Prisma Graphic : All the Right Moves

Putting all of your eggs in one basket is rarely a good thing. But for Bob Anderson, president of Phoenix-based commercial printer Prisma Graphic, it worked out just fine. When Anderson purchased the 30-year-old, privately held company in 2000, he was faced with the daunting task of trying to save it from certain closure.

Ready for the challenge, he completely re-organized the firm's sales department, and focused on implementing new technologies—which played a key role in transforming Prisma from a boutique print shop into a full-service marketing supply chain provider with a strong online presence.

Ever since the transition, the company has experienced 10 to 15 percent annual growth, and has even been customer-voted number one in Ranking AZ (a resource directory published by AZ Big Media) for the past three years. Annual sales now stand at $24 million.

Anderson gives much of the credit to dokshop, Prisma's homegrown online ordering system that was launched in 2001. The dokshop system started out as a simple business card ordering Website and has since become an integral part of the company's business strategy.

"Our dokshop system has enabled us to service the marketing supply chain needs of almost 200 of our customers through online business-to-business storefronts, with about 40,000 users worldwide," explains Anderson. "Almost 35 percent of our business today falls outside of traditional printing, and we fully expect the trend to continue as more and more integrated services are added."

The dokshop system can be described as a marketing asset management solution that provides clients with tools to coordinate their worldwide marketing efforts. It offers multi-location clients easy-to-use print and digital templates customizable for local efforts, shows instant PDF proofs, and has options for print, digital downloads or third-party orders. It also retains corporate control through approval processes, sends automatic status updates, can invoice by cost centers and has complete reporting functionality. The Websites can be generic or client-branded and offer various security options from open registration to complete intranet punch-out access.

Prisma recently launched a general Web-to-print solution called Print Power (printpower.com). The site was initially created to compete with some of the well-known online print sites that provide small- to medium-size print projects, but is targeted more toward those seeking designer-quality for online prices. The company plans to expand service offerings as they become developed through dokshop.

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