Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Top 3 Mistakes with Print Software Strategy

Published February 1, 2017

Your print software strategy is your responsibility. It requires strategic thinking to both define the challenges and the results you want to create (vision). Don’t make the common mistakes with your print software strategy.

Product Spotlight: KODAK PRINERGY Workflow Software 8

Published January 31, 2017

There are two major workflows that a job travels through in your print business. The production workflow which results in a printed product and the business workflow which results in an accurate invoice. The job must travel through both workflows; often in parallel and frequently requires some collaboration and/or communication between the workflows to reach both desired results - high-quality print product(s) delivered on-time and an error free invoice.

Change Management in Print MIS

Published January 26, 2017

When your Print business is faced with changing your Print MIS, the attitude towards the change can make all the difference. Are you looking to force the Print MIS software to work just like you work today or are you willing to adapt your workflows to optimize how the Print MIS software was built?

Long-Term and Short-Term Print Software Priorities

Published January 25, 2017

Your business should be run by your print software systems; your people should run the systems. These print software systems require attention for both short-term initiatives and long-term strategy.

Finding a Niche with Your Print Business

Published January 18, 2017

Finding a niche for your print business (a target market with specific pain points) is not about aiming small, it’s about FOCUS and EXECUTION to build a repeatable product offering and to dive deeper into learning about your customer’s problems.

Scale Your Print Business by Investing in Print Software

Published January 12, 2017

Growing and scaling a business can come from an investment in software.

EFI Connect 2017 Educational Sessions with Jennifer Matt

Published January 11, 2017

User group meetings create a space for you to find peers for collaboration. Use these meetings to find your people. Do not proceed in these disruptive market conditions on your own! I invite you to attend the sessions. For those of you who are not planning to attend, I want to provide you with some of the key learnings that will be delivered.

Web-to-Print Solution Frustration

Published January 4, 2017

When people get frustrated with software, they are looking for an easy answer to get closure. One of the most common reactions to web-to-print frustration is to shop for a different solution. Before you start shopping, take a long hard look at your investment in really learning the web-to-print solution you already have.

3 Success Factors for Print MIS Implementations

Published December 21, 2016

Implementing a Print MIS is challenging, it requires a focus on end results without an attachment to “the way things have always been done”, persistence, and adaptability. Look for these personality traits in the people you assign to lead your Print MIS implementation.

Jennifer Matt interviews Jerry Kennelly about Tweak Cloud

Published December 8, 2016

Make print easier to buy. The Tweak Cloud offering is a toolset that streamlines the process of getting to a final agreed upon design. Jerry Kennelly, CEO and founder of Tweak describes the offering and his approach to giving the customer self-service control over the proofing process.

You Need Technical Leadership Inside Your Print Business

Published December 7, 2016

As software takes on a larger and larger role in your print business, your technical leader plays a greater role in all aspects of your business performance. With the right internal technical leader, software can deliver almost everything that was promised in the demo! Without the right technical leader, you’re going to feel like your software investment was a complete waste of money.

Print MIS Product Spotlight: PrintJobManager

Published November 30, 2016

Aleyant PrintJobManager™ is a cloud-based entry into the Print MIS market. Most printers will recognize Aleyant as the maker of the popular Aleyant Pressero™ web-to-print solution. Aleyant is entering the Print MIS market with a stand-alone solution PrintJobManage

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Design ‘N’ Buy

Published November 16, 2016

Your web-to-print needs to solve two core challenges, the challenge of e-commerce and the unique challenge of selling print online. Design ‘N’ Buy took a different strategy for getting to market with a print-enabled e-commerce solution. They left the e-commerce part to the open-source community by proactively integrating with the most popular open source e-commerce platforms.

Print Software Enables Your Business to Scale

Published November 9, 2016

Scaling your print business requires the removal of bottlenecks from order inquiry to accurate invoice payment. Your Print MIS is the system of record that can drive you to a more efficient business and enable you to scale.

