Change and Thrive

Like most of us in the printing industry, we at DCT Consulting Group are always wondering if there is something coming that will change the way we do business. We listen to prognosticators, attempting to glean an advantage that will help us prosper or at least survive. I see and hear speakers tell their audiences what is going to happen in 10, 20, 50 years, which as a result of the timing, are safe predictions. No one is going to remember them, while the ones that are more risky are the one-, two-, five-year projections because businesses build plans on those increments.

With this in mind I am going to jump into the briar patch and suggest what will happen based on what our group has seen and heard from our engagements within that risky one- to five-year period.

First, a change that has been occurring and will continue to do so is optimizing processes. The job shop mentality is being replaced with concepts like Lean Manufacturing and process workflow. While many companies have claimed to become more efficient, the truth is, printing still has a long way to go to match that of the electronics and automobile industries, to name a couple.

Additionally, for printing to continue to be a viable communication model, it must match the efficiency of its digital competition. This is a challenge, but we are already seeing the seeds of this change in manufacturers of output devices adding software and standards that will enable printing operations to build automation into every detail of their process.

Print industry leaders are already pushing this effort and as it becomes more widely accepted, standards and automation will be included in even lower-level devices reducing cost of entry. A decision not to upgrade to more capable and cost-efficient devices will, in the end, determine how long a company stays competitive. These improvements are no longer exotic but a necessity. The race is on.

The cost of sending e-mails and building content viewers keeps getting less expensive. As long as the customer uses cost of production as a component to the value proposition, print will struggle to be part of the communication model. Designing the most automated in-plant is what every manager should be working toward.

The Mobile Reality

This brings me to the second and perhaps the most important change occurring in the business world: the use of mobile devices. I remember when Time Inc. announced that all of its designers must submit PDFs to them in order for the magazine to produce and print its issues within its weekly timeframe. Recently, another magazine announced that it is making a major change: Newsweek has decided to go completely digital. There are a number of factors involved in this decision, but one is that more people are seeking information online.

Bearing that in mind, it seems that the companies that are going to be successful in the communication industry must embrace and integrate online and mobile technology into their environments. Since printing's reason for existence is to communicate thoughts and ideas, it stands to reason that print and mobile media must intertwine. The changes will go beyond PURLs and QR codes, which have gained traction more rapidly than predicted. The in-plant that doesn't race to see how its organization is using mobile technology will find itself declining in influence and in the end lose more print.

As print volumes continue to decline, the important thing for in-plants to do is to understand and promote the value that print has always had but never leveraged fully. For instance, printers have been producing variable printing for years. How they acquire, use and maintain the data associated with the communication process is one key to their future. E-mails, direct mail and versioning, are just a few methods to deliver a message more accurately. These all depend on some form of a database.

Every organization must have access to credible data no matter what form of delivery it decides to use. If companies, universities and governments wish to sell, inform, solicit or communicate, the gathering and analysis of data will be critical for an organization's success. How printers leverage this key will give them a more powerful tool than the plates they used to store in the back room for their customers. Managers who seek to be involved in data gathering will be uniquely positioned to improve their strategic importance in the organization.

Enhance Your Value

Finally, in the past year, we have observed more in-plants making changes to enhance their value. While there are many who are still struggling to convince management to give them the opportunity to make needed changes, others are showing they can deliver. I have seen managers embrace PURLs, QR codes and variable data printing with success.

Recently, we worked with an in-plant that had built a reputation for saving money by changing its mailing system. Building on that reputation, the department went to management with a plan to add services that would change how the organization attracted new customers. Management listened and, in the end, a manager with a vision and a track record was supported and given the opportunity to implement the change for the good of the company.

That is why the future of in-plants is so positive. In-plants embraced digital technology before the rest of the printing industry saw its value. I am optimistic that in-plant managers will continue to push the technology.

One concern I have is that the changes the industry is undergoing may cause some managers to not aggressively seek new ways to participate in the change quickly enough. The new challenge is balancing what has been an operation's core business and adding new capabilities. Those who can best perform this juggling dilemma will be winners in the next communication era.