Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Ask More Questions, Make Fewer Assumptions, Sell More

Published August 16, 2017

People buy workflows; therefore sales is a discovery process that reveals the challenges in their workflows that you might be in a position to solve. You have to ask more question and make fewer assumptions.

How Well Does Your Staff Know Your Software?

Published August 9, 2017

We train on presses, we engage with the press vendors. We make sure operators are competent – why don’t we do the same for software solutions (especially Print MIS, production workflow, and web-to-print)?

Conversations on Print - Ep 3: Owning The Creative Relationship - Featuring Peter Gunning

Published August 4, 2017

Jennifer Matt talks with Peter Gunning, CEO of Grafenia about how owning the creative relationship has moved from print to the website - our industry needs to evolve with that change. Grafenia's Nettl brand provides print service providers the tools they need to compete in the digital world.

Print Business Investments: Presses vs. Software

Published August 2, 2017

Successful print companies have always been re-investing in their business to remain competitors. Up until now, that investment centered around production equipment and systems. Technology in the form of software will be a primary differentiator moving forward.

The Never Ending Implementation of Your Print MIS

Published July 27, 2017

Print MIS implementation is a never-ending process. Jennifer Matt interviews Jane Mugford about why the evolution of the Print MIS does not end after the initial implementation. The vendor releases new versions, your business keeps changing (new products, new workflows) - your Print MIS needs to evolve with your business forever.

Software with Print on the Side

Published July 26, 2017

Software is the toolset that enables you to solve the business challenges required to win the print that results from them. Your sales process is going to look like software as the main dish with print as a side dish.

How to Protect Your Business when Managing Software Projects

Published July 20, 2017

Jennifer Matt interviews Chris Reisz-Hanson, software architect about how to protect yourself. One of the key questions that is often missed is "who owns what?" Where is the source code stored? If you own the software, you should have access to the source code under an account in your business name.

The Intellectual Property Buried in Your Print Business

Published July 19, 2017

Every person in your business solves challenges every day with the tools they have at their disposal and the tools they are comfortable deploying. There is a rich set of intellectual property buried there which can be retrieved by listening and understanding how humans looks for ways to build trusted systems.

Avoid Common and Costly Traps of Print Software Evaluation

Published July 12, 2017

Evaluating software is not a math problem, please don’t count the number of features and award the deal to the highest score. Print software must solve your challenges, in the order of importance to your business.

Mobile Serves Two Audiences (Google and Your Customers)

Published July 6, 2017

Google is judging you on multiple fronts as it pertains to mobile. Jennifer Matt interviews Kellie Rife, a front end web developer and user experience designer about how she thinks about servicing both audiences: Google and Your Customers.

Understanding Order Entry from Your Customer’s Perspective

Published June 28, 2017

Too many online order entry tools are discounted because the printer fails to see the value from their customer’s perspective. Don’t let your competitors use your customer experience to replace you.

Who is Running Your Business? People or Software

Published June 22, 2017

Your software should run your business, your people should run your software. Can you easily get to the trusted data of your business? Is it in a trusted system of record (Print MIS/ERP)? Or do you have to gather up data from many different sources to get to a version of the truth? Jennifer Matt interviews Jane Mugford about helping printers transition from people run business to a software run business.

Print Software Evaluation – First Define the Problem It Solves

Published June 21, 2017

Every software tool sets out to solve a set of problems, all too often the problem is never defined because the sales process focuses on solutions, benefits, and features. Take the time to understand the problem print software solves and most importantly whether you have that problem!

How Mobile is Changing the Software Design Process

Published June 15, 2017

Mobile is now the predominate access point for users. Anything you put online needs to take into consideration how "mobile-friendly" your online experience is. Jennifer Matt interviews Kellie Rife, a web developer and user experience designer about how she thinks about mobile design.

Product Spotlight: Kodak PRINERGY Cloud

Published June 13, 2017

Your print business runs on software, more and more of that software is being delivered via the cloud where resources can be precisely controlled and scaling (both up and down) is configurable in real-time. Kodak’s flagship workflow product – PRINERGY Workflow is no exception to taking advantage of what cloud computing can do to a printer’s production workflow.

Conversations on Print - Ep 2: Being a Data Driven Company - Featuring Susan Moore

Published June 13, 2017

In this podcast we talk to Susan Moore about the various roles Susan has had in the printing industry: supplies sales, printing business owner, MIS platform provider. We talk about becoming a data-driven company and how MIS transitions are hard but they create a great opportunity to restructure your business model and to transition to today's world.

