Who Should Assess? YOU Should Assess!

January 25th, 2012

This blog post is contributed from our colleague, Paul Abdool, an international thought leader in the production print space.  He is the National Practice Manager for the Production Print and Mail Practice Group within the Enterprise Solutions division of Ricoh. 

Paul Abdool, National Practice Manager, Ricoh

Don’t “Just Do It”

Nike™ and Wieden+Kennedy, Nike’s primary ad agency, coined the now-famous slogan “Just Do It” for a 1988 Nike ad campaign.  This statement encouraged us to get moving and get fit.  It inspired us to stop procrastinating with our fitness and make a spontaneous-like decision to improve ourselves. 

Although I am a big fan of spontaneity, fitness and focus, there are a few things in this world that need to be thought out to “do it” just right. 

The Patio Builder

A few years ago, I was in the market for a new deck, or at least I thought I was.  I wanted a stable, flat surface for my barbeque, a place to put a patio set to eat dinner at in the summer and a place to catch some rays.  So being a “due diligence” kind of guy, I thought I would call a few companies to get some quotes.  The approaches by the companies were very different.  Wood deck builders wanted to know where I lived and the size of the deck I wanted.  The concrete patio guys said, “We would like to schedule an appointment to check out your backyard and discuss your needs prior to providing available times and pricing.”  So I received my quote via email from the deck company in the afternoon and the next evening I met with the patio “pre-assessment” fellow.  The gentleman from the patio company inquired about my needs, asked about my time constraints and measured the area.  In about 45 minutes he gave me a description of their process, the staff, provided references and addresses in the area so I could check out their work.  He then provided an estimate and asked if that was around what I was thinking about spending.

What did he really do?

  • He listened to my needs – he did not provide a cookie cutter quote
  • He created credibility – he explained the designs he had done for others with similar wishes
  • He established my budget – he ensured that he was only going to do what I could afford
  • He knew what type of effort it would take so that I knew what to expect
  • He answered all of my questions

Now that I had an idea of the budget, the temporary disruption level and project timing, he sent in his “technical” crew leader to double check the quote, take final measurements, create a project plan and to ensure that he had a full understanding of my needs.  Ultimately, I was satisfied.  Why?  Because they did not “just do it”.

Why do we do assessments?

Like the patio builder, I do “pre-assessments” before digging into a project – pun intended.  The pre-assessments allow me to better understand the project and the potential for improving the current state.  I also conduct assessments or discoveries, as we call them, if the organization wants to optimize their document production operation and processes.

My point is simple.  Professionals from all industries conduct assessments. 

And here’s why:

  • To establish a current state = this is critical for measuring against in the future
  • customers need to know how much the proposed changes will improve their operation
  • To build a Return on Investment model – in these times of shrinking budgets and shortened timelines, a good ROI is critical
  • To create a plan = a well thought out plan is critical to reaching goals and measuring success

 So, why should you budget time and money for professionals to conduct assessments? 

  • To gain access to technical skills -it is impossible to be an expert in all areas, professionals have tools and methodologies to gather information quickly, a specialist will notice things that you may not
  • To experience and benchmark – since the specialist conducting the assessment does it every day, they are able to discuss trends and how you compare to others professionals will continually improve their processes to get better results for the next customer so you benefit from their past
  • Because you don’t know what you don’t know – professionals have to stay abreast of the latest technology and offerings in the market they know the answers to questions you have not even thought of asking yet or how to find answers through their network of expert peers
  • To deliver concise presentations – professionals can summarize goals, issues, data and other facts into a succinct message so all stakeholders involved understand the options and what is in it for them

Ben Franklin was right

In 1736, Ben Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  He was referring to insurance but it certainly applies to anything that you can avoid messing up by doing your due diligence or homework – including print!  Anything that is significant to you or your organization, whether it is building a deck, running a business, or even selecting a new workflow should be thought through thoroughly to truly understand to meaning and value of your ultimate decision.  