Fall in Love with Your Customer’s Problems

Published October 19, 2016

The most important thing you can do to thrive during times of disruption is to learn more about your customer’s problems. What you solved for customers in the past might not be relevant in the future, what you can solve in the future will reinvent may reinvent your business.

No More Isolated Print Software Solutions

Published October 12, 2016

Every print software decision needs to be considered within the context of your end-to-end workflow. Isolated or point solutions are costly both short and long term. As jobs travel through your production and business workflows – it is vital that the various pieces of print technology can communicate with each other without human intervention.

Top 3 Challenges to the Print Software Sales Process

Published October 5, 2016

Mistakes get made during the print software sales process because there is a lack of common understanding, a pressure on the vendor to say yes to every challenge presented, and a tendency to focus on solutions rather than the problems.

Buying and Selling Print Software by the Pound

Published September 21, 2016

When you buy and sell software by the pound (# of features), you get distracted as a buyer as to what business challenge is actually most important to solve. As a vendor when you build software by the pound you keep adding without going back and refining the core features of your solution.

The Number 1 Factor in Successful Print MIS Implementations

Published September 14, 2016

Implementing Print MIS software is an undertaking that touches every corner of your business. The belief system you go into this process with determines your success more than any other factor.

Pixartprinting: VistaPrint’s Expansion into Upload-and-Print

Published September 7, 2016

Inevitably, Cimpress (parent company of VistaPrint) is expanding beyond its roots with the micro business and the business card product. Pixartprinting, a 2014 Cimpress acquisition, targets the creative professional with a 100% upload-and-print model supporting an ever growing collection of product workflows.

Making Great Software is Humbling

Published August 31, 2016

Coding is one aspect of software. Making great software takes a team of well-coordinated resources. When we oversimplify software to just a coding event, we get unexpected results

Creating Customer Convenience with Web to Print

Published August 24, 2016

Web-to-Print isn’t for the printer; it is a self-service option for your customers so that ordering from you is more convenient. Customer preference is strongly in favor of self-service options for virtually all business processes, print is no exception.

The Role of Live Events in the Print Industry

Published August 17, 2016

Going to live industry events is a great opportunity on many levels – get out of working in your business and focus on working on your business. Building relationships with peers and vendors is critical to your future success, live events are where these relationships are cemented.

Maintaining Multiple Web-to-Print Solutions

Published August 10, 2016

Printers get frustrated with complex software solutions, this frustration often results in the purchase of additional complex software solutions. Don’t rush to buy your way out of the challenge – it might be more effective to learn your way out of it by doubling down on your commitment to the software you already have.

The Question is the Most Powerful Sales Tool

Published August 3, 2016

Customers come to printers to solve communication challenges. Transactional customers get their specific challenges solved. Transaction print is a tough business these days. Printers who inquire about and look to solve bigger picture challenges develop partners with their customers, moving above the transactional level.

Teach Your Daughters to Negotiate

Published July 27, 2016

The recent move by the U.S. women’s national soccer team (USWNT), to ask for a raise is leading by example for women of all ages. Their performance from top to bottom has been exemplary, on and off the field, and for them, this would be a performance-based raise. As it turns out, simply “asking” requires the courage to work against how we’ve been socialized to behave as females.

Web-to-Print From the Customer’s Perspective

Published July 13, 2016

Web-to-Print software is sold to printing companies. Yet, the primary users of web-to-print solutions are a printing company's customers. This situation is the cause of many issues with the success of web-to-print programs. We have three perspectives at work (only one really matters).

Fall in Love with the Problems - That Software Solves

Published July 6, 2016

The biggest mistake in software decisions is relegating the discussion down to the feature level. The feature is a potential solution to an often ill-defined problem which may or may not be relevant to your business.

