Nearly every industry is undergoing a major transformation that is being driven by new and emerging technologies. None of these industries has been impacted more significantly than the printing industry, and this is only exacerbating the challenges that today’s business owners already face. Josh Linkner’s recently published book entitled The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation explores how firms can transform their business models to achieve success today and in the future. Some of my previous articles have also discussed Linkner’s book, but this one covers a key message about transformation. According to Linkner, transformation only works if it is linked with customers’ real-world challenges and aspirations. He elaborates, “You have to go deep and see through your customers’ eyes. If you unshackle your imagination from the past and its restrictions, you will be free to explore innovations that will upend your past successes.”

The 2015 Inkjet Summit in Ponte Verde, Florida (April 27–29) highlighted three key application areas: transactional printing, direct mail marketing, and publication printing. Service providers acknowledged that much of the innovation in their markets was done in collaboration with customers and driven by the dynamic changes in the clients’ specific businesses.

The recession clearly brought a high level of attention to marketing and the ability to deliver a return on investment for every marketing dollar spent. In the transaction printing (TransPromo) and direct mail marketing segments, participants talked about the benefits to the end customer that were derived from the white paper factory and associated with inkjet. In today’s print-to-mail environment, companies can eliminate pre-printed forms and start each job with blank paper and white envelopes. According to inkjet pioneers, the logic is simple—inkjet technology now delivers the speed, print quality, and per-piece affordability that both transaction printers and mailers demand. By combining high-performance printing with data-driven, high-integrity software, you can print black & white or full-color variable content on-the-fly as part of a normal print and mail production run. From an end customer perspective, there are benefits in terms of cost savings as well as opportunities for revenue growth.