PARAMUS, N.J., JULY 26, 2004 – How companies in all segments of the communications value chain can leverage emerging technologies and cross-media to get a greater return on their communications investment is the focus of a keynote address delivered at Innovate 04 by Howard (“Howie”) Fenton, senior digital technologies consultant of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL). Scheduled for various cities in the United States and Canada throughout the year*, Innovate 04 (www.innovate04.com) is an informative, free seminar sponsored by numerous industry suppliers**, with Xerox serving as the organizing sponsor. Fenton is also a featured speaker in the seminar’s Commercial Printers and Quick Printers track session (other tracks are Creative Services and Marketing Communications Professionals). Drawing on his expertise in the full gamut of digital technologies, Fenton examines specific technology-based applications printers can use to develop services that add value to their client relationships and identifies growth areas for printers to pursue, including short-run and variable-data printing. “As the demands of the print customer changes, printers’ service offerings must change as well,” says Fenton. “The traditional print market is showing very little growth. Therefore, to grow in today’s communications marketplace, printers have to take advantage of available technologies to develop a range of value-added services.” “In Innovate 04, we focus on showing companies throughout the value chain—content owners, creators, and producers—how innovations in technology can help them improve and get a greater return from their business documents,” says John Hamm, vice president of Marketing in the Xerox Graphic Arts Business. “Among the areas we focus on are three applications that form the cornerstone of what we term ‘the new business of printing’: print-on-demand, personalization and customization of documents through variable data printing, and Web-based services that enable suppliers and customers to transact business and exchange information over the Internet,” Hamm continues. “We believe manufacturers in the industry have a responsibility to not only develop new and innovative technologies, but also to show their clients how they can make the best use of them to better serve their own customers and grow their businesses,” he notes. “We began Innovate in 2002 as part of that responsibility and we plan to continue it as we go forward, to give companies a chance to learn firsthand from respected industry experts such as Howie Fenton.”