What do you think?  Do you share my practice of assessing before making large business decisions?  Please share!

Best,

Paul Abdool

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A Day of Caring: The Ricoh Way

December 22nd, 2011

A sense of community and union is very important to Ricoh, and that’s why we enjoy taking the time to give back. As Ricoh is part of Boulder’s beautiful community, we really look forward to getting out and volunteering our time and resources whenever and wherever needed. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about – finding fun and productive ways to say “thank you” to the community? That’s what we believe!

Hard at Work!

Hence, at Ricoh, employees are encouraged to volunteer their time and to utilize the workforce to help others who may not have the same opportunities.  Just this past August, 65 Ricoh Boulder employees volunteered at the Foothills United Way’s 18th annual Day of Caring. This was a great opportunity to get together with other local businesses and residences and work on projects that needed tending to. This was just one example of a time when Ricoh put its community first. Volunteer projects included helping paint and landscape the local homeless shelter and helping create a schedule of classes, workshops and events for the Nonprofit Cultivation Center’s 2012 Technology summit. In total, more than 950 community volunteers came together to work on dozens of projects for different local nonprofit organizations.

One Ricoh employee said, “No one was shy about getting their hands dirty, and they were a great help in preparing the Shelter for the winter season. The Homeless Shelter could not provide the services it does without the help of volunteers like the Ricoh family.”

Another praised, “It was refreshing to see so many people from all areas of Ricoh working hard to help others. It made me proud to be a part of RPPS!”

Ready to Help!

All the participating nonprofit agencies were more than grateful for the volunteers’ time and enthusiasm. However, we believe we’re the lucky ones – for having the opportunity to help such devoted and selfless organizations.  Ricoh looks forward to the next Day of Caring!

Happy Holidays -

Michele Bollig

Worldwide Marketing Manager

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Empowering Your Local Sales Teams to Drive Top Line Results

December 13th, 2011

One of the most frustrating challenges for front line sales is not having the appropriate marketing material for customers. Salespeople end up caught between what they wish to communicate to their customers and how the marketing organization distribute marketing communications, often resulting in delays, which slow down the sales cycle. The most successful way to achieve an effective compromise between sales and marketing is by implementing a Precision Marketing Enterprise solution which provides the infrastructure to deliver brand controlled print and digital assets yet is easily customizable for the local sales team.

Today, the economy is mandating the effective distribution of marketing dollars with a demonstrated rate of return. Pressure continues to build as marketers must drive pipeline demand yet adheres to brand guidelines. Today best of breed companies are investing in Marketing Asset Management or MAM platforms that allow for the central control of a company’s marketing material yet can be easily distributed via email, print, and digitally to decentralized sales forces for personalization, relevant and engaging customization. The collateral is created and standardized at the corporate level by creating templates that can be modified and personalized at the lo-cal level. Any part of a marketing communication can be locked to protect the integrity and brand guidelines. MAM platforms are the most efficient way to shorten sales cycle time and track ROI.

Many companies without MAM tools platforms rely on less efficient means of communication. In fact, seven out of ten distributed marketers polled indicated they use their own agencies, printers, and other resources to deliver branded materials greatly increasing the chance of error. Local marketers and sales team either rely on already printed content that needs to be mailed to them in bulk or rely on centralized direct mail campaigns that are generically designed, resulting in cold and impersonal communication. Though it still brings consistent and predictable results, static direct mail is becoming less relevant. Less than one in twenty customers respond to this type of direct mail. On the other hand email is continuing to be the most profitable method with almost every marketing organization and department using it as the primary channel. However just as customers aren’t responsive to “junk mail”, it is increasingly difficult to dodge the spam folder. MAM allows for a personal touch with a customer that has had a positive experience with a local business. MAM has created an excellent continued communication both ways regardless of channel that can mean the difference between being a top performer and wasting marketing budgets, postage and materials.

