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Any Portal in a StormM

aybe I am just getting old, but any-time I hear a slogan or catchphrasewith a number in it, my first reaction

is to turn and run. The movie title 2 Fast2 Furious is a prime example of this rule,or perhaps the notorious rapper 2Pacserves to prove the point. While the sub-stitution of a number for an infinitivalparticle in a phrase might be the sole do-main of hip hop artists, the progressiveWeb2Print business model is drawingmore and more printers into confusingwordplay.

Ask a printer if they have goneWeb2Print yet, and you are as likely to geta blank stare as a positive response. Andwhile Web2Print (W2P) initially seemedto be a fairly straightforward concept tomost – a process to bridge the gap be-tween the Internet and commercial printproduction – over the years this beastieboy has evolved into a multi-headedleviathan that defies categorization.

In today’s – um – challenging businessenvironment even the reactionariesamong us are being driven to reassesstheir game plans in a bid to reduce over-head, streamline operations and attractnew customers. Like the mariners of old,today’s printers are looking for an edge toweather this storm and hopefully comeout the other end still afloat. Many whoinitially ignored the potential, now seeW2P as a key element for survival. It iscertainly a vital connection to the NewWorld of business that printers should atleast investigate during the downturn.

When asked recently to research W2Pfor a client, I embarked on what I had ini-tially assumed would be a fairly short as-signment: find out what I could and write

a report. This easy assignment quicklyblossomed into a rapidly expanding trea-tise on one of the most complex techno-logical fields to ever invade the graphicarts world. Every stone turned revealedtwo or more stones, each requiring thor-ough investigation. And while my initialpreconceptions of the W2P software onthe market were modest at best, I was

soon wading through a phalanx of tech-nologies and applications, each frustrat-ingly similar to the last, but somehow stillunique.

Seeing the lightMy first W2P epiphany came when I real-ized that in order to define the method aprinter might want to employ, basic deci-

sions about their end product needed tobe made. At this point, W2P technologypresents its first significant fork in theroad toward digital-sales Nirvana. Aprinter is forced to choose between twodistinct print ideologies, either Print as aCommodity or Print as a Service.

I had the good fortune of working forsome very wise operational managers andto this day I can still hear one formermentor bemoan the fact that commercialprinting is a fool’s pursuit: “Who in theirright mind would undertake the manu-facture of a distinctly personalized prod-uct for a customer that rarelyunderstands what they want nor how toask for it?” my manager would repeti-tively muse, adding “with the possible ex-ception of scratchpads made from spoiledletterhead, there are no factory seconds inprinting, only reruns.” To date, this is thebest description of print as a service thatI have ever heard.

On the other hand, there has alwaysbeen a market for the quick-and-dirtybusiness card – 500 x 2-colour businesscards for $19.99, advertised on thosegaudy outdoor display signs with fluores-cent letters that neighbourhood kids al-ways rearrange into rude configurations.That is a basic description of print as acommodity.

Commodity print products tend to fallinto the standard requirements of smalloffice or home office customers (SOHO)and include the usual suspects – businesscards, letterhead and envelopes. In a W2Ptemplate-driven Web-shop scenario,these collaterals can be easily sold in adigital storefront consisting of a printer-VistaPrint has 19 localized portals serving 120 countries, but only two manufacturing

facilities.

16 • PRINTACTION • MARCH 2009

Continued on page 31

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SUPPLIES

MARCH 2009 • PRINTACTION • 31

branded Website displaying a static cata-logue of products.

By limiting selection, and thereforetemplates in the backend, printers havevery precise control over pricing andscheduling. Customers are usually re-quired to sign-in to an account in orderto gain access to online typesetting or lay-out tools, enabling users to enter theirown information, choose the fonts andmaybe tweak the layout a bit. After ap-proving an online proof and choosingink, paper and delivery option, users canthe use their credit card to pay for anorder by simply clicking a buy button.

For the printer, this is a win-win sce-nario. The customer is responsible for thecontent, does all the design work, proofstheir product and pays for it all up front.All the printer need do is print and de-liver. More elaborate online Web-shopsmight integrate with estimating modules,CRM systems and even print MIS appli-cations in the backend. Additionally,printers with a Web-shop can expandtheir product offerings to include otherpromotional items such as pens, calen-dars and postcards.

