Extend reach, generate new revenues, gain new clients  

Ricoh Europe, London – Many professional printing operations that have implemented web-to-print solutions are not yet taking full advantage of all of the business and production benefits of these solutions, according to a brand new white paper sponsored by Ricoh Europe. Making the Most of Mobile: What a ‘Mobile-First’ Strategy Means for Your Business is available for free download here.

Graham Moore, Director, Business Development, Ricoh Europe says “Web-to-print is a business necessity for production printing operations, but many are basically using web-to-print solely as a job submission tool, and there are so many more benefits to these solutions that can help printers extend their reach, generate new revenues and gain new clients. To gain the most advantage from web-to-print, these solutions must also be easy to use from mobile devices since that is where clients spend a lot of their time these days. Our Making the Most of Mobile white paper will give printers lots of great ideas about how and why they should extend their use of mobile solutions, especially as it relates to web-to-print.”

The white paper explores three aspects of mobile that apply to businesses of all sizes and across all industries, but with a focus on how they can be applied by professional printing companies.  These include:

1. How mobile technologies can be levered in your own business to improve productivity in terms of production and business management, employee satisfaction and more; 
2. What you need to consider in terms of client-facing applications in order to give them the flexibility of conveniently and comfortably accessing your business from any device, anywhere, anytime, ordering print and other products, reviewing job status and more; and
3. How you can take advantage of the rapid adoption of mobile technologies to add new (profitable) products and services to your portfolio that not only generate new revenue streams but add value to your clients’ businesses.

Moore adds, “Today, the clients of a Print Service Provider are not that different from other types of customers, who expect the convenience of being able to work from any device, anywhere. The print purchasing process is no exception. This requires that all client-facing applications employ a mobile-first development strategy so they offer a good customer experience regardless of how they are accessed. And with an effective web-to-print implementation, even complex work can be submitted, monitored and managed via mobile devices. As for printers, being able to manage that and other aspects of their businesses remotely from their own mobile devices, will make them even more efficient and responsive.”

Moore also points out that as printers move more deeply into the world of mobile, for both internal and client-facing uses, they will find significant value in adding capabilities that make print interactive, such as Ricoh’s Clickable Paper^TM, saying, “With Clickable Paper, Ricoh makes it easy for printers to offer a value-added service that links printed pieces to a variety of online information sources, extending both the value and the life of the printed document. This is a great way for printers to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive business environment. And offering this service can also encourage marketers to expand their use of print because combining it with Clickable Paper to make print interactive will drive readers online to relevant locations, such as visiting the brand’s ecommerce site to place an order.”