Canon sponsors paper on strategic directions for Australia's quick print sector

Thanks to the computer revolution, knowledge workers now can access, manipulate, manage and exploit enterprise data, information and knowledge like never before, says Richard Vine in a new report aimed at Australia's quick print sector, sponsored by Canon.

As technology accelerates, the impact on the print industry will be profound. Printing must be understood as part of the infrastructure that enables knowledge workers to communicate and create value with these assets.

Generally, quick printers are well positioned for growth, but competition will continue to be fierce. As such, quick printers should select and implement an appropriate value-management strategy. These strategies can be grouped into three categories:

Technology-led: Using technology and sales and marketing activities to reduce costs across an enterprise's value chain.

Customer-led: Working with customers to identify their needs and aspirations, and creating solutions together as partners.

Future-led: Deploying new technologies to create or completely refashion markets.

One of the most pressing challenges for the entire print industry, including the quick print sector, is building the necessary skills. Quick printers will only be able to build deep, sustainable relationships with their customers if they can manage complex systems-integration projects. This will require people with hybrid skills drawn from areas including IT, document workflow and print management. Senior managers of large, complex enterprises will also need to understand how to facilitate cross-enterprise management services.

These changes require the quick print sector to adopt a visionary approach to sustain their future. The sector must support skills development and enterprise value-management strategies that strengthen its capacity to service industry in more efficient and innovative ways.

The alternative is to focus on narrow commercial interests, which ultimately would result in printers competing in smaller and smaller markets, and new entrants from outside the traditional print industry capturing a larger proportion of available opportunities. Australia's quick print sector is well equipped, innovative and outward looking, but digital media convergence will truly test its mettle.

To read the entire report click here.