Futureproofing print

With ‘futureproofing’ the theme of this year’s Image Reports’ annual Widthwise Report it  seemed only apt that it should also be the topic of debate at an event set to excite the senses and stimulate strategic thinking. So various speakers from the Digital Conference programme were put on the spot and asked for their thoughts on how we move forward.

The panel comprised: Tim Greene, wide-format services director; Richard Gray, operations director, Printfuture; Neil Falconer, consultant, Printfuture; Graham Reed, owner, Global Print Strategies; Paul Sherfield, founder Missing Horse Consultancy; Alistair Nash, corporate director, Premier Paper

While recent reports show that the global market for wide-format digitally produced print is growing, a question was posed as to which specific geographic markets are seeing the most growth, and indeed, whether any are actually contracting, and whether printers (from the UK) should be looking to export more or get more involved in foreign markets. “Most printers export by accident – they simply end up doing work for someone who ends up being an overseas client. It’s not a conscious, strategic decision,” laughed Richard Gray. “For small companies, entering the export market can be a big step – they’d be better looking at the UK market and recognize that that itself is changing. Sign and display is reaching maturity just as the general commercial printers are pouring into it. Yet, as Widthwise shows, there are plenty of other areas for growth, like interiors. If I was in wide-format I’d want to be exploiting those markets.”

“I think that as far as exploiting print demand from foreign territories we’ll also see far more networks of printers working in different countries to fulfill much bigger jobs for brands that they wouldn’t be able to attract on their own,” added Neil Falconer.

Graham Reed took it a step further: “In fact I’d like to use the word ‘collaboration’ rather than ‘export’. It's about knowing exactly what the customer wants and being able to deliver that on a global basis – own the customer, own the solution then work in collaboration globally.”

So will we see more formal partnership, mergers etc., perhaps particularly where printers are entering new markets and looking at new customer bases? “People have got to step outside their own comfort zones to find the growth opportunities, and that probably means partnership,” said Gray. “I was at an IPIA meeting recently where printers and print managers acknowledged that their business model was running out of road and they needed to adapt but were each too small to do it for themselves – so were asking if there was some way they could work together. They’re normally at each other’s throats, so that is a sign I think of the strategic change we can expect – or it’ll just be about pushing prices further and further down. If I was in the wide-format print market I’d be saying look at the decoration market, and find out who we need to partner with to get involved in that supply chain.”

“There are big potential growth markets, and at some point, as a printer, you have to commit. You have to ask ‘Am I going to be a serious player in market x?’ and act accordingly,” added Falconer. “I know a US print company that got rid of 70% of its sales force. It decided it wanted to concentrate on four key vertical markets and went out and got experts in those market – not print experts but people who understood those markets, the pains those people have and the solutions they require. That thinking is not outside the remit of most companies – it’s just you have to think very differently about the people and skills you need. You can partner, or you can bring the expertise in-house and transform you business. Do you want to change, evolve and get into more lucrative markets?

“The problem with this industry is that it thinks like this industry,” continued Reed. “Take augmented reality, which makes print interactive and can really catch people’s imaginations. I haven’t seen any of that at this show. The potential is there, but we’ve got to start thinking differently and really highlight what we can do. You’ve got to start to broaden the remit of your managerial meetings and widen the discussion – it’s not just about what’s going out the door in the next 24 hours.”

“All managers have to think on two planes – how to get operationally better, and how to grow sales. How to prioritise both is the big challenge,” added Greene.

“Many print company owners have been trained on the press. Maybe being trained away from it helps. Having the other skills are important. Frankly, most printers are great printers these days, but not good managers. That’s the dilemma – it’s why many hold back. They produce superb product but have not thought through their strategy and adapting as well as they should to the opportunities.

“The bottom line is that we can all do easy. The challenge is doing what’s hard.”

The discussion will continue in the next issue!