Web-shop of the commodity king The most successful devotee of the com-modity W2P philosophy is VistaPrint.This forward-thinking group, founded byentrepreneurs unfamiliar with printing,opened one of the first online Web-shopportals for commercial printing back in1995. By targeting and aggregating a mas-sive user base of commodity print buyers(the SOHO businesses), VistaPrint hasgrown from humble beginnings to an in-ternational printing giant boasting morethan 17-million customers worldwide.Using its ubiquitous free business cardpromotion as a viral marketing tool,Vistaprint.com attracts more than8,000,000 visitors in an average month.

Today, VistaPrint serves over 20 coun-tries and racks up annuals sales of morethan US$135 million, all achievedthrough its Web-to-print online shop.Upon visiting their utilitarian-lookingwebsite, users are greeted with a full arrayof print products to choose from includ-ing free products such as business cards,rubber stamps and pens. These items aretruly free – all the user has to pay is ship-ping and processing. The catch – there isalways a catch – is that VistaPrint’s Webaddress is displayed someplace on theitem.

Although Vistaprint was the first to rec-ognize the aggregation potential of theSOHO market, W2P solution providerssoon delivered online Web-shop capabili-ties to smaller printers looking to get intothe potentially lucrative commodity printmarket. Though there are many differentW2P commodity Web-shop technologiesto choose from, most share some common

traits. For example, users are generally lim-ited to utilizing templates and enteringtheir own information. This forces theprinter to carefully consider the range ofproducts offered and offers little opportu-nity for their customer to customize theirorder outside of a few parameters such asglossy paper or two-sided printing.

For printers choosing to specialize inbusiness cards, Toronto-based AmazingPrint has developed a complete suite oftools specifically for this market niche.Printers can implement a simple tem-plate-based web shop with eCard Builder,or opt for fully customizable online carddesign and proofing with their more so-phisticated eCard Group application. Ad-ditionally, Amazing Print develops fullWebsites with integrated estimating andCRM systems.

Commodity Web-to-Print is also wellsuited to large enterprise customers re-quiring multiple sets of short run sta-tionery items, such as business cards anddepartmental stationery. PageFlex is Bit-stream’s W2P solution targeting the en-terprise market. If a commercial printeris fortunate enough to service one ormore enterprise-level accounts, the Page-Flex solution can be configured to giveeach customer a personalized experiencethrough the ability to present skinned on-line stores.

For example, the commercial printerservicing “Company Eh”, a Canada-wideretail giant, could configure its PageFlexonline store to appear to be a CompanyEh-branded in-house ordering site. TheWeb-shop could be set up to require pur-chase order numbers, manager approvalsor any other requirement of the enter-prise customer – greatly streamliningCompany Eh’s procurement procedureand reducing the need for costly inven-tory. Increased customer loyalty is one ofthe key benefits to locking in the enter-prise customer with this type of W2P so-lution.

Other notable players courting theWeb-shop printer include Kodak with itsInsight Storefront system, developed outof Vancouver, which features a storefrontwith quotation system, Internal manage-ment tools and a CRM system for cus-tomers to monitor job progress and orderhistory – all based on customers orderingstatic items from a printer-defined cata-logue of products.

Printable Technologies takes the per-sonalized storefront model a step furtherby adding variable-data-printing capabil-ities to its template-based Web-shop.End-users working with a Printable-pow-ered Web-shop can merge form data,database files, images and other variablesonline. Additionally, users can fully man-age complex print campaigns, mailinglists, digital assets and inventory while in-tegrating with their printer’s productionworkflow. While this might sound like acommercial printer’s dream scenario, thedownside is that a great deal of customereducation would be required up front.

Saepio Technologies offers a similarcollection of Web-shop tools for the com-mercial printer with a focus on e-com-merce and integrated marketingsolutions. In addition to online version-ing tools, an end-user could coordinatetheir versioned print direct mailer with acustomized web site landing page.

This is only a small sampling of the

commodity Web-shop products currentlyon the market, undoubtedly with moreunder development. And, while the basicconcept is to get print buyers to spendmoney through an online interface – themethods vary wildly from simply enter-ing name and address into an online busi-ness card template to managing complex,script driven variable data print vehicleswith links to Websites. While printers likeVistaPrint have proven the commercialviability of the commodity Web-shop, thecomplicated world of variable data andintegrated campaigns presents a barrierto entry for many print buyers. Frankly, ithas been my experience that relatively fewprint customers are comfortable or capa-ble of assuming this much responsibilityfor their printed product.

Commodity print is a numbers game.While you do not have to be a VistaPrint,Staples or Office Depot to compete in thismarket, slim margins require aggregationof big numbers to drive profitability. On

the other hand, the print as a servicemodel can be scaled to any size of com-mercial printing enterprise.

