Building the Future: Four Top Technology Trends to Get You There

Trend #2: Specialization

A customer goes to a customized printer and gets a price quote. Then that customer takes the same job to a generalized printer and gets an entirely different quote! If your print shop has ever had to deal with a situation like this, you know why product specialization is growing. It allows for efficient product delivery at a reasonable price to the target customer. Specialized printers’ margins are often better than the generalized Jack-of-all-trades printers who may offer a wide range of products, but are often forced to rely more heavily on trade printers for most of their fulfillment.

Trend #3: Integration

In an on-demand world, customers don’t want to use multiple systems or go through multiple people to get what they need. Go through any fast food drive-through, and it’s clear—people just expect things to happen. Printers need to integrate their clients with their operation to be successful in the future. One way to do this is to eliminate manual processes. Allow clients to order from their own internal systems and send data directly to you. Provide a vertically integrated system with the flexibility to source from multiple geographic locations.

Trend #4: Contextualization

As input mechanisms change, the context in which customers are ordering print is shifting considerably. Now with new technology, like Web apps, ordering patterns are different, and mid-level managers are adopting a Web-first approach to sourcing. Geography, turnaround times, and product needs are affecting customers’ context, and buyers—even those with established relationships—are looking to the competition if one of those elements is out of sync.

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