Managing Custom Software Projects in Your Print Business

Published June 8, 2017

Most printers have at some point hired a software programmer. Jennifer Matt interviews Chris Reisz-Hanson about why thinking about software programming with a single resource filling all the roles. Software is combination of user interface, defining the requirements, coding and testing - think about who is going to play all those roles before you start your next custom development project.

Software is our Primary Business Tool

Published June 7, 2017

Buy, implement, build – software is part of your everyday business life now. It is the primary tool of all businesses.

The Role of the Project Manager in Print Software Projects

Published June 1, 2017

When you're implementing a new print software project, a project manager can be critical to keeping momentum on the project. A project manager keeps everyone on task and aligned around getting a "side-project" done. Jennifer Matt interviews Bryan Quible about project management and software projects.

Understanding the Software Development Process

Published May 31, 2017

Making good software is like building a nice home, it takes multiple resources who are coordinated to deliver on your needs. The more a printer understands the software process, the better they will be at managing it for internal projects or influencing the software roadmap of their vendors.

The Danger of Rushing to a Solution

Published May 24, 2017

We want to be efficient, we want to feel smart. When we hear even the first words of a challenge, we categorize it and start trying to solve it based on our available tool set. This prevents you from a real understanding of the problem.

Your Customer’s Lack of Change Management Kills Web-to-Print Adoption

Published May 17, 2017

People don’t like change, they need to be led through change because the transition between “how you’ve always done it” and the “new more tech-focused way to do it” can be a river of misery.

Choosing Your Next Print MIS Solution

Published May 11, 2017

When you need to transition off a legacy Print MIS, there are few things that you need to consider when selecting your new trusted system of record. Jennifer Matt interviews Jane Mugford about how she guides companies through that decision process.

Leading Technology Change

Published May 10, 2017

Change management is considered a soft skill (maybe because it can’t be measured easily in a spreadsheet). Change management can cause a lot of hard problems with technology change when it ignored.

Strategy vs. Tactics in Print Software Projects

Published May 3, 2017

A print software strategy is a definition of where you want to end up – an objective, a goal for how you want all the software components in your business to work together.

Describe the Challenges You Want to Solve with Software

Published April 27, 2017

Our default reaction to talking about software is to try to describe the solution or a feature of the potential solution (e.g. drag and drop). Focus on telling the story of the CHALLENGE you are trying to solve - this is so much more helpful. What do you want to solve and who do you want to solve it for?

Does This Print Software Fit into Your Technology Stack?

Published April 26, 2017

There is no “one software package” that runs your entire business. Businesses of all sizes have a technology stack (a collection of software). How well your technology stack fits together (like a beautiful puzzle) greatly determines your success in today’s market.

After the Honeymoon of Selling Web-to-Print Program

Published April 20, 2017

When you sell a web-to-print program, you have a brief honeymoon period that needs to be optimized. Stay focused on the business goals - get orders flowing through the system. Nobody wants to hear from a customer saying, its been six months and we've seen no value!

Clear Communication with Print Software

Published April 19, 2017

Clear communication is essential when implementing print software. When you don’t ask clarifying questions, you assume that if there were more relevant details about the integration they would have shared them with you. Do not assume. Ask clarifying questions. Be that annoying person who keeps asking questions.

Chain of Custody of Print Jobs

Published April 13, 2017

One of the key functions of a Print MIS is to track where every single job is in your facility. Chain of custody is about inputting the transfer of ownership between resources in your plant. It always amazes us how powerful this one feature of a Print MIS when implemented properly.

Excel, PDFs, Paper, and More People (automation-less)

Published April 12, 2017

We apply tools from our toolset to solve business challenges, often those tools create silos of data and processes inside our company that prevent us from becoming a truly data-driven organization.

Print Is Not Dead AND Its Not Returning to Past Dominance

Published April 6, 2017

Print is not dead, we still need print and it needs to work and play well with its digital alternatives. The use of print has changed, especially in marketing. Printers need to extend their value proposition to understand all communication options in order to keep print relevant.

Print Software Execution is the Differentiator

Published April 5, 2017

I wish you could just buy the right print software product and it would make you successful. You can’t. Success with software takes your execution. Software doesn’t implement itself, vendors can’t implement it without your active involvement.

New Software Technology Introduced to a Printer

Published March 30, 2017

When new technology is introduced into a printer the success of it really depends on how your people engage (or don't engage) with the software. The success is way more dependent on your team than it is on vendor. You have to learn the software and then strategically apply it to your business.

