In the year 2008 “web to print” was an emerging buzzword at Drupa, the largest printing equipment exhibition in the world, which is organised once in 4 years at Düsseldorf, Germany. The term “web to print” is self-explanatory. It indicates a connection between WEB (Internet) & PRINT (Commercial Printing like digital and offset printing).
What remains, even after almost a decade are curious questions like How, Why, At What Cost, ROI, Adopting to Technology, Promotion/ Digital Marketing, do we need separate technical team, and last but certainly not the least, the fear that this new technology web to print might disturb the existing business. How can one blindly rush into something new and invest a fortune?
The buzzword also changed the priorities for many businesses. Those who were selling software started selling Printing, while those who were Printing started developing Software! What Is This web to print Technology? Why Does The Printing Industry Need This? How Does One Go About It? Who Does What? Why, How & Who questions Kept crowding the minds of printing company owners.
To make matters worse, some software companies, that wanted to make a quick buck, started offering solutions that printing companies couldn’t really use. Several printing companies burnt their fingers by opting for solutions that had been hard-sold to them. They invested heavily and lost. This is because to make a truly useful web to print product, you need an expertise from both fields - web as well as print.
The Internet is flooded with information on Web-To-Print technology and most of the information has been contributed by companies selling software. Like there are no Free Lunches, none of the information you get from these sites helps you learn adequately or build enough unbiased knowledge to confidently decide if web to print is right for you and if you should go for it. And if you do decide to go for it, it does not offer a clear road map and list down the kind of investment it will involve.
The Facts & Reality of web-to-print is missing. We believe that what the printing industry really needs is the Truth, and Nothing But The Truth about the technology, and not a detail product brochure which only talks about features, and benefits, and finally tries to sell.
We at Flexi have never believed in Hard Selling. Instead, we follow the Educate & Earn approach. In line with the principle, we want that every printer should learn, in very simple language, about this web to print technology, without being bothered by the technical nitty-gritties. We want the industry to get educated from an unbiased source that talks only about web-to-print technology in general, and carries a zero sales agenda.
Being into the technology business since 1989, our founders have seen how manual jobs have been eased by implementing technology. We have built the ability to make people learn to migrate from offline methods to start using computers. Over the years, we have learned that anything that is possible in the offline world, is very much possible in the online world.
In line with our beliefs, principles, and philosophy, here is one more effort. We are writing a book on web to print for the printing industry. The book is written by keeping in mind how the printing companies work in the real world and provides ideas for extending offline business into the online world, without falling into the details of web technology. We promise you we will NOT talk about our product anywhere in the book!
See it yourself to Believe it! One of our founders runs a personal blog educating people for digital marketing, social media marketing, and open-source technology. No Selling. Visit www.kotak.co.in
We are working hard to put together, our knowledge and insights in this book titled “Web to Print: Nothing But Facts & Reality.” Express your interest in this book by registering with us and we will update you once it is ready.