When Sales Isn’t Involved, Web-to-Print Projects Fail

Published June 29, 2016

If sales isn’t involved, your business-to-business (B2B) web-to-print project is going to fail. Web-to-print projects aren’t about features (solutions), they are all about solving the right customer challenges.

The User Experience is the Print Software Product

Published June 15, 2016

User experience is the product. 1,000 features does not necessarily equate to a valuable product. When features are embedded into a confusing an cumbersome user experience – they don’t get adopted.

Defining Product Workflows for Web-to-Print

Published June 1, 2016

A Product Workflow is a term I use in web-to-print projects; it defines the different offerings you enable online through self-service user interface. Defining terms is critically important to any project, product workflows is one of the key terms to every web-to-print project.

Web-to-Print: Stop Forcing an E-Commerce Workflow

Published May 25, 2016

Print is a communication challenge solution. Typically, the printed product is but one part of a much larger challenge. When your sales people learn to take their “print googles” off and uncover the bigger picture challenge, they embed your company deeper into your customer’s business process and ultimately uncover more opportunities for printed products.

My Favorite (Mostly Free) Software Tools

Published May 18, 2016

Communication is the primary thing we all do for work. This article outlines some of my favorite tools for communicating, tracking how we use our time, capturing our ideas, organizing projects, and improving remote meetings.

Top 5 Priorities for Your Print Business Website

Published May 4, 2016

Your print business website should be a living, engaging, and a results delivering part of your business growth plan. For business-to-business printers, this means delivering qualified leads to your sales team.

Growing a Modern Print Business: Sales versus Marketing

Published April 27, 2016

Growing your business is more about marketing than it is about hiring more sales people today. The sales cycle is moving online where good marketing programs can nurture prospects from initial inquiry to paying customer.

The Trapped Data of the Print Industry

Published April 20, 2016

The print industry’s technology is too closed, too proprietary, making it overly difficult for print businesses (the entities that make this whole ecosystem work) to access, use, distribute, and learn from the data their business’ generate every day. If we keep at this, we will choke off the only thing that matters (growing print businesses).

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Infigo

Published April 13, 2016

Technology decisions can be costly, not just in licensing/subscription fees but in the time and effort it takes your team to implement, learn, and launch technologies to your customers. One of the aspects of the Infigo product suite is the ability to add modules as you continue to diversify.

Peer Collaboration and the Optimization of Print Software

Published April 7, 2016

Find peers to collaborate with at all levels of your company. When your web-to-print person gets stuck, they should have life-lines to other printers who have the same technology. Don’t rely solely on the vendor. Industry events are the best places to meet peers who share your challenges.

Don’t Try and Train Your Customers

Published March 30, 2016

Your customers don’t want to be trained, your customers want you to make them look good in front of their boss, get them promoted, and generally make their lives easier. Don’t try and educate your customers, sell them on what’s in it for them if they adjust their behaviors (e.g. use your web-to-print system, submit print-ready PDF files, etc.)

Print Production Workflow Automation

Published March 23, 2016

One workflow for all job types results in wasted labor, unrealized profits, and slower turnaround times. The modern print business has to drive automation by creating different routes for different job types. The approach has to be strategic, because automation in one area can create congestion in another.

Making Web-to-Print Part of Your Culture

Published March 16, 2016

Web-to-print is a strategic initiative that creates two service level paths through your organization; self-service and full-service. Your leadership is the key ingredient required for success.

Marketing Your Print Business

Published March 9, 2016

As we move more business online, utilize digital communication channels, and look to diversify – our print business marketing becomes more critical to our overall business success.

Dscoop Collaboration Station – The Tech Talks

Published March 2, 2016

At Dscoop this year, we will be presenting a series of Tech Talks in the Dscoop Collaboration Station on the show floor. We are all on a steep learning curve when it comes to technology. Join us to get a dose of technology education across a wide range of topics. Bring your technology leaders to Dscoop; their importance to your business is growing!

What Are Your Customers Hiring Web-to-Print Systems to Do?

