During InfoTrends’ recent study entitled U.S. Production Software Investment Survey 2015, commercial print service providers and corporate in-plants were polled about their businesses, software adoption, services, and spending levels. Overall, the outlook is quite optimistic. Approximately 40% of print service providers are expecting a 1% - 9% revenue gain in the coming year, while 20% are expecting a 10% - 19% gain. InfoTrends’ report goes into depth about workflow software investments including web-to-print, variable data printing, cross-media, color management, outsourcing IT services, and profitability per service, but this article will focus on the slowing transition from print service provider (PSP) to marketing service provider (MSP). 

When commercial printing respondents to our 2015 study were asked about making the transformation from a PSP to an MSP, 14% had already made the transition and nearly 29% were in the process of doing so. In contrast, only 7% of in-plant respondents had made the transition and 9% were in the process of making it. Nearly 47% of in-plant respondents believed that this transition was important but hadn’t yet made it, compared to 26% of commercial printers. In-plant respondents were also more likely to state that their strategy was to focus on print alone.

Do you believe that PSPs need to transform themselves into MSPs? (2015)