Print as serviceRealistically, Print as a Service is thelargest market segment, covering anyhighly personalized print product thatdoes not fit the commodity description.Print as a service requires detailed quota-tions covering most aspects of produc-tion, including special media, bindery,inks or techniques. Typically, an experi-enced team of salespeople and CustomerService Representatives is needed to en-sure successful manufacture. Simply put,W2P applied to print as a service de-scribes any online tool that enables col-laboration with your customer, whetheras an aid to existing sales infrastructure,or in place of it.

Instead of browsing an online shopfilled with specific products and prede-

Zac Bolancontinued from page 16

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fined templates, a print buyer might loginto their printer’s branded Website dis-playing all the current projects that arecurrently in collaboration along withschedules for proofing, press, bindery anddelivery dates. The customer page mightalso be configured as a portal to theprinter’s services and enable the printbuyer to upload and preflight files, re-quest estimates, approve proofs, schedulepress-checks and work closely with theprinter’s CSR and production team to en-sure a smooth workflow.

Because of the potentially wide scopefor a print-as-a-service workflow there isa broad variety of W2P applicationscatering to every possible interpretationof the word service. Many commercialprinters choose to make online estimat-ing their first foray into the W2P world.At the low end of the investment scaleRocket Print Software offers a selection ofW2P products on a monthly subscriptionbasis starting at US$189 per month.

Without significant startup costs, aprinter can easily implement W2P capa-bilities with Rocket Print’s RocketQuotes,an online specification, quotation, order-ing, upload and job management applica-tion that can be added to an existingWebsite or configured into a completelynew site. The RocketQuotes storefront canhandle all customer interaction includingfulfillment, inventory management andprint-on-demand. Internally, projects canbe managed with the printer’s existingCRM system or with RocketWorkflow, anaffordable and user-friendly project man-agement tool for printers integrating withthe RocketQuotes system. Every employeein the print shop can have controlled ac-cess to relevant information pertaining toany project in the plant, including sales-people. The printer’s customers wouldhave no access to the RocketWorkflow,however, because it is intended as an inter-nal management tool. To entice printers,RocketQuote offers a 30-day free trial offerbefore committing to a subscription.

On the other end of the price scale, Hi-flex offers a storefront interface to a vari-ety of Management Information Systems,CRM systems with full support for JDFimplementation. Hiflex is already ahousehold name in the graphic arts MISmarket and the company has establishedmany relationships with leading hard-ware and software developers. Its solu-tions tend to be very powerful, stable anda tad on the pricey side. Hiflex has done avery good job of capitalizing on its busi-ness automation experience to put to-gether a robust, modular storefrontsolution for its clients.

Besides the obligatory estimating func-tion the Hiflex Web-shop offers file uploadmodules, preflight, proofing and JDF in-tegration with existing workflows fromthird-party vendors like EskoArtwork.One of the strengths of the Hiflex system isits online shopping cart, which gives printbuyers a similar experience to shoppingonline at consumer sites like Amazon.com.After defining the project and generating aprice, they can simply click BUY NOW…a printer’s two favourite words!

Based in the UK, Red Tie Software of-fers a versatile online estimating work-flow with an optional template module.Red Tie Quotes gives customers the abil-

ity to build personalized price quotationsfrom a database of printer-defined pa-rameters and upload artwork through aWeb interface. The Red Tie Template ap-plication is geared toward printers withcorporate or enterprise clients needingaccess to a catalogue of branded collater-als that they can modify, then print. Be-cause templates are created by the printer,the finished files are delivered to theworkflow ready to print.

With a lite version starting at US$2,500,Print-Quotes Software is a full range ofbrowser-based online print managementand procurement tools aimed at printersservicing customers at every level of so-phistication. Print buyers can choosefrom any number of pre-defined tem-plate estimates or enter custom parame-ters to create precise custom pricing. Full

upload and customer collaboration serv-ices are available on the front end while afull range of marketing, administrative,CRM, accounting, planning and report-ing functions reside on the back end.Print-Quotes runs on Mac or Linux oper-ating systems and is sold on a site licensemodel rather than per user – which canwork out to substantial savings over thelong term. If your curiosity is piqued,poke around the company’s site for theincredibly detailed process diagram to seehow it all works.

For the print-on-demand connoisseur,Press-sense serves up a trio of Web-basedW2P products geared toward short turn-around projects and full end-to-end printshop management. iWay, its flagship prod-uct, purports to be a “complete, Web-based, end-to-end print-on-demand

workflow and management solution”…now that is a lot of hyphens! Seriouslythough, Press-sense’s modular approachto building a W2P workflow is sensible be-cause it allows printers of virtually any sizeto streamline their production to competein the demanding P.O.D. market.