Published February 24, 2016

Your web-to-print initiatives should be focused on the “jobs-to-be-done” for your customers. What can the customer “hire” your web-to-print system to do for them? Web-to-print ROI comes from a 100% focus from your customer’s perspective.

Is the Customer Always Right?

Published February 17, 2016

Customers ask for a lot, they want us to service them but they also need us to apply our expertise to their challenges. The customer can and should be challenged based on your expertise.

Build Collaboration into Your Meetings to Innovate

Published February 3, 2016

Business meetings can be horribly ineffective, yet with a set of small hacks you can unleash the productivity and innovation your company desperately needs. Here’s the good news, all you need is some Post-It Notes and a phone.

Print Software Success Requires Collaboration at All Levels

Published January 27, 2016

As technology continues to change at a rapid rate, collaboration needs to extend into the functional areas of your business. Don’t stop at creating a peer group for print owners, encourage your accounting lead to get into a peer group, each functional area should have multiple sources of knowledge sharing.

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Propago Marketing Management Platform

Published January 27, 2016

In studying the Propago product, a consistent theme reverberated throughout the product; this product was built based on real-time feedback from live users in a large scale deployment. The approach to solving the business challenges of web-to-print are rooted in data-driven decisions rather than theoretical solutions to ill-defined challenges. Propago came out of a large commercial printing organization that consisted of twenty-five companies across the nation.

Marketing Services, Cross-Media, and YOUR Print Business

Published January 20, 2016

It’s time to stop talking about what we should become (marketing services providers) and actually take the steps that move us in that direction. Think through a go-to-market strategy for offering digital products, execute on that plan on your print business’ marketing, enable your sales team, and start diversifying your revenue streams for the digital age.

Data Modeling: A Critical Juncture of Print MIS implementations

Published January 13, 2016

In Print MIS implementations, your business data entered into the Print MIS database structure creates the data model of your business. Your attention to detail at this critical juncture of Print MIS implementations can set you up for success.

VistaPrint and the Upload-and-Print Market

Published January 6, 2016

Cimpress (parent company of VistaPrint) is expanding into the core of the print market; “upload-and-print”. They are buying demand generators and no doubt investing in user experiences that will enable self-service online purchasing of print for the largest segment of the print industry (manufacturing of the customer’s design/file).

Get Comfortable with Change

Published December 16, 2015

Last week I attended Singularity University’s Executive Program in Silicon Valley. The best way to describe what happened to me after a week of hearing some of the brightest people in tech talk about the future is that they dramatically changed my perspective. Come to find out, I had a very narrow lens through which I viewed the world; they replaced it with a wide angle lens that goes beyond our planet and looks far into the future.

Print Business Leadership – Give Yourself a Promotion

Published December 9, 2015

Rather than face the reality that all print businesses need to evolve, many print owners default to staying “busy” running the business the way it’s been run for years. Don’t be tempted to “numb yourself” by keeping busy, the market conditions are indisputable, the past performance of your print business is not indicative of future results. We are operating in a different reality with very compelling digital alternatives to print communication.

B2C And Web-to-Print: What It Takes To Build A Successful Online Business

Published December 2, 2015

Most printers are business to business (B2B), they do business with other businesses that they have a working relationship with. Business-to-consumer (B2C) is the term used for online businesses that serve anyone who shows up on the website (not necessarily just consumers). As printers consider B2C, they need to understand what it takes to build a successful online business.

Key Questions to Ask When Investing in Print Software Integration

Published November 18, 2015

Integration projects span a wide spectrum, from cheap and easy to complex and very expensive. Focus all your attention about print software integration from one place – your business objectives.

Single Points of Failure

Published November 11, 2015

The topic of single points of failure is typically reserved for technology, yet most businesses have humans as their most critical single points of failure. For your business to scale, be sustainable, and to be data-driven, you have to start transitioning knowledge from humans into systems (e.g. Print MIS).