One of the most frustrating challenges for front line sales is not having the appropriate marketing material for customers. Salespeople end up caught between what they wish to communicate to their customers and how the marketing organization distributes marketing communications, often resulting in delays, which slow down the sales cycle. The most successful way to achieve an effective compromise between sales and marketing is by implementing a Precision Marketing Enterprise solution which provides the infrastructure to deliver brand controlled print and digital assets yet is easily customizable for the local sales team.

Today, the economy is mandating the effective distribution of marketing dollars with a demonstrated rate of return. Pressure continues to build as marketers must drive pipeline demand yet adheres to brand guidelines. Today best of breed companies are investing in Marketing Asset Management or MAM platforms that allow for the central control of a company’s marketing material yet can be easily distributed via email, print, and digitally to decentralized sales forces for personalization, relevant and engaging customization. The collateral is created and standardized at the corporate level by creating templates that can be modified and personalized at the local level. Any part of a marketing communication can be locked to protect the integrity and brand guidelines. MAM platforms are the most efficient way to shorten sales cycle time and track ROI.

Many companies without MAM tools platforms rely on less efficient means of communication. In fact, seven out of ten distributed marketers polled indicated they use their own agencies, printers, and other resources to deliver branded materials greatly increasing the chance of error. Local marketers and sales team either rely on already printed content that needs to be mailed to them in bulk or rely on centralized direct mail campaigns that are generically designed, resulting in cold and impersonal communication. Though it still brings consistent and predictable results, static direct mail is becoming less relevant. Less than one in twenty customers respond to this type of direct mail. On the other hand email is continuing to be the most profitable method with almost every marketing organization and department using it as the primary channel. However just as customers aren’t responsive to “junk mail”, it is increasingly difficult to dodge the spam folder. MAM allows for a personal touch with a customer that has had a positive experience with a local business. MAM has created an excellent continued communication both ways regardless of channel that can mean the difference between being a top performer and wasting marketing budgets, postage and materials.

Top Performers (defined as those organizations that demonstrate superior performance in return on marketing investment, revenue growth, and response rates) use MAM to keep themselves innovative and relevant to the market ensuring that they don’t overpromise and under deliver. They understand the value to be found in effective and changing marketing strategy. They are often early adopters of versatile brands that know to avoid complacency while adhering to brand compliancy.

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Pizza, Lobster and Print…What Do They Have in Common?

December 1st, 2011

Print is perishable. Like a pizza, printers have to deliver while the job is “fresh.” In our world, “fresh” means according to a sales order, from a menu of choices, and delivered in a timely manner.

Simple, right? And if the printer can’t deliver, the job doesn’t disappear….it simply moves to another shop.

It is hard to imagine any manufacturing business model where the manufacturer never gets the same raw materials to build their product.  Think about any industry – the auto industry, the computer industry, the fragrance industry… heck even the restaurant industry – where all their
work is perishable. Thinking of it this way, print is very similar to most of these industries.

What if you visited your favorite restaurant chain, lets say Red Lobster (since it is the world’s largest chain, who knew!) and you were there expecting to order the Shrimpfest. Except on this visit, Red Lobster only has monkfish, no shrimp. (Sidebar: If you have been around a monkfish, you’ll know it’s virtually impossible to confuse it with a shrimp. I just saw someone on an old TopChef episode try to clean one and prepare it; it officially cured me of eating any fish for about a year, but I digress.)

Back to the Red Lobster example. They may even have another type of fish aside from monkfish – but whatever the case is, it’s not exactly the same dish you had on your previous vist…which made you want to come back.  Maybe their oven has been replaced by a microwave. Maybe they don’t have panko breadcrumbs and have to use crackers this time.  No matter the reason, all the materials are slightly different, but it’s the same order!
This will not meet your expectations and you won’t be happy.  You may even stop visiting Red Lobster. The point is, due to the variation in an order, the restaurant may lose a customer and in the service industry, food or print, customers keep us alive. Consistency is vital to making customers happy.