Embrace the Stupid

Published March 29, 2017

You can call it change management, I prefer the wise words of Seth Godin – change requires you to embrace stupid. Our market requires all of us to keep learning, “the pre-learning state is stupidity.”

The Importance of a Good Web-to-Print Demo Site

Published March 23, 2017

Demonstrating your web-to-print solution is critical to your sales process. Use your demonstration site to configure all the bells and whistles of your solution so you never have to say, "we support that feature but its not configured on this site."

What Makes Print Ecommerce Weird?

Published March 22, 2017

Selling print online requires knowledge of how to both accept artwork and deliver print assets to the manufacturing facility. Generic ecommerce firms don’t understand this which can cause printers to spend their time and money educating resources about what makes print ecommerce unique.

The Software Technology Stack of Your Print Business

Published March 16, 2017

Your print software is as important as your print manufacturing equipment. Software enables you to get to new customers and automate your workflows to enable you to do more with less effort. Software is becoming your most strategic resource.

With Software Changes Maximize Learning, Avoid Fear

Published March 15, 2017

Mistakes are part of our lives and our businesses. Nobody likes to make them, how you react to your mistakes dictates what kind of business culture you’ll create. Software changes are an excellent environment to create a learning culture and avoid a fear based culture.

Conversations on Print - Ep 1: Make Print Easier to Buy - Featuring Jerry Kennelly

Published March 13, 2017

Jerry Kennelly started his print career in a sweat shop run by his parents in their basement. When a wall in your house has to be removed to get the press downstairs, you know you might be working the 3rd shift someday. Jerry is an entrepreneur, founder of Stockbyte, Tweak and the Junior Entrepreneur Programme in Ireland. In this podcast we talk about what Jerry has learned and how passionate he is about both the impact and value of print in our digital world.

The Two Parallel Workflows of Your Print Business

Published March 9, 2017

Your print business runs on two parallel paths (workflows), a product path and a business path. The production path results in a "physical product" that is shipped to your customer, the business path results in an accurate invoice that is delivered to your customer. Looking at your business in this manner can help you understand the roles of your Print MIS and your Production Management software tools.

Software Features are Trees - See the Forest

Published March 8, 2017

Step back and regroup. Stop looking at features and focus on the overall business objectives of your software solutions. All of us (vendors and printers) need to get out of the feature focus so we can make better software decisions AND make the software we have work better for us in spite of the lacking features.

Self-Service Access to Your Print Business

Published March 2, 2017

Across all markets, customer's demand for self-service access to business transactions is growing. Customer convenience trumps full-service. A self-service interaction gives the customer full control of when they want to interact.

Assumptions Are the Enemy of Good Software Decisions

Published March 1, 2017

When both parties in the print software sales process make assumptions, poor decisions are made. Money is wasted. Time is squandered. Replace assumptions with clarifying questions so you come to a common understanding of the truth.

Preparing Questions for User Conferences – Dscoop 2017

Published February 22, 2017

User conferences are an incredible opportunity to load up on learning from the speakers, the vendors, and most importantly your peers. With Dscoop next week, this article covers the importance of the well-formed, thought out questions that can help you get the most out of events by preparing and focusing on your learning goals before you arrive!

Software Focus: Staying on Main Street

Published February 16, 2017

What does "staying on Main Street" with your software product mean? It means using software for what it was intended to do and not trying to add features just because you can. Tight focus on both the development of software solutions and their use will keep everyone out of trouble.

Hiring a Developer Does Not Get You Good Software

Published February 15, 2017

Building good software takes a (small) village of people with distinct skills sets. Don’t try and build software with only a developer, you’ll end up with software that only developers will want to use!

Stop with the Software Talk

Published February 9, 2017

In talking about software solutions, its best to talk about the problems you want to solve rather than suggesting solutions like "drag and drop". Making recommendations for how to solve things prevents real understanding of what you're actually trying to solve. Focus on describing the problems you're having and the results you want to create.

Set a Deadline for Print Software Transition

Published February 8, 2017

Retiring software solutions can be overwhelming. Continuing to pay maintenance on legacy software solutions is maddening. Start the process of transition by setting a realistic date – draw the line in the sand, rally your troops around what it takes to get from where you are today to throwing a retirement party for your legacy software.

Fall in Love with Your Customer's Problems

Published February 2, 2017

Our market demands you to be more consultative with your customers so you can extend your value proposition beyond a commodity manufacturer. The best way to be a good consultant is to understand your customer's challenges. You have to dive in and fall in love with your customer's problems in order to build up that trusted partnership that is immune to competitive pricing pressures.

