The 2003 ON DEMAND Show has come to a close and by now most of you have already read many of the press releases and special reports published here at WhatTheyThink.com. There were, as expected, numerous mind-boggling announcements created by marketing departments and PR Firms who actually believe that each press release is a work of art, some manufacturing them every hour on the hour. Hidden under the massive press release pile, something important actually took place at this year’s show. Workflow finally took its deserved place at the head of the table.

The process of moving away from a device dependent world officially has begun as exhibitors like Heidelberg, Xerox and HP are pushing forward with their workflow initiatives. The industry has spent far too much time debating which digital press or CTP device is best, while overlooking the most important factor in the entire process. These workflow announcements should be music to the entire industry’s ears as now the process of open communications between competing ecosystems can begin.

Gil Hatch, President, of Xerox’s Production Systems Group, with smiling executives from both EFI and Creo on hand, announced that Xerox was finally on the workflow bandwagon. Mr. Hatch said Xerox would continue to announce other partnerships but that EFI, Creo and XMPie, were all on board as partners with Xerox’s new FreeFlow workflow solution. EFI and Creo will stand equally; side-by-side in this relationship allowing printers and corporations to make the choice as to which workflow they want. What encouraged me the most was Xerox demonstrating that they understand that One to One Marketing solutions like are part of the workflow, not separate stops along the highway.