Like lots of manufacturers, commercial printers bring together an amalgamation of different materials and technologies from different sources, some old and some very new, to fulfill an expectation.  Many times, the printer does not receive the exact same materials each time they manufacture the job.  The printer might have to chase the exact same paper, though the vendors and mills change all the time. Their conventional versus digital print processes work on completely different technologies and standards, often difficult to even get close. And the actual content or digital files they get to build the job probably have the widest variation, and unfortunately this issue is getting worse as customers create files and images from more and more digital devices and channels.

It is not a surprise that the printing industry has so much variation; the advent of new technologies has allowed many exciting new ways to capture the imagination and expectations of the print buyer.  But the industry have done little to lessen the load on the commercial printer to juggle the manufacturing process around the ever shifting sands of supplies, suppliers, people and presses, and those pesky digital file formats.  To help alleviate this issue, commercial printers should seek out true “partners” (not vendors) to aid them in adjusting to this ongoing shift and to embrace these new technologies.  Some say food is the way to one’s soul…but for many its consistent print output!

Til next time,

Joey Print Pants

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Customer Video: Helping Enhance Swiss Efficiency

November 18th, 2011

Switzerland has a reputation for efficiency. But as we have found out, its expertise extends further than precision watches and perfect chocolate to transaction printing.

With 600 employees, B-Source is Switzerland’s leading company providing business process and IT outsourcing. It aims to help its clients in the banking and financial sector become more efficient, leaner and more secure.

As one of the leading providers of outsourcing services in the field of document output management, B-Source supports its customers as they communicate with their consumers using both print and online tools.

This video interview, in German and with English subtitles, covers B-Source Outline’s decision to examine its workflow, evaluate ADF, and covers why it chose InfoPrint Process Director to help its clients communicate with their customers.

They key factors in decision making were vendor neutrality, the use of standard components including a browser interface and the management system for controlling the production environment.

Watch the video here:  B-Source and Ricoh

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What Does Stuart Smalley Have to Do With Digital Newspapers? More Than You Know…

November 9th, 2011

What Does Stuart Smalley Have to Do With Digital Newspapers?  More Than You Know…

This is the first installment on our InfoPrint Insights blog from our new contributor…some simply call him Joe, but here we’ll call him Joey Print Pants.  In this series, Joey Print Pants will tackle the real issues facing commercial printers as they look to successfully deploy digital presses.  Who better to advise on such a drastic shift than a man who wears print as pants?

Joey Print Pants

Newspapers are the Stuart Smalley of print. They’re good enough, they’re smart enough, and wow, people like them. In fact in most mid markets and small towns, people LOVE them.
So why aren’t newspapers pushing the “go” button on digital presses?

The simple answer is that digital presses don’t always make economic sense as a replacement to offset or conventional print in most traditional application environments. In fact, the successful installations of digital newspaper printing are for specialty short run product for international papers, and on islands with time constraints and ultra short runs.

Globally, there are only about 14 or 15 digital newspaper installations – that’s it. There were more, but the companies building these businesses missed the initial market demand and ultimately failed. They were irrelevant the minute they turned on the press, because their thinking was that people will purchase newspapers if the print is fresher and up to the minute with news. In one word – they were WRONG.

Today, people actually get real-time news.  It’s on their iPad, their smartphone, their tablet and the best part is – it’s free.  Why would they want hard copy print records of things that happened hours or days ago? The answer is they likely wouldn’t – unless it’s a story about their kid kicking the winning goal, or their parents’ anniversary. Its relevancy man! Relevant content is what continues to sell newspapers in any town USA and even beyond our borders.

The target should be advertising content, like inserts, onserts, response cards and coupons. Newspapers already know a ton of information about their subscription base (yes some people still subscribe!) They know how to bundle and distribute right down to the smallest carrier route. In many locations, the newspaper might compete as the largest commercial printer in the area.  This then begs the question, why aren’t newspapers morphing into the direct mail and advertising business?

