InfoPrint Solutions

InfoPrint Solutions Co., a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today announced that Best Western International, the World’s Largest Hotel Chain®, has successfully grown awareness for its own branded credit card, and increased revenues through incremental bookings via implementation of a TransPromo pilot. The scheme replaced inserts previously included with the program statement, with personalized and targeted promotions on quarterly rewards statements, sent to a segment of Best Western Gold Crown Club International rewards card customers in North America.

The third annual INTERQUEST Digital Printing in Government Forum is set to take place on Wednesday, November 5 at the Omni Shoreham in Washington D.C. Last year’s event drew about 150 attendees from more than 40 agencies and printing companies serving the government market. This year, INTERQUEST will present the results from a new study “Digital Printing in the Government: Market Analysis & Forecast (2008-2012),” which will be published in November. The study is based on an in-depth survey of government in-plant, CRD and data center operations. It analyzes market trends, issues, applications, and opportunities. The event will feature two customer panels, along with

InfoPrint Solutions Co., a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today announces another step in its on-going program with the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council through the formation of the Corporate and Faculty Leadership Committees, in support of a milestone research initiative. These groups of leading marketers, experts, authors and academics will provide insight to support InfoPrint’s commitment to and continual drive to educate the marketplace on the value of TransPromo. The company has also been working in partnership with the CMO Council to launch several pilot TransPromo projects with blue chip brands across North America.

DIGITAL PRINTING technology had its strongest showing yet at Drupa 2008, the world’s largest graphic arts trade show. The two-week event, which took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, last month, lived up to its billing as “The Ink-jet Drupa,” with “green printing” being the only challenger as a show theme, since virtually every exhibitor touched on it. About 391,000 visitors prowled the 19 halls of Drupa this year, (see sidebar about in-plants that attended), checking out the 1,971 exhibitors from 52 countries. Most of the attention, though, centered on the new digital printing devices, particularly those in the ink-jet category—though with prices ranging from $1

InfoTrends has signed up several industry leaders as sponsors for its second annual TransPromo Summit, taking place August 13-14 at the New York Hilton. Exstream Software, HP, InfoPrint Solutions, Kodak, Océ, Pitney Bowes, Riso and Xerox have all committed to participating in the event as Platinum Sponsors. Other sponsors will include Printable Technologies, Ricoh and Solimar. The TransPromo Summit is designed to educate attendees on the strategies, techniques and tools for fusing the traditional transaction document with marketing messages to enhance customer communications, improve customer retention and increase revenue. “The educational program will bring together senior executives and managers from the vendor, service provider

THE AIIM/On Demand Conference & Expo is shaping up to be the event of the year for in-plants. Not only will the show feature its usual impressive spread of digital printing equipment and software, but the AIIM/On Demand educational seminars will be augmented by a separate educational program from Xplor International. Xplor will hold its Global Conference in conjunction with On Demand for the first time this year. While On Demand is offering some 55 sessions, keynotes and tutorials, Xplor’s Document University will include 20 courses comprising 150 educational classes. Plus, AIIM has its own set of sessions covering topics like enterprise content management.

Over the past 18 months, a combination of new technologies, postal changes, and market conditions have created an environment in which transaction documents such as statements, invoices, and notifications can be used effectively to generate sales and long-term relationships. Now, companies are starting to use these communications to create ongoing, sustainable customer dialogues that promote products and services in addition to communicating transactional information. This transition is being coined the “TransPromo revolution,” and it is resulting in the use of more attractive, easier-to-understand statements that also encourage buying and other desired behaviors. Key TransPromo Drivers There are four key drivers that make right

NEWTON, MA—December 4, 2007—Questex Media Group’s On Demand Exposition & Conference (ondemandexpo.com), the preeminent event for commercial printers, publishers, and in-plant printing professionals, today announced its 2008 conference program. Packed with high-profile keynote presentations and more than 50 conference sessions, the conference program will be presented by industry leaders and innovators offering key information to increase productivity and profits. The On Demand Exposition & Conference, which is co-located with the Xplor Conference and the AIIM International Conference & Exposition, will take place at the Boston Convention & Exposition Center, March 3-6, 2008. According to Tom Bliss, Conference Director – On Demand Exposition & Conference,

Users of monochrome devices say speed, quality and service are among their chief considerations when looking for equipment. By Gretchen A. Peck While many in-plants cite color printing as an emerging opportunity, black-and-white output is still their bread and butter. Many, if not the majority, of their digital jobs are monochromatic. And since the speed of the printer largely determines how much work the in-plant can produce, this has become a very important criterion; it's typically the first specification a prospective buyer wants to know. At Greenville, Texas-based L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, the in-plant uses an assortment of Konica-Minolta black-and-white systems

In-plants interested in variable data printing should take things one step at a time. By Chris Reid Whether you're a small reprographics shop or a large offset printer, the prospect of supporting variable data printing (VDP) applications for your customers can be daunting. Many shops lack the IT skills or infrastructure to handle VDP. They may not be familiar with typical variable data formats or the composition tools used to build variable applications. Still others haven't made the leap to digital print technology in order to support a fully variable page for color or black-and-white printing. You may be at a