executive perspectives: Front Page News
P+P: What do you expect to be some of the biggest challenges/changes the industry will face?
BP: The business forms industry and the print industry, in general, face the same challenges. Companies and individuals are calling for ways to produce products better, faster and less expensively. We are focused on these areas. Technology has had and will continue to have a big impact on our industry. Customers have sought out more and more ways to utilize technology to perform their tasks faster and less expensively. As an example, many people use online banking now instead of paper checks. Customers utilize email for sending electronic instead of printed invoices. Customers are looking for ways to drive out the cost of print in marketing by being selective as to which customers receive a printed piece and which ones receive an email promotion. I see our distributors leveraging technology in a few different ways to help their customers reach their goals. First, end-customers want to do business online, so e-commerce is part of the distributor offering. Second, distributors are focused on improving the efficiency of their customers’ operations. This may have been done in the past through combining forms and adjusting paperwork processes. Now many distributors are utilizing technologies such as taking on a software project to help their customers be more operationally efficient. Third, on the marketing side, distributors are leveraging integrated marketing campaigns to help their customers get better results for less cost. Some distributors are even adding iPad and iPhone app creation to their service offering to think creatively outside the box for their customers. Distributors have been involved and are now getting involved in strategic planning with their customers. This allows them to get in on a project in early stages and add value as more than a print vendor; they are solution providers in the marketing arena. Their focus is getting to the C-level and away from the purchasing agent. I see the cost of print continuing to be an issue with end-customers. Our industry needs to work together all up and down the supply chain to drive out costs for the end-customer. Every time we have a price increase it just drives end-customers to think more about electronic solutions instead of paper solutions. Our paper suppliers need to drive out costs, our printers need to drive out costs and our distributors need to drive out costs. This must be done not only in isolation but within the supply chain. This is imperative if we are to lengthen the life of the print industry. Another challenge for our industry is innovation. We must continually renew ourselves, our businesses and our industry if we are to survive, grow and prosper. We need to look for new methods, new products, new services to better serve the end-customer each day. Creativity will play a larger role in a company’s success in the future of the print industry.