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Web Enablement and Engagement: We’re Just Getting Started

Over the course of the last decade, Web-enabled printing has grown from 3% of overall print shipments to 15%, and that number is expected to double over the next five years. It is clearly time for print businesses to overcome the technological, cultural, and educational barriers of Web enablement and engagement to capture this growing opportunity.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

As your business has undoubtedly experienced, the Internet continues to play an increasingly significant role in customer engagement, ranging from general customer service and communication to job submission, review, approval, and more. Significant opportunities exist to leverage the Web to engage with customers and build a substantial Web-based revenue source. Nevertheless, print service providers continue to grapple with technological, cultural, and educational issues that can potentially stifle growth in Web enablement and engagement. To truly capture share in this growing area, companies need to overcome these barriers to effectively leverage Web enablement and engagement.

InfoTrends has been tracking the amount of Web-enabled print shipments since 2000, which accounts for print shipments that originate strictly from a Web-based interface (excluding e-mail submissions, FTP transfers, etc.). In 2000, only around 3% of print shipments were Web-enabled. Looking at this year’s update displayed in Figure 1, we find that Web-enabled print shipments have grown by a factor of five from the year 2000 to 15% of print shipments in 2009. We expect that percentage to double over the next five years, with 30% of print shipments being Web-enabled by 2014.

Figure 1: Web-Enabled Print Shipment (United States)


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About Bryan Yeager

Bryan Yeager is a Senior Consultant for InfoTrends’ Business Development Strategies and Production Workflow Solutions Consulting Services. Bryan covers a number of existing and emerging software and technology markets that enable cross-media marketing communications. He is the author of several in-depth Ultimate Guide reports that span across a variety of software categories, and provides insight through research, analysis, and consulting. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected] or via Twitter (@bryanyeager).

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