Top 3 Mistakes with Print Software Strategy

Published February 1, 2017

Your print software strategy is your responsibility. It requires strategic thinking to both define the challenges and the results you want to create (vision). Don’t make the common mistakes with your print software strategy.

Product Spotlight: KODAK PRINERGY Workflow Software 8

Published January 31, 2017

There are two major workflows that a job travels through in your print business. The production workflow which results in a printed product and the business workflow which results in an accurate invoice. The job must travel through both workflows; often in parallel and frequently requires some collaboration and/or communication between the workflows to reach both desired results - high-quality print product(s) delivered on-time and an error free invoice.

Change Management in Print MIS

Published January 26, 2017

When your Print business is faced with changing your Print MIS, the attitude towards the change can make all the difference. Are you looking to force the Print MIS software to work just like you work today or are you willing to adapt your workflows to optimize how the Print MIS software was built?

Long-Term and Short-Term Print Software Priorities

Published January 25, 2017

Your business should be run by your print software systems; your people should run the systems. These print software systems require attention for both short-term initiatives and long-term strategy.

Finding a Niche with Your Print Business

Published January 18, 2017

Finding a niche for your print business (a target market with specific pain points) is not about aiming small, it’s about FOCUS and EXECUTION to build a repeatable product offering and to dive deeper into learning about your customer’s problems.

Scale Your Print Business by Investing in Print Software

Published January 12, 2017

Growing and scaling a business can come from an investment in software.

EFI Connect 2017 Educational Sessions with Jennifer Matt

Published January 11, 2017

User group meetings create a space for you to find peers for collaboration. Use these meetings to find your people. Do not proceed in these disruptive market conditions on your own! I invite you to attend the sessions. For those of you who are not planning to attend, I want to provide you with some of the key learnings that will be delivered.

Web-to-Print Solution Frustration

Published January 4, 2017

When people get frustrated with software, they are looking for an easy answer to get closure. One of the most common reactions to web-to-print frustration is to shop for a different solution. Before you start shopping, take a long hard look at your investment in really learning the web-to-print solution you already have.

3 Success Factors for Print MIS Implementations

Published December 21, 2016

Implementing a Print MIS is challenging, it requires a focus on end results without an attachment to “the way things have always been done”, persistence, and adaptability. Look for these personality traits in the people you assign to lead your Print MIS implementation.

Jennifer Matt interviews Jerry Kennelly about Tweak Cloud

Published December 8, 2016

Make print easier to buy. The Tweak Cloud offering is a toolset that streamlines the process of getting to a final agreed upon design. Jerry Kennelly, CEO and founder of Tweak describes the offering and his approach to giving the customer self-service control over the proofing process.

You Need Technical Leadership Inside Your Print Business

Published December 7, 2016

As software takes on a larger and larger role in your print business, your technical leader plays a greater role in all aspects of your business performance. With the right internal technical leader, software can deliver almost everything that was promised in the demo! Without the right technical leader, you’re going to feel like your software investment was a complete waste of money.

Print MIS Product Spotlight: PrintJobManager

Published November 30, 2016

Aleyant PrintJobManager™ is a cloud-based entry into the Print MIS market. Most printers will recognize Aleyant as the maker of the popular Aleyant Pressero™ web-to-print solution. Aleyant is entering the Print MIS market with a stand-alone solution PrintJobManage

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Design ‘N’ Buy

Published November 16, 2016

Your web-to-print needs to solve two core challenges, the challenge of e-commerce and the unique challenge of selling print online. Design ‘N’ Buy took a different strategy for getting to market with a print-enabled e-commerce solution. They left the e-commerce part to the open-source community by proactively integrating with the most popular open source e-commerce platforms.

Print Software Enables Your Business to Scale

Published November 9, 2016

Scaling your print business requires the removal of bottlenecks from order inquiry to accurate invoice payment. Your Print MIS is the system of record that can drive you to a more efficient business and enable you to scale.

Fall in Love with Your Customer’s Problems

Published October 19, 2016

The most important thing you can do to thrive during times of disruption is to learn more about your customer’s problems. What you solved for customers in the past might not be relevant in the future, what you can solve in the future will reinvent may reinvent your business.

No More Isolated Print Software Solutions

Published October 12, 2016

Every print software decision needs to be considered within the context of your end-to-end workflow. Isolated or point solutions are costly both short and long term. As jobs travel through your production and business workflows – it is vital that the various pieces of print technology can communicate with each other without human intervention.