Behind the scenes, Press-sense backsup iWay with Press-sense Manager, anIntranet-based management workflowdesigned specifically for small shops andP.O.D. operations. For larger printers,Print-sense Omnium is the company’spremium “more than MIS,” offering,claiming to give managers god-like ac-cess to every order, employee, press andpiece of paper in the pressroom – all inreal time.

You might have noticed that the vast

MARCH 2009 • PRINTACTION • 33

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Zac Bolancontinued from page 31

34 • PRINTACTION • MARCH 2009

PDF files every time with their built-inEnfocus preflight engine. For added secu-rity, print buyers log into the RITE Portaland all files are encrypted during transferto Trueflow. Clients can choose from newprojects or can build online catalogues offrequently ordered items. Full JDF com-pliance (and of course, Trueflow) ensuresthat all customer generated job ticket in-formation goes where it needs to. Cus-tomers can follow the job progress withstatus updates.

As its name implies, RITE Approval SEis a no-nonsense online upload and ap-proval window for the Trueflow SE work-flow. Printers simply wanting a better wayto get customer files into their workflow,

majority of W2P solutions that I havetouched on thus far are the product ofMIS companies or Web geeks. In a re-freshing break from this pattern, ScreenUSA recently launched its RITE SuiteCRM tools. Instead of concentrating onthe sales and estimating end of the spec-trum, Screen has smartly chosen to focuson bringing W2P capabilities to theirTrueflow prepress workflow.

Make no mistake, if you do not useTrueflow, then RITE Portal SE will NOTallow you to build a custom-brandedAdobe PDF driver to ensure your cus-tomers upload perfect production-ready

return soft-proofs and get approvalsmight want to skip the whole touchy-feely online estimating thing and gostraight for the RITE Approval SE ap-proach to W2P. You can always integratethe frills later when you figure out thiswhole inter-web thing, right?

Portal in a stormAs I alluded earlier, this is only a smatter-ing of the myriad of W2P solutions avail-able to today’s commercial printer. Theperfect W2P product will vary accordingto the printer’s desired market niche andcapital available for investment. From afinancial perspective – aside from the ini-tial investment for software, the printeralso needs to consider the costs involvedin creating the IT infrastructure to facili-tate a W2P operation. This can quicklysurpass the initial software budget.

Subscription-based services such asRocket Software are hosted with the de-veloper, relieving the printer of the inter-nal IT expense and responsibility. Whilethese systems are more convenient to im-plement, they also tend to be less config-urable and somewhat limited in scope.On the other hand, bringing W2P in-house generally means buying and main-taining servers, a dedicated IP address,sustained high-speed internet access andthe labour cost of an experienced IT guyor gal – all this in exchange for greaterflexibility and personalization of yourW2P storefront or portal.

Let’s be realistic: Not everyone can be aVistaPrint and play the aggregation/com-modity print game. Also, not every printbuyer is ready to step into the role of on-line-designer or VDP programmer –printers have traditionally sold thesevalue-added services, often at great profit.For that reason, I tend to favor the prac-tical online tools that can help a printermanage, communicate and build loyaltywith its fickle customer base. Also, as aprepress guy I lean toward any Web2Printsolution that works as a portal to a work-flow, preflights PDF files or otherwisecrunches pixels. These kinds of nuts-and-bolts W2P solutions generally have moreobvious ROI models and are easier to sellto your company controller.

Remember drupa 2000? Another realitysandwich is that W2P is the oldest new kidon the block, so long in the incubator thatit needs to learn to shave before it canwalk. With a few exceptions W2P is stillvery much in its infancy and your mileagewill vary. Printers are well advised to dotheir homework before committing to aW2P solution. Unfortunately because ofthe difficult demo logistics it is virtuallyimpossible for any printer to analyze allpossible W2P scenarios. Print forums are agood place to start – www.printplanet.comhas a particularly lively thread entitledWeb Enabled Printing Systems. For whatit’s worth, you will definitely find an opin-ion or two there.

As the scope of Web2Print broadenswith each successive generation of soft-ware, however, it becomes increasinglyeasy to justify including the Internet inyour CRM and production workflow. Justbe sure you do not settle for the first por-tal that comes along – define your prod-uct, find your niche and you will be sureto weather the storm.

Zac Bolan’s blog: blog.softcircus.com

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