In the movie Wag the Dog, a Hollywood producer, in collusion with a Washington spin-doctor get together to manufacture a fake war to cover up a scandal involving the President of the United States.

So what does this movie have to do with our industry? Everything. For the past two and a half years I have worked inside two different print.coms. I have met with executives from fifteen different print.coms, twenty-five venture capital firms, journalists, consulting firms, numerous printing organizations and print buyers.

Sometimes it takes a while to put all the pieces together but I believe the CAP Ventures survey recently presented here (The Printer's Web Site: What Print Buyers Want) is the final piece in the puzzle. My conclusion is that the print.coms of the world, especially the heavily funded ones, created a huge tale to try and convince everyone that the printing industry was in the midst of a revolution.

No, this is not some crazy Oliver Stone conspiracy theory. When the print.coms' business models began to quickly head south the Elmer Gantry types at these companies, (the marketing and business development gurus) jumped in to ignite the revolution themselves.

In Wag the Dog, the country of Albania is used for the backdrop while CNN is used to deliver the story of a war that is not actually happening. In this story, imagine that Albania has been replaced by Silicon Valley and CNN is replaced by some of the trade publications, white papers, case studies and trade shows as the preferred media outlets.

The Gantry’s of the world needed soldiers to carry their message. So they reached out and touched their consultants, analysts, a few willing journalists and even tossed preferred IPO stock options to some of these soldiers. The print.coms then had them go to work on creating meaningless press releases, strategic alliances, white papers and case studies, designed to support the perception of mass defection among frustrated print buyers. They would write and say that a revolution of Cecil B. DeMille epic type proportion had begun. That the print.coms were going to rule the world of printing.

CAP Ventures latest study, sheds some welcomed light on the whole subject and once again print buyers show they know exactly what they want. The data tells the story as to why so many of the print.coms have not been able to get the market share they promised their investors and the industry as a whole.

Print buyers want simple, easy to use solutions that provide them with the basic Internet communication tools to work with their printers, not complex procurement centers. There are of course many people inside corporations that have benefited from the adoption of e-procurement solutions. However, the vast majority are not the people responsible for purchasing printing.

Here are the top three responses from print buyers as to what they want from a printers web site, presented by CAP Ventures.

1. Ability to contact person or department with a question via email.
2. Ability to generate a quote based on job specifications.
3. Ability to check on job status.

This study presents an ominous picture of the future for the remaining print.com players and some insight for those of the past. You don’t need an MBA, to reach the conclusion that for most printing organizations and print buyers, an advanced solution from the likes of Noosh, Webprint or Printcafe is not needed to provide the level of services to meet the needs of most print buyers.

While printers are notoriously slow to adopt new technologies, they are the complete opposite when it comes to listening to their customers. If one of their better customers asks them to purchase a new piece of equipment, the order is placed that day. What this means is that if print buyers were truly demanding a print.com type solution, it would have been the printers beating down the doors of the print.coms - not the other way around.

As the printing industry evolves and progresses to the next phase of change, printers must not be lulled into a false sense of security based upon the failure of the print.coms. A world driven by content publishing, variable data printing, and on-line proofing is upon us. Those printing organizations who haven’t, must move swiftly from being just craftsman to technology experts. Printers need to make sure that their organization spends the time to educate their employees and customers while embracing these new technologies.

As CAP Ventures concludes, "Printers must get serious about using the Web as an e-business tool, not just a marketing tool that lists services and equipment. A printer’s web site is a means for providing better customer service and operating more efficiently. It is also a means for differentiating from the competition."

Yes, this is a world in which most printers can control their own destiny. Be forewarned, this time around print buyers will be counting on you, or someone else to help them navigate the next wave of change. Watch for the hype, but I believe this time it will be for keeps.