I don’t often put direct links to website in my newsletters as you know - there’s a danger that it becomes an expectation and that the whole thing just becomes an unreadable list of links - but I thought I’d break my own rule and attach one that will take you to The World Economic Forum. It has teamed up with the University of Cambridge and the Business School of the National University of Singapore to develop the Future Readiness of SMEs and Mid-Size companies benchmark - a 20 minute self-assessment tool designed to help you identify your company’s strengths and potential gaps and to benchmark your organisation with regard to your peers. Perhaps worth a look?
Editor's Blog
Great or greenwash?
What do you think of the de-inking solution highlighted in the recently broadcast BBC documentary ‘The Art of Cutting Carbon’. I can’t see Two Sides being too chuffed with the comment by its lead developer Barak Yekutiely of Reep Technologies that: “If we care about the planet, we must stop cutting down so many trees”. And the fact that the ‘de-printer’ uses a powerful laser to vaporise the ink doesn’t sound all that eco-friendly to me. I need to do some more investigating. Perhaps the print industry in general needs to be doing so too - deinking as a concept has been around a long time but we don’t seem to have come very far in terms of developing a truly eco-friendly solution - have we?
Pay day blues
It being the end of the month no doubt many of you will have salaries going out, so it seems timely to ask what kind of pay rises you’ve been awarding this year? Research from business performance consultancy Avming UK shows that around 8% of UK businesses are providing inflation-matching pay rises – which actually seems rather a high proportion given all I’m hearing on the grapevine. Any idea what the sector’s average pay increase is at the moment?
What’s in a name?
With KGK Genix having recently won the ‘Most Innovative Multidisciplinary Creative Agency 2022’ award I’m wondering if the term ‘print service provider’ is something of a misnomer given so many ‘print’ companies have diversified their offering. What are your thoughts?
Cooling things down
This week’s heatwave is no doubt going to be repeated – so what are you doing to lower the temperature in your production environments? Would love to hear…
Keep your cool
Just a very quick word from my darkened room before the heat gets to me - stay cool! Here’s hoping the heatwave doesn’t adversely impact your productivity over the next couple of days - we’ll be back in jumpers soon enough.
Making an impact
It’s great to hear of so many actions being taken within this sector to help save the planet - and, hopefully, bolster business. If you are doing anything out of the ordinary to mitigate print’s impact of the environment, I’d love to know about it. Thank you
Pause for applause
With a multitude of awards schemes open for entry I would like to get some idea of which you enter? Are they all print sector run or are you engaging with the wider community and getting involved in more general business, training, sustainability etc. awards programmes? Just curious…
Competitive or not?
Have you put your prices up yet? Can you manage to remain profitable without doing so? How tricky is it to manage business in today’s economy? Does it require you to reconfigure your operations and rethink your strategic goals? I can only ask the questions – I’d love to hear some of your answers….
Independents day
I couldn’t resist that header on the 4 July! But cheesy pun that it is there is a serious question behind it - which is, how do you think the sector’s small family-owned businesses are going to fare over the next few months given the economic situation? The data from this year’s Widthwise survey indicates an optimism among PSPs - you’ll be able to read the full report very soon! – but how many of them think they’re going to have to let go of their independence and become part of bigger entities?
Beyond our ken
You will notice that the latest ‘Suppliers’ Say So’ blog isn’t from anyone with anything to do with the print industry - it’s from a chap heading global sales, service and marketing at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. But I thought it worth directing your attention to what he has to say about digital transformation as in his own words, “by sharing these experiences, we believe we can help other organisations that are just embarking or that are facing challenges on their own transformational journeys”. May be worth a look-see.
Worth a shifty?
Apparently it’s National Insurance Awareness Day tomorrow, 28 June. According to Christophe Bourguignat, CEO of insurance tech provider Zelros, “thanks to how AI is being used in the insurance industry, insurance companies can now proactively update risk categories more quickly than ever, to better match each and every personal situation meaning your policy needs have likely changed.” So, do you reckon having another look at your insurance could save you money? Just thought it a timely ask.
Driving down costs
Data in a report from iCompario showing how much companies could save by switching to electric transport makes me wonder how many of you have already made the switch - and if so, whether you are seeing the kind of significant savings it states can be made. Just thought I’d flag it up given we’re all trying to make whatever savings we can…
What’s your train of thought?
Working from home certainly has its benefits and not having to catch a train this week is one of them. But then I’m not in a manufacturing environment! Wondering how you will manage this week with all the planned rail disruption. Can you operate effectively and efficiently under your Plan B?