Top 5 Mistakes in Choosing a Print MIS Solution

Published November 10, 2015

Your Print MIS or Print ERP is the most important print software in your business. The process for purchasing a Print MIS is dysfunctional; avoid these five common mistakes in your Print MIS sales process.

Why Web-to-Print Matters More Now Than Ever

Published November 4, 2015

Web-to-print is a critical piece of your online presence. The ability for your customers to easily transact with you online is no longer a differentiator, it’s an expectation.

The Transition from Physical to Digital Communication

Published October 21, 2015

This pace of change is outrunning your print business’ technology decisions. A web-to-print platform decision you made two years ago could be completely out of date with the mobile-first world we live in today. Your aging ERP/Print MIS system has no way of understanding a product that exits your building via an Ethernet cable rather than a shipping truck.

Communication Changes - Impact on Print

Published October 15, 2015

Jennifer Matt speaks about the dramatic transition we find ourselves in the middle of today, from physical communication mediums to digital devices. This transition is impacting all aspects of your business and your customer’s businesses. The per-page business model that print has been anchored to starts to look awkwardly dated in this connected, mobile, marketplace.

A Strategic Approach to Print Workflow Automation

Published October 7, 2015

All printers should be thinking about “workflow automation” as a strategic initiative; produce more with less labor, less waste, in less time as a way to remain competitive. Time savings should be strategically invested in diversification, new skills acquisition, and cross-training.

Is Your Print Business Sales Focused or Production Focused?

Published September 2, 2015

A sales focus is external. A production focus is internal. A sales focused print business leader is constantly asking the question, “How does this activity/investment improve my customer’s experience or business?” A sales focused print leader escorts the external rate of change into the business at a rate that often makes their employees uncomfortable.

Top 5 Web-to-Print Sales Demonstration Tips

Published August 26, 2015

A web-to-print demo is your chance to demonstrate how your print software technology solves the relevant challenges of a specific customer. The key words are “relevant challenges” and “specific customer”. Do your homework so your demonstration addresses what the customer actually cares about.

The Top Print Software Question: When Will This Be Done?

Published August 19, 2015

Print software is eating your budget because software is becoming the tool of choice for industry leaders to create differentiation in the marketplace.

Transitioning Web-to-Print Solutions

Published August 12, 2015

Maintaining and paying for multiple web-to-print solutions is more expensive than you think. Transitioning off legacy systems has positive repercussions for your technical resources and your customers.

The Fear of Launching Print Software

Published July 22, 2015

Launching any new print software technology can feel risky. With the rate of change in both our businesses and software technology, we have to create a culture that is comfortable with launching early and iterating through issues. It is impossible to predict every possible scenario; it is liberating to accept that finding issues post-launch is part of the plan.

Print Software as an Infrastructure Investment

Published July 15, 2015

Print software is an infrastructure investment in our increasing online and digital economy. Adopting a strategic infrastructure approach to investing in and implementing print software will be a key differentiator for print businesses moving forward.

Technical Staffing for Printers – Top 3 Characteristics

Published July 8, 2015

Staffing your technology is as important as staffing your presses. The top characteristics for good technical resources: understand the limits of your knowledge, resist making assumptions, and see opportunities rather than roadblocks.

Selling Print to an Informed and Predominately Online Buyer

Published July 1, 2015

As the online world continues to expand, your prospects and customers can become more educated buyers. Your response to this is to invest in your online presence so that first impressions count.

Printers 5 Top Challenges with Print Software

Published June 24, 2015

Software is mission critical to your business, like other infrastructure investments it takes time and effort to make the best decisions, plan to get the most ROI, and continue to build differentiation in the marketplace. Optimizing your print software investments comes with challenges which every printer faces in order to compete in an increasingly online, digital world.

