As I prepare to head to Chicago for Graph Expo, I have been thinking about what I would be looking for at the show if I were a print service provider. Clearly, I am not. I am one of those pundits that sits on the sidelines and makes prognostications. But as part of my private client consulting and my role as an industry journalist, I do speak with many, many print service providers. Some are very innovative and forward-thinking; others are not. But I always learn something.

What prompted this particular musing was a conversation I had the other day with Bill Lamparter of PrintCom Consulting. Bill, as most of you probably know, has headed up the Must See 'ems award process for GASC for the last several years at Graph Expo. One often neglected aspect of that process is the identification by a panel of experts of the top technologies printers must employ to survive into the future. This year, for the third year in a row, the group identified the most critical technology for survival in 2009 as Print MIS. Lamparter further defines that as a packaged MIS solution, stating, "The reason we defined it that way is that many of the 'MIS' systems folks have ginned up at home are in fact nothing more than a spreadsheet, primarily being for estimating and terribly out of date." According to 2007 data from PrintCom, about 50% of sheetfed offset companies have an MIS... meaning that 50% don't! Lamparter also points out that many companies that do have an MIS have not fully implemented it and are not taking advantage of the real-time data to run their businesses better.

The second, and even more interesting "technology" that was identified was developing an IT competence. Lamparter explains, "Everyone is talking about printers diversifying, that they need to be in variable data. That they need to be involved in structuring the projects, analytics, data handling, and they need server farms. There are a whole litany of things involved. How do you do all of this and have zero IT competence? You can't do it."

Graph Expo is a great place to get your arms around these two areas of technological focus. All of the players are there, and most bring experts that can talk with you one-on-one about the topic in general, and of course, how their offerings can specifically help you. Look at the Big Iron, of course. But if I were a printer ... I would be spending most of my time at the screens and talking to the experts. I would want to leave with good ideas and the beginnings of an action plan on how to proceed with leveraging MIS and gaining a greater IT competence. Perhaps you are already there. But there is always something new to learn, and Graph Expo is a great place to do so. Hope to see you there!

Cary Sherburne
Sherburne & Associates
www.SherburneAssociates.com
Cary@SherburneAssociates.com