(Luton, UK) June 03, 2005 -- Professional printing establishments are the largest producers of printed products. In a recent survey of digital print service providers conducted by InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, nearly 80% of respondents indicated that they used digital colour printing and copying equipment and 68% were using a digital black and white device. InfoTrends/CAP Ventures new report, Future of Digital Production Printing, provides an outlook on the usage of digital production equipment, peripheral technologies and supplies in professional print environments in Western Europe. The document examines equipment usage and applications, investments and business trends, brand awareness, and customer relations. Print is not the only document or publishing channel anymore, but one of many. There is an abundance of strategies regarding how digital print service providers approach the market. According to the study, deploying a full range of customer-facing tools, reducing costs and miscommunications, and offering better service for customers are factors required for future success. “Digital print enables widespread support for value-added services, design, and variable data support, all of which will further promote the use of digital technology,” commented Ralf Schlozer, a Senior Consultant for InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. “In fact, respondents expect an increasing revenue share from value-added services and a higher share of variable data printing in the next two years. The revenue share of value-added services is expected to grow from 15.6% to 18.1% and the portion of print jobs using variable data from 23.6% to 35.8%.” Other key findings include: High speed colour printers 40+ppm are the most popular colour devices, followed by large format colour printers. Respondents expect an increasing revenue share from digital printing and value-added services in the next two years, compared to offset printing and other revenues. A significant increase in the share of variable data printing from today’s average of 23.6% to 35.8% in two years is expected by respondents. Enterprise customers are the largest originators of print jobs in print-for-pay environments, accounting for more than 40% of all print jobs, followed by the private sector and the advertising industry. Research for the report consisted of a survey of 294 end users across France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The survey captured responses from professional print service providers, cost centre printing in data processing printing environments, and in-plant printing. “Evaluating digital production printing only by the standards of commercial printing certainly falls short of describing the whole potential of digital production printing,” commented Schlozer. “This research set out to cover the diverse markets and present an overview picture, as well as to discuss differences between the different environments, where they appear.” The research report is available immediately to clients of InfoTrends/CAP Ventures’ On Demand Printing & Publishing Consulting Service Europe. For more information about the report or to make a purchase, click here to visit our online store or contact Jason Russell at +44 1582 400120 or via e-mail at [email protected].