the book “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry“

We have gone over the strategy you need to make your transformation to a marketing services provider work. There are steps in place, a marketing and a business plan, now you need to fill in the puzzle. And the only way to do that is with the right people. The most well thought out plan will not succeed if it is not executed by capable and eager employees.  When transitioning your business, it is very important to pick people who can fill in your roster and get the job done.

The Marketing Pro

It has already been mentioned, but it is worth repetition.  Having a bona fide marketing professional on your team is completely necessary. Having someone who understands the ins and outs of your new industry is just too valuable to neglect.

Your Sales Team

Next, your sales team needs to be attended to. Selling your new product is an animal you have never really dealt with. Selling a solution is entirely different from any product or service you have ever sold. However, it is also wise to keep your print salesman on board. They have valuable contacts that will certainly be mined. Sustainability cannot be overlooked. But a new solutions salesman will be tasked with calling marketing personnel at new accounts. There is a certain level of expertise required by these salesmen, and you may need to bring in new blood for this.

The Folks in IT

Also, with the increasing speed of technology and software, your new company will need an IT department. IT professionals are highly important, on numerous fronts. They can be very helpful on sales calls, offering a quick solution to a problem that a traditional salesman may not be able to answer. And in this business, almost every customer will have unique needs and issues they need fixed. A savvy, experienced information technology pro can navigate these problems. And just as a rule, you will have plenty of networks and systems that you need to have maintained and tuned up. All of this falls under the umbrella of IT.

And Do Not Forget These

Then we come more to normal business functions, such as HR, accounting, and others. Finally, there are a group of folks I call “bench people.” Much like in sports, you need a strong bench to round out your team. I consider these people to be talented, and able to be groomed for future positions. Normally, these people will probably be in the form of interns, or recent graduates.

Finding the right people to bring your company into its new role is crucial for the success of your transformation into a marketing services provider.

To learn more about my book, “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”, visit my book’s website.

In this crucial section of the book, we really jump into the nuts and bolts of how to change a printer into a marketing service provider. And we start with a thorough business plan. A business plan is important for a couple of reasons. Primarily, it offers direction and guidance, something that is of the utmost importance when you are essentially creating a new business entirely. It is easy to get lost in your own shuffle, having a structured plan on paper will keep you on the right track. Additionally, having a professional, thoughtful business plan can be useful when trying to acquire funding from a bank or venture capitalists.

After it’s written down, you need to do some soul searching. Are you the right one to lead the transformation? Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Maybe you would be better suited staying on the printing side of the business while some new blood spearheads the marketing efforts. As long as you are comfortable in your role and confident that you are the best at what you do, then you are doing the right thing.

In my time in this industry, I have seen some businesses with no business plan. Many printers have been family run shops passed down through generations. And many printers are inherently local. There was no need for a business plan. The market was small, and people understood what they offered. Marketing was a simple task. Of course, this is no longer a functional method. The times have changed. A business plan is now essential to survival.

In the chapter, I offer a step-by-step breakdown on the transformation. Here is a brief outline.

1. Make the decision.
2. Evaluate the current clientele.
3. Determine exactly what services you plan to offer.
4. Write your business plan.
5. Look for integration.
6. Look for accessibility and support.
7. Hop on board the learning train!
8. Practice what you preach.

You can receive more information on these topics at my website, www.NewPathToProfit.com.

There are a wide range of services you can now provide as a marketing services provider. You can offer consulting services, creative services, campaign deployment, personalized URL’s, QR codes, and much more. And then you need to price all of these out.

All of this needs to have a home in your business plan. A market analysis is very important. Find out what vertical markets or specific industries you will pursue with your marketing services. You also need a section on marketing goals and strategies as well as a competitive analysis.

There is much more that needs to be in your business plan, but you have a good start and you are on the right path. It is tiresome, hard work and can be frustrating. And that’s okay. But staying focused here is absolutely fundamental if you want to have a successful metamorphosis.

Next week, we will take a look into your corporate infrastructure. You will be like the general manager of a baseball team, assembling your roster to create a winning team.

To learn more about my book, “Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry”, visit my book’s website.