Online Print Marketing: Optimizing for Two Audiences

Published June 17, 2015

Inbound marketing is the strategy of choice for online marketing, content is the main ingredient to any successful inbound marketing strategy. Your content has to be optimized for two audiences; your target customers and the search engines.

Top 5 Mistakes with Web-to-Print

Published June 3, 2015

Web-to-print is our term for moving customer engagement online. This represents a big change for most traditional business-to-business printers. This article describes the top five mistakes I see when working with printers through this transition from an offline business to an online / self-service customer interaction model.

The Custom Print Software Project

Published May 27, 2015

When you need a custom software solution, think about assembling a puzzle rather than building from scratch. The software landscape is full of integrate-able pieces that can give you ‘expected’ functionality so you can focus your custom development on what makes you ‘unique’.

Focus, Priorities: The Future of Your Print Business

Published May 13, 2015

Looking backwards won’t help you navigate the uncharted waters of the future. The print businesses of the future will adapt to remain relevant in a digital, online, and data-driven world.

Make Your Customers the Stars of Your Marketing

Published May 6, 2015

Your marketing should talk more about your customers than about you. Compelling marketing content is about telling customer success stories to teach and attract more customers who find your content relevant to their current challenges.

Launching Additional Brands Online

Published April 24, 2015

What’s more costly, opening up a new successful retail location or a new successful online brand/store? The answer is “it depends”. Just because making a new e-commerce site is “cheap” doesn’t take into consideration all the costs of driving traffic and getting conversions.

Print Estimating & Quoting System Product Spotlight: arifiQ

Published April 15, 2015

Self-service is a growing preference among customers, pricing transparency is a feature of our online world, and speed is a growing differentiator in all aspects of our business. arifiQ has focused on a pivotal function of print – estimating/quoting; enabling printers to adapt to the new realities of our increasingly digital, online, and fast-paced business environment.

Print’s Representation at the MarTech Conference

Published April 14, 2015

MarTech – the Marketing Technology Conference took place March 31, 2015 in San Francisco. I attended to see how print is being represented within the modern marketing mix.

Online Marketing for Printers

Published April 10, 2015

You haven’t updated your website in over two years. You don’t remember if you have a LinkedIn page, you thought someone once tweeted something, and you recently had a customer complain about not being able to find you online.

Data-Driven: Thriving Print Business in 2020

Published April 6, 2015

A data-driven print business starts with a trusted system of record and then as selected meaningful metrics that influence your business decisions and your staff’s daily behavior.

Online Engagement: Thriving Print Business in 2020

Published March 30, 2015

The online channel is in the language of the customer and you have to compete to be found. These fundamental characteristics of this channel should drive your online presence at every level.

Thriving Print Business in 2020: Diversified, Online, and Data-Driven

Published March 23, 2015

Expand your thinking in many directions, beyond the four walls of your manufacturing operations, beyond your business into your customer’s business, and beyond print to the other communication methods that are complimentary to print.

The Role of Marketing in Your Print Business

Published March 16, 2015

Marketing is about delivering qualified leads to your sales team. The online world has converted marketing into a role that can be precisely measured. Start thinking of marketing as a role with a quote (# of qualified leads delivered), stop thinking of marketing as your brand colors or business card design.

As a Print Owner, Where is Your Focus?

Published March 9, 2015

If your focus is all internal, you are missing the broader context of how your products and services are utilized within your customer’s business. Loyal customers are created when you help them achieve their business results, that means engaging with customers in the broader context of their business.

Now What Are You Trying to Sell Me?

Published March 2, 2015

The first impressions of your business will be online. How does your online presence compare to you offline presence? Can prospects understand your business and what you can do for them from your website, your blog, and your social media channels? Your online presence sets up your sales team for success.

Radical vs. Incremental Change with Web-to-Print and Print MIS

Published February 16, 2015

Do you approach change as an incremental, keep everyone comfortable manner? Or do you see how much the external conditions have changed while your company has stayed still? Is your print software able to support your current and future business needs?