So back to Stuart Smalley: the newspapers. The real digital opportunity for newspaper to succeed in digital print is in Precision Marketing and extending the ad window by days not just hours.  Think about your local grocery store, now hawking wines and cheese and trying to move upscale. Wouldn’t they love to target a specific neighborhood or street in town with their ads?  Or the car dealer that might want to market their vans to families but their imports to others?  This can excite all advertisers because we are talking about response rates driven by relevance. And when was the last time you heard the term relevance and newspapers in the same sentence?

So newspaper lovers, put on your favorite cardigan, put a big smile on your face, and sit down in front of a mirror and tell yourself you are good and smart and relevant. Then call your favorite digital print company and have a discussion about changing their business model ASAP…

‘til next time –

Joey Print Pants

…also known as

Joe Caruso

Global Business Development, Commercial Print

Connect with him here

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Chris Reid, Vice President, Business Development at Ricoh Production Print Solutions, Discusses Four Areas for Customer Growth

October 18th, 2011

Ricoh has always kept the goals if its customers top of mind.  To help further develop these applications, solutions and services Chris Reid, vice president of business development at Ricoh has taken the lead on honing in on these focus areas to deliver options for services bureaus, commercial printers and everyone in between looking for the newest innovations in production print.

Recently we sat down with Chris to talk about his position.    What do you think about this new role?

Vice President, Business Development for Ricoh Production Print Solutions

What is the rationale behind your new role?

As traditional print providers embark on the transition of becoming more of a marketing service provider, they seek new ways to produce more pages efficiently, to use a single device for black-and-white transactional and color graphic arts jobs, and to find tools that can support different types of applications.  This is a big shift from the norm of yesterday and they need a true partner to help them successfully achieve this goal.

What specific areas are you targeting?

There are four areas where we foresee potential growth and believe we can provide the most value to our customers; Managed ADF Services, PDF enhancements for ADF, Marketing Service Provider [MSP] and Commercial Print Solutions.  These are areas we have years of expertise in and the market has recognized our leadership in these areas, which makes them natural focus areas for us.

How does Managed ADF Services play into the growth strategy?

Managed ADF Services is our cloud-based offering that allows customers to implement an ADF environment based on InfoPrint ProcessDirector without the up-front costs or any administrative training. With this model, customers can move from a heavy capital investment to a lower up-front cost and per-envelope charge, which gives them tremendous flexibility.  Flexibility is key to delivering variable data and multiple types of output. As more companies look to the cloud for services, Managed ADF Services enables them to tap into the benefits of the cloud with a trusted partner.

What will Enhanced PDF provide to customers?

Ricoh is the global leader in ADF – Enhanced PDF extends our leadership in document integrity with ADF to a new set of organizations using PDF. We can deliver the most advanced ADF applications in the world, but our ADF implementations are all based on AFP [Advanced Function Presentation].   Enhanced PDF adds native PDF support to our existing ADF solution using InfoPrint ProcessDirector.

Today, Ricoh is the only vendor in the world with an ADF workflow that supports both native AFP and native PDF, with no transforms.  Not only does this continue on our path of providing flexibility, but it helps save customers money and ensure document integrity by not requiring transforms.

Can you explain how you plan to expand the Ricoh offerings into the Marketing Services Provider space?

Print service bureaus, commercial printers and corporate organizations are trying to extend their marketing capabilities. MSPs allow these smaller print customers to implement basic to advanced direct marketing tools, from simple web-to-print applications through Precision Marketing and Data Analytics capabilities. Customers will be able to print dynamic, personalized direct marketing materials and integrate e-mail campaigns, personalized URLs, advanced data analytics, track and report on response rates, and refine their messaging overtime. By leveraging these capabilities, PSPs can shift more toward an MSP role and realize new revenue opportunities.

Let’s talk about the fourth initiative — Commercial Print Solutions. What’s it all about?

