Book Manufacturers' Institute Digital Roundtable - Another Success!

Last week, I had the privilege of helping to put together another learning day for printers getting involved with Digital Technology. This one was the Digital Roundtable for Book Manufactures Institute (BMI). Much like the Digital Seminar I facilitated for Printing Industries of Wisconsin (PIW) the week before, most of the discussion and questions surrounded the entire workflow rather than just the print side.

Here are some of the best points made, in the hopes that they will help you in your journey as a printer turned Content Aggregator:

1) Look at your organization as a provider of content, potentially in differing ways besides just print. This is the way your customers are moving, and will define what they need from you in the future.

2) If we accept the above premise, then the electronic files we used previously for only print output will be needed for varied output. In any given market, for example, it may be a web download, sent to a digital device such as an iPad, or printed traditionally, or digitally. This is why some say, "the file rules".

3) If we in turn accept this logic, we begin to see how important our IT and Pre-press Departments are. Accordingly, we need to hire, train, and retain exemplary folks who will help us give the customer what they want, THE WAY THEY WANT IT.

4) To be successful within the digital workflow, we need to find our niche, just as we do with the traditional workflow. Ideally, it will complement our traditional core business and existing customer base.

5) Success comes much more consistently when a planning process is followed. Here, an outside facilitator will markedly improve your chances of defining your opportunities, setting goals, & measuring success.

6) To do that, we as executives need to understand this opportunity well enough to fund and support it. As with most good things, the commitment must come from the top.

From a philosophical standpoint, this is the basic management part of leading your team to success in this new world of digital.

More will follow, in terms of the technical side, in further articles.







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