Top 3 Challenges to the Print Software Sales Process

Published October 5, 2016

Mistakes get made during the print software sales process because there is a lack of common understanding, a pressure on the vendor to say yes to every challenge presented, and a tendency to focus on solutions rather than the problems.

Buying and Selling Print Software by the Pound

Published September 21, 2016

When you buy and sell software by the pound (# of features), you get distracted as a buyer as to what business challenge is actually most important to solve. As a vendor when you build software by the pound you keep adding without going back and refining the core features of your solution.

The Number 1 Factor in Successful Print MIS Implementations

Published September 14, 2016

Implementing Print MIS software is an undertaking that touches every corner of your business. The belief system you go into this process with determines your success more than any other factor.

Pixartprinting: VistaPrint’s Expansion into Upload-and-Print

Published September 7, 2016

Inevitably, Cimpress (parent company of VistaPrint) is expanding beyond its roots with the micro business and the business card product. Pixartprinting, a 2014 Cimpress acquisition, targets the creative professional with a 100% upload-and-print model supporting an ever growing collection of product workflows.

Making Great Software is Humbling

Published August 31, 2016

Coding is one aspect of software. Making great software takes a team of well-coordinated resources. When we oversimplify software to just a coding event, we get unexpected results

Creating Customer Convenience with Web to Print

Published August 24, 2016

Web-to-Print isn’t for the printer; it is a self-service option for your customers so that ordering from you is more convenient. Customer preference is strongly in favor of self-service options for virtually all business processes, print is no exception.

The Role of Live Events in the Print Industry

Published August 17, 2016

Going to live industry events is a great opportunity on many levels – get out of working in your business and focus on working on your business. Building relationships with peers and vendors is critical to your future success, live events are where these relationships are cemented.

Maintaining Multiple Web-to-Print Solutions

Published August 10, 2016

Printers get frustrated with complex software solutions, this frustration often results in the purchase of additional complex software solutions. Don’t rush to buy your way out of the challenge – it might be more effective to learn your way out of it by doubling down on your commitment to the software you already have.

The Question is the Most Powerful Sales Tool

Published August 3, 2016

Customers come to printers to solve communication challenges. Transactional customers get their specific challenges solved. Transaction print is a tough business these days. Printers who inquire about and look to solve bigger picture challenges develop partners with their customers, moving above the transactional level.

Teach Your Daughters to Negotiate

Published July 27, 2016

The recent move by the U.S. women’s national soccer team (USWNT), to ask for a raise is leading by example for women of all ages. Their performance from top to bottom has been exemplary, on and off the field, and for them, this would be a performance-based raise. As it turns out, simply “asking” requires the courage to work against how we’ve been socialized to behave as females.

Web-to-Print From the Customer’s Perspective

Published July 13, 2016

Web-to-Print software is sold to printing companies. Yet, the primary users of web-to-print solutions are a printing company's customers. This situation is the cause of many issues with the success of web-to-print programs. We have three perspectives at work (only one really matters).

Fall in Love with the Problems - That Software Solves

Published July 6, 2016

The biggest mistake in software decisions is relegating the discussion down to the feature level. The feature is a potential solution to an often ill-defined problem which may or may not be relevant to your business.

When Sales Isn’t Involved, Web-to-Print Projects Fail

Published June 29, 2016

If sales isn’t involved, your business-to-business (B2B) web-to-print project is going to fail. Web-to-print projects aren’t about features (solutions), they are all about solving the right customer challenges.

The User Experience is the Print Software Product

Published June 15, 2016

User experience is the product. 1,000 features does not necessarily equate to a valuable product. When features are embedded into a confusing an cumbersome user experience – they don’t get adopted.

Defining Product Workflows for Web-to-Print

Published June 1, 2016

A Product Workflow is a term I use in web-to-print projects; it defines the different offerings you enable online through self-service user interface. Defining terms is critically important to any project, product workflows is one of the key terms to every web-to-print project.

Web-to-Print: Stop Forcing an E-Commerce Workflow

Published May 25, 2016

Print is a communication challenge solution. Typically, the printed product is but one part of a much larger challenge. When your sales people learn to take their “print googles” off and uncover the bigger picture challenge, they embed your company deeper into your customer’s business process and ultimately uncover more opportunities for printed products.

My Favorite (Mostly Free) Software Tools

Published May 18, 2016

Communication is the primary thing we all do for work. This article outlines some of my favorite tools for communicating, tracking how we use our time, capturing our ideas, organizing projects, and improving remote meetings.