The Commercial Print Solutions Initiative is about complementary technologies that Ricoh offers commercial printers to help expand their businesses in new ways. We are broadening our portfolio for this purpose by enhancing the capabilities of the InfoPrint 5000 and our workflow tools by adding PDF support, and integrating both EnfocusPitStop and Ultimate Technographics products. Our goal is to help printers move their businesses from costly traditional methods to newer digital technology to make them more efficient and broaden their offerings.

We have Commercial Print Solutions customers today using our InfoPrint 5000, InfoPrint 4100 and InfoPrint Pro C901 to do graphic arts applications. Frederic Printing in Denver and Re.be.l. in Italy are just two of the many customers we have that are already producing books. We are also heavily engaged with some of the largest printers in the world to provide them with our enhanced technology on the InfoPrint 5000.

Thank you, Chris!

So, what are your thoughts on these four areas of growth? Please feel free to contact us via this blog if you have any questions or would like to learn more about any of the topics discussed.

Best,

The Ricoh Strategic Communications Team

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Graph Expo 2011 – Day Three

September 15th, 2011

Today is the last day at Graph Expo and we are winding down. It has been a busy week with a lot of great conversations happening that are still going strong today! From Ricoh’s perspective, this was an all out success.

The Ricoh team that made it happen!

The one consistent theme we’ve been hearing is commercial, commercial, commercial!  This is the rallying cry that was heard everywhere in the Ricoh booth this week.  From our Business Development software and solutions area through to our high end continuous forms InfoPrint 5000 section of the booth we’ve heard the call for commercial print applications.  It’s been a great pleasure showing attendees exactly how we can help them enable and produce these applications – especially highlighting examples of work we are already doing with some of the world’s leading commercial printers.

Rob Malkin, one of Ricoh’s books and publishing guru said “it feels like a coming out party for commercial print where we can show improved quality, flexibility, and our new dryer.  It is like a best kept secret being unveiled.”  Commercial printers are really excited about the possibilities they are seeing here from output including direct mail, short run books, election ballots and much more.

Just have a listen here at what our colleague, George Promis has to say: George Promis @ Graph Expo

Echoing Rob’s comments, our Sales Specialist from Quebec, Canada, Christian Lajoie, commented on the value of having such commercially-focused demos.  The Ricoh booth has been a flurry of activity since opening day where the customers and future customers can truly get their hands on the machine.

Lights, camera, action!

Customers raved about the Ricoh customer appreciation event on Monday night that was “overseen” by Sue – the largest, most well preserved T Rex ever found!  Key customers were treated to cocktails and a wonderful dinner in the stunning and majestic Field Museum.  Our guests were able to tour the impressive exhibits with no crowds at their leisure throughout the evening.

As you can tell from our blogs, videos, tweets and Facebook updates, we’ve been nothing short of thrilled with Graph Expo this year.  Let the countdown begin to October 7, 2012!

Best,

Michele Bollig

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Graph Expo 2011 – Day Two @ Ricoh Booth 2600

September 13th, 2011

Another day, another success!  From pro Paula Creamer to our busy Connection Center, ending with our Commercial Print Cocktail Hour, we’re we going strong all day long.

New to the show this year, our booth featured a “connection center” – a place where customers can come to connect with a member of our team to understand our Ricoh solutions.  Three people from RPPS and three people from Ricoh were deemed “connectors.”   The Connectors have the breadth of knowledge (and the great smiles) that made them absolutely perfect to play the unifying role to help our customers and prospects “connect” the dots between our offerings and solutions.

Two of our Connectors smiling for the cameras!

Also this year, PGA superstar Paula Creamer joined us in our booth for a “putt off” with show attendees.  The line of folks looking  to putt with Paula flooded our booth long before she even arrived.  And once they got started, you could hear the cheers from afar.  She played along with and encourage attendees with her skills.  And on top of that, Paula signed pictures taken earlier in the day of her with our customers.  Printed on our equipment in the booth, these images were well-received due to their high graphic arts quality.

