One of the biggest barriers to the implementation and adoption of order entry tools (web-to-print) in the print industry is our inability to understand and appreciate the benefits of these tools to our customers. Second to that is our insistence that every tool that benefits the customer must deliver something that makes the printer’s life easier. That’s why we have web-to-print tools that have more features for the pre-press department than they do for the print buyer!

This is keeping our industry from evolving in what I feel is one of the most important areas – make print easier to buy. Everything about our online world is about “easier” remove all the friction between you and your customer’s budget dollars. Ecommerce companies spend millions to remove every possible barrier between you and your next transaction. Meanwhile, I still see print customer service departments holding onto email, phone, and fax like their lives depend on it. Email, phone, and fax are respectfully innovations of yesterday. They were revolutionary when they came out, now they are simply a nuisance.

When I hear the common refrain, we email this, we email that, we then confirm by phone – all I hear is the ticking clock of the most precious thing you spend – your customer’s time. When you don’t respect the customer’s time, you are at risk of being replaced by someone who values it.