The Internet will help keep print timely. The conversion of digits to the printed page will still be a dominant part of the marketing plan for any company. E-procurement systems will blossom over the next five years to make this purchase easier to complete. The printer will be part of his customer's e-procurment, similar to their P.O. system of today. Electronic estimates, schedules, bills and payables will simplify the process and make it always available to any person in the loop.
Being able to access your printer via the Internet with changes, questions and updates will promote fewer errors, immediate responses and exact audit trails on alterations and change orders. The RFQ will be on the Web and all data surrounding that live job will be always available.
PI: What will the e-commerce landscape look like two years from now?
Tevis: We expect to see rapid consolidation of the 100 or so players in the print and paper e-commerce space; possibly down to four or five major players. Similar to phone companies, both big printers and other e-commerce solutions, only those that execute best will survive.
Building real solutions that really work will create the leader in this space. IPOs can be beneficial if they bring cash for expansion, not simply to return VC money. The hard work of old-fashioned business plans, execution and cash management still drive a successful vision. That is why we opted for open architecture, proven technology from other industries rather than developing our own code for a printing industry solution.
The best value Digeno can add is to take the lessons learned from other industries (such as supply chain management, collaboration, e-procurement, integration and aggregation) and leverage its scale advantages to build a superior service that can deliver cost-effectively.
- People:
- MILLER
- Terry Tevis
- Places:
- Chicago