Paula Creamer cheers on her fans!

And now onto the cocktail party…

On Monday night,  we held a large customer event at the Field Museum in Chicago which was preceded by a cocktail hour for our friends in the commercial print space.  We talked with them about the value of adding digital solutions to their operations while Liz Miller, vice president of programming and operations at the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council talked about what marketers are thinking about their budge dollars.  The biggest “ah ha” moment of the night was when she pointed to research stating that marketers are spending more now than they have in the past three years – and their biggest spend is no other than PRINT!  Who says print is dead?

This trend of increased digital printing was not just being discussed over a cocktail, but I was involved in many conversations about it at our booth today as well.  In our Business Development area, I couldn’t keep track of the number of attendees who had their own “ah ha” moment when we described how we’ve helped customers from a true solutions perspective (hardware, software, solutions and professional services).  It was really rewarding to see so many folks looking to hear more and more.

Like Caitlin started this post, I’m ending it with another day, another success.  Here’s to Day Three!

Best,

Caitlin McBrair and Joe Caruso

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Graph Expo – Day One at Ricoh Booth 2600

September 12th, 2011

The first day of Graph Expo was the tenth anniversary of September 11th.  This is an emotional day for every American and it hits close to home for me particularly because my son is a United States Marine, who signed up the week after 9/11.  I’ve watched him travel overseas to protect us all – and now watch as he works with the Wounded Warriers to help ease the pain of other soldiers returning home from war.  It’s impressive, emotional and scary all at the same time.

The American Flag was waving in the booth's animated signage during a ceremony at GraphExpo as a tribute to 9/11

From a personal perspective, I was very touched by the folks at Graph Expo yesterday due to the efforts they put in place to ensure that 9/11 was remembered during the show.  It was touching and completely appropriate because of how that day affected us all.  I was in awe as I watched all of the movement stop at each booth as the procession went through the show floor. 

After overcoming that emotional moment, I realized how impressive we all are at the show.  We portray the hope and courage that will move us forward. We are here to show off our technologies, solutions and hardware to help potential customers, yet can take that extra moment to honor those who we’ve lost and who protect us. 

At the Ricoh booth, we’ve been focused on honoring customers, soldiers, friends and everyone in between.  It was a special day and I was very happy to be a part of it.

One major focus of our booth is helping commercial printers implement digital printing in their operations.  Our own Joe Caruso has some insight he’s uncovered at the show today that he’d like to share with you all. Take it away, Joe…

Commercial printers – digital is not that scary…

 

Until recently, printers only cared about print quality and speed.  But today, the name of the game has changed.  Printers must now look at what their end-to-end offerings can do for customers and find a way to stand out among the competition.  Today, there is virtually no difference between engine number one and engine number two, or three… It’s the applications that are going to stand out.

Joe Caruso is loving his job as a member of our new Commercial Printing Solutions team! Thanks Joe for spreading that joy to our customers!

The biggest challenge today is the data and how to optimize, sort and arrange it all.  Data is key to maintaining and expanding customer bases.  And in today’s environments, it’s not coming from one single datastream or channel.  It’s coming from print, online, email, mobile and more.  How can one keep up without a strong workflow and professional services solution?  It’s nearly impossible.

At the Ricoh Graph Expo booth, we are showing how our complete, end-to-end solutions can help a commercial printer determine what the best digital move is for their specific operation and how we can help them achieve their goals based on that distinction.  Through our experience, this transition of implementing digital is not a one time switch flip.  It’s a growing experience, and we’re here to help each step of the way throughout the whole experience.

If you’d like to learn more about the services we offer to commercial printers, please stop by booth 2600 and find out. .I’m Joe, you can’t miss me!

Best,

Michele Bollig, Worldwide Marketing Manager

and

Joe Caruso, Global Production Development, Commercial Print

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