Technology Trends Printers Should be Aware of for 2017

What are your goals for this year?

• Improve your customer experience?
• Offer more value to your clients?
• Increase your share of clients marketing budget?
• Offer your clients a wider array of products?
• Streamline operations to increase your bottom line?

The good news is, there are technologies out there that can help in all of these areas.

As you are aware, technology moves fast, REALLY fast. If you haven’t updated your system in the last few years, your system probably looks, runs & functions like an arcade game from the 80’s. You may be thinking your customer’s aren’t complaining so why change.

The fact of the matter is end customers are evolving and a new breed of tech savvy users are entering the market every day. In a flash, you could lose a client to a competitor down the street offering a modern technology platform that appeals to the new generation.

“The Pain of Same, is Greater than the Pain of Change.”

Whatever you want to accomplish this year, we’ve identified some technology trends you should keep an eye on.

1. The “Cloud” is here to stay, growing rapidly and replacing the traditional software installations.

In simple terms, “Cloud” computing means that you don’t have to install servers, network or anything at your local premise. Systems that run in the “Cloud” are in a variety of different configurations ranging from offerings from giants like Amazon, Google and Microsoft to smaller private clouds.

Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings are typically offered in the cloud. They offer a very low entry price and have a monthly subscription fee (think Netflix). You also never have to worry about computing hardware, network connections or updating anything. Everything is handled for you and can be reached from a standard internet connection and browser from anywhere in the world.

Additionally, most SaaS offerings are priced to grow with you. Typically, they offer a variety of monthly subscription plans where pricing increases based on what you are doing on the platform. This aligns YOUR goals with the goals of the SaaS provider, they can only grow if you are growing with the platform. The old “you paid now your problem” approach is dead.

2. End user customer experience is paramount above all.

If the users that are using your technology, regardless if they are internal users or your customers’ users, you have to provide an experience that will leave them wow’d.

“The technology you offer your clients reflects directly on you.”

Customer experience needs to come first with any modern technology platform.
• How easy is it to use?
• Is it intuitive?
• Is it beautiful?
• Is it fast?
• Does it have powerful features such as easy search, reporting, and controls?
• Is it easy to use (important enough to mention twice)?

The art of a great software platform is to make complicated things easy. As the great Steve Jobs once said:

“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

Translation – Just because your clients tell you they are happy with a platform or that it does “enough”, doesn’t mean you should sit back and kick up your feet. Be relentless in offering more.

3. Web to print storefronts have evolved to comprehensive marketing asset management solutions

How many of your clients ONLY use print to promote their brand? The answer is none. Brands (your clients) use a combination of print, promotional merchandise, apparel and digital assets in their marketing strategy. Your clients need a system to automate ordering, production, and distribution; while enforcing brand, budgetary and inventory compliance for their ENTIRE marketing portfolio.

Well, that is exactly what Marketing Management Solutions do.

Where web to print systems focus on printed assets, Marketing Asset Management solutions handle all types of marketing assets your clients use. This allows you to become the central repository for the entire marketing supply chain. It doesn’t matter if you are the producer of everything – the value you are adding to your client is hard to argue against.
In summary SaaS platforms are replacing traditional software and software providers focus on making you grow. User experience is the main focus on today’s technology landscape, making it easier and simpler for you and your clients to use robust solutions. Finally, web to print systems have gotten a huge upgrade taking on other marketing products other than print.

There you have it. Regardless of what your goals are for 2017, this technology trends can help you get there faster.