There are numerous requests these days involving segmentation. With the onslaught of digital print and other media, companies are starting to take personalized communication seriously. One of the most common questions I am asked is what to segment on. Some companies just want to take a basic demographic approach related to consumers. Others are focused on transactional behavior of customers. A third approach has been to incorporate spatial data into segmentation. We use our GeoGrids for this since they are approximately ten times smaller than census block groups. Still block groups, carrier routes, zip codes and other approaches are often used in segmentation today. This approach tends to allow for the highest capture rate and still gives some relevance to characteristics of consumers. Other approaches include social media preferences; web clicks etc. depending upon what is available. One word of caution on segmentation is not to segment on a variable just because it has a strong correlation. I review this concept constantly with my staff to ensure that the segments make sense and have a valid meaning to the overall business.

So how do you choose which type of segmentation you will use? My typical answer is to segment on each of these as a pure stand-alone process. This approach will give you different angles for consideration and ultimately you have the ability to create a very complex matrix by layering the segments. Then you will have accumulated a variety of information. You can see what the person looks like, how they spend their money on purchases and what their tendencies are. The key to this approach is to not create too many segments for any given layer. Otherwise, you will be so granular that there will be little statistical significance in what you wind up with allowing you to only combine two layers of segmentation at a time. Creating a three dimensional view of customers will give you the strongest perspective of how to communicate, what to offer and whether or not a specific price point will be of interest to the individual. You have to gain a strong understanding of your customers before you can effectively create your business plans.

Once you have a strong grasp of customer segments by combining layers, you can also combine these with statistical models, marketing analytics, variable digital printing or multi-channel marketing communications. The technology is here. Now is the time to make the best use of it!!

This post was provided by Sourcelink’s blog, Insight + Design.

For more tips to fuel your business, look for free downloadable white papers here.

For operations executives and marketers alike, the number one challenge in today’s market is reaching the customer. Customers are clearly in control of the media that they consume. Mobile devices, iPods, DVRs, and the Internet have changed marketing forever. Marketing executives of the future will need to leverage every customer touch point with a mix of interconnected channels. One thing is certain — the effective use of cross-media communications will bring better business results. Delivering multiple impressions and giving prospects a variety of ways to respond can have a dramatic impact.

Media Dynamics are Changing

Over the past several years, we have heard about the importance of transforming into a “marketing service provider” with a focus on one-to-one communications and variable data. Today’s media dynamics are changing. As we look to the future, there will be three critical components for success in the much larger cross-media opportunity:

• Data-driven personal messaging
• Delivering messages across all channels
• Campaigns that engage the end customer

We’ll take a look at the first component now…

Data-Driven Personal Messaging

Marketers continue to see the value in developing intimate and direct communication with consumers. Not so long ago, families gathered around the television set. Now, individuals surf the Web and watch videos on personal, handheld devices. Consumers have grown comfortable with — and have even come to expect — a one-on-one dialogue with marketers. Personalized marketing messages are essential to attracting customers’ attention and delivering communications that increase sales. Today’s consumers don’t have the time or the patience to deal with irrelevant information. Data-driven personalized messaging has never been more important.

Organizations that sell products or services (business-to-business or business-to-consumer) must gather and use information about their customers’ purchases, including how much they spend per sale and when or how often they buy. Knowledge about past behaviors is a valuable tool for predicting future purchases. In addition to guiding business decisions, this information is critical for creating personalized marketing messages that increase sales.

Marketers must work with customers to personalize offers based on past purchases and preferences. The marketing must follow the customer (not the other way around), and the offer must be truly customized to the recipient’s specific needs.

In late 2010, InfoTrends published an extensive survey entitled Capturing the Cross-Media Direct Marketing Opportunity. The marketing respondents that participated in this study reported that over 60% of their campaigns leveraged personalized (one-to-one) or segmented (one-to-few) marketing.

From the perspective of the print service provider, personalization is the future of marketing communications. Service providers must clearly understand how to work with clients on data-driven campaigns. The problem is that personalization is not enough to remain competitive in today’s complex cross-media world.

If you want to learn about the remaining two components, visit www.OceWow.com and download the June 2011 Newsletter. You’ll find even more interesting articles there!