Own Your Print Software: Web-to-Print and Print MIS

Published February 9, 2015

Let’s get one thing perfectly clear, you DO NOT invest in print software to run your business as it is today. The whole point of software is to enable you to run your business differently - creating more efficiency.

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: MarcomCentral

Published February 4, 2015

Twenty years ago when we described the function of marketing we would have started with terms like “creative” and “messaging.” Then we would have talked about distribution channels for getting these creative assets and messages out to the target audiences, primarily consisting of print, TV, and radio.

From the Yellow Pages to Google

Published February 4, 2015

When local businesses moved from “getting found” via the yellow pages to internet search so much changed.

The Role of the Project Manager in Print Software

Published February 2, 2015

Every business owner has ideas, plans, and a vision for what they want their company to become. There is never a shortage of ideas; there is a severe lack of execution. Good project management can convert more of your ideas to reality through a disciplined execution process that annoys most people involved (especially impatient, attention deficit prone business owners).

Table Service at McDonald’s

Published January 28, 2015

The dining experience at fast food restaurants isn’t about the dining experience at all. It’s about the price, the availability, and the consistency no matter where you are in the world. The value proposition is clear, you serve yourself, you’re encouraged to clean up after yourself, and clearly by the comfort of the seats, you aren’t encouraged to linger.

Focus on Solutions in Print Software

Published January 26, 2015

Frustration happens, especially with print software projects like Print MIS and web-to-print. When frustration happens do you flex, adjust, look for a solution or do you stay in that frustrated state? Find evidence of the behavior you want more of and reward that behavior, in your people, in your vendors, in your partners – that will accomplish more than yelling, escalating, and threatening will ever do.

Industry Events, Peer Recommendations, and Print Software Decisions

Published January 19, 2015

EFI Connect, Dscoop X, AMPS Executive Leadership, NPOA, and PODI, the upcoming industry events where you have an excellent opportunity to connect and collaborate with peers. Do you want to do everything in your power to assure your next print software decision is a good one? Get the whole story from a peer who has already implemented the solution.

Jacob Aizikowitz on Integration, Mobile, and Helping Printers Find Success Online

Published January 19, 2015

Jennifer Matt sat down with Jacob Aizikowitz to find out how XMPie approaches integration with other systems. What XMPie is doing to support mobile. And how they help printing companies find success with online services.

The False Security of the Print Software RFP

Published January 12, 2015

The checklist RFP (Request For Proposal) fails to deliver the best purchasing decision. Your peers (the voice of current customers) are your most trusted source of information about how print software products perform in live environments and how print software companies support their customers after the sales process.

Print MIS Product Spotlight: PrintVis

Published January 7, 2015

The PrintVis MIS solution has a phenomenal product span, meaning the ability to “flex” in both directions, respond to growth and decline. In this Product Spotlight, Jen Matt reviews the PrintVis MIS solution.

We Have Always Done it This Way

Published January 5, 2015

Change is viewed as risky because we want to believe that past success guarantees our future success. Your customers are changing, technology is changing, and your competitors are changing, why would you think that maintaining the status quo is anything but the riskiest thing you can do? Standing still is the only way to assure your business’ decline

Increase Print Software User Adoption by Showing Less

Published December 15, 2014

Often the best way to drive a print software solution’s adoption rate is to eliminate the complexity. How ironic is this? We buy print software products based on extensive feature lists and then we drive adoption of the software by turning most of the features off so people will actually use the tool. Isn’t that an awesome irrational cycle we put ourselves into?

Print MIS Product Spotlight: PressWise

Published December 10, 2014

The online channel is vital to the future of your print business. The online channel includes all the ways you engage with your customers online. Every new channel you open up with a customer increases the overall loyalty of that customer, creates barriers to entry for your competitors, and has the potential to decrease the customer burden of doing business with you by offering self-service access to your business.

Articles by Jennifer Matt