Top 5 Priorities for Your Print Business Website

Published May 4, 2016

Your print business website should be a living, engaging, and a results delivering part of your business growth plan. For business-to-business printers, this means delivering qualified leads to your sales team.

Growing a Modern Print Business: Sales versus Marketing

Published April 27, 2016

Growing your business is more about marketing than it is about hiring more sales people today. The sales cycle is moving online where good marketing programs can nurture prospects from initial inquiry to paying customer.

The Trapped Data of the Print Industry

Published April 20, 2016

The print industry’s technology is too closed, too proprietary, making it overly difficult for print businesses (the entities that make this whole ecosystem work) to access, use, distribute, and learn from the data their business’ generate every day. If we keep at this, we will choke off the only thing that matters (growing print businesses).

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Infigo

Published April 13, 2016

Technology decisions can be costly, not just in licensing/subscription fees but in the time and effort it takes your team to implement, learn, and launch technologies to your customers. One of the aspects of the Infigo product suite is the ability to add modules as you continue to diversify.

Peer Collaboration and the Optimization of Print Software

Published April 7, 2016

Find peers to collaborate with at all levels of your company. When your web-to-print person gets stuck, they should have life-lines to other printers who have the same technology. Don’t rely solely on the vendor. Industry events are the best places to meet peers who share your challenges.

Don’t Try and Train Your Customers

Published March 30, 2016

Your customers don’t want to be trained, your customers want you to make them look good in front of their boss, get them promoted, and generally make their lives easier. Don’t try and educate your customers, sell them on what’s in it for them if they adjust their behaviors (e.g. use your web-to-print system, submit print-ready PDF files, etc.)

Print Production Workflow Automation

Published March 23, 2016

One workflow for all job types results in wasted labor, unrealized profits, and slower turnaround times. The modern print business has to drive automation by creating different routes for different job types. The approach has to be strategic, because automation in one area can create congestion in another.

Making Web-to-Print Part of Your Culture

Published March 16, 2016

Web-to-print is a strategic initiative that creates two service level paths through your organization; self-service and full-service. Your leadership is the key ingredient required for success.

Marketing Your Print Business

Published March 9, 2016

As we move more business online, utilize digital communication channels, and look to diversify – our print business marketing becomes more critical to our overall business success.

Dscoop Collaboration Station – The Tech Talks

Published March 2, 2016

At Dscoop this year, we will be presenting a series of Tech Talks in the Dscoop Collaboration Station on the show floor. We are all on a steep learning curve when it comes to technology. Join us to get a dose of technology education across a wide range of topics. Bring your technology leaders to Dscoop; their importance to your business is growing!

What Are Your Customers Hiring Web-to-Print Systems to Do?

Published February 24, 2016

Your web-to-print initiatives should be focused on the “jobs-to-be-done” for your customers. What can the customer “hire” your web-to-print system to do for them? Web-to-print ROI comes from a 100% focus from your customer’s perspective.

Is the Customer Always Right?

Published February 17, 2016

Customers ask for a lot, they want us to service them but they also need us to apply our expertise to their challenges. The customer can and should be challenged based on your expertise.

Build Collaboration into Your Meetings to Innovate

Published February 3, 2016

Business meetings can be horribly ineffective, yet with a set of small hacks you can unleash the productivity and innovation your company desperately needs. Here’s the good news, all you need is some Post-It Notes and a phone.

Print Software Success Requires Collaboration at All Levels

Published January 27, 2016

As technology continues to change at a rapid rate, collaboration needs to extend into the functional areas of your business. Don’t stop at creating a peer group for print owners, encourage your accounting lead to get into a peer group, each functional area should have multiple sources of knowledge sharing.

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Propago Marketing Management Platform

Published January 27, 2016

In studying the Propago product, a consistent theme reverberated throughout the product; this product was built based on real-time feedback from live users in a large scale deployment. The approach to solving the business challenges of web-to-print are rooted in data-driven decisions rather than theoretical solutions to ill-defined challenges. Propago came out of a large commercial printing organization that consisted of twenty-five companies across the nation.

Marketing Services, Cross-Media, and YOUR Print Business

Published January 20, 2016

It’s time to stop talking about what we should become (marketing services providers) and actually take the steps that move us in that direction. Think through a go-to-market strategy for offering digital products, execute on that plan on your print business’ marketing, enable your sales team, and start diversifying your revenue streams for the digital age.

Articles by Jennifer Matt