Taking the plunge at the Prokom Conference 2019

| 25 June 2019

TheKonica Minolta User Community Prokom Conference 2019 was held over two days in Valencia, Spain on the 5th and 6th of June. It focused on the traits of successful companies and how some Prokom members are leading the print industry with a powerful mix of insight, innovation and transformational change.


The print industry is faced with enormous structural change ranging from consolidation, an assault from digital media, constant downward price pressures and challenging customer demands. The latest drupa trend report highlights the stark reality of the challenges facing the print industry and how printers need to take the plunge and transform their business.

                                              

In response to this challenging environment, the Prokom conference focused on the traits of successful companies and how they are evolving and adapting.

Change in Work Mix

                                                                              

drupa trend report

Peter Muir CEO of Bizucate talked about the importance of facts and learning to understand what’s going on in the wider world around customers and prospects. He explained it was critical to identify a niche market, explore how to take control of that market, bring the customers to you and be the resource for that marketplace. Research is critical to verify that this is the right growing market, so you can create sticky solutions.

Peter explained that you can’t have an aversion to risk as $680 billion is spent on innovation every year and 85% is not successful. There are 30,000 new product launches each year and only 15% are successful. To de-risk this situation people have to get curious about the why, which has three elements; the functional, emotional and social.

 

Get curious about the why

                                                                            

Printers need to gain profound understanding of customers’ thoughts, feelings,and experiences when choosing and using products or services. They need to explore circumstances around customers’ buying decisions and recognise forces that influenced customers’ decisions. This should all be communicated by collecting stories, not statistics.

Graham Reed from the Marlixia group and Mark Hanley from IT Strategies rounded off the first day. Graham delivered a compelling message that technology is not enough for printers and a price proposition was an ever-decreasing circle. He explained how he had built his business from the point of near failure to a turnover of over £8 million by using a range of cross-media tools to leverage his print sales. Mark Hanley provided an insightful view of the future trends in print. One of his key points was the fantastic potential for sheetfed UV inkjet in the market gap between toner-based technology and web-based inkjet.

Professor Julian Birkinshaw from the London Business School kicked off the second day by focusing on the playbook for companies that succeed in adapting. The four key elements are:

  1.  Agile strategy
  2. Fluid structure–adhocracy
  3. Unreasonable people
  4. Ambidextrous leaders

Julian talked about leadership skills in a digital world and the most important attributes for the future leaders.

(% v. important or critical)

Defining and articulating a sense of direction 90%

Acting decisively when there is uncertainty 85%

Getting rid of obstacles and enabling subordinates 68%

Managing the flow of information 43%

Being a recognised expert in technical areas 30%

Monitoring the performance of subordinates19%

Overseeing the formal processes and rules 9%

He concluded that it was critical for leaders to be in tune with what employees wanted, which was worthwhile work and clarity on the “why”. They needed the space to find their own way and the right support with the appropriate recognition & praise. However, what they often get is confusing or unclear objectives, micro-management and meddling, lack of concern and limited feedback.

What followed were great examples of Prokom members exhibiting all the attributes of successful growth and profitability. Mark McIvor from the C2 group explained his roadmap for successfully scaling a small SME commercial print business by investing in a new MIS and a new marketing team.

Jeremy Bacon from the Sherwood Group gave delegates a blueprint for how they have diversified into the packaging market. The Sherwood group differentiates itself by being active in three different markets Greeting cards – 50%, Commercial print – 40% and Packaging -5%. Jeremy focused on the importance of the strategic tools it uses to understand the behaviour of market leaders, conducting competitor analysis to track the winners and losers. He stressed the importance of knowing:

  • Who are our competitors?
  • What threats do they pose?
  • Economic performance
  • Core competencies
  • Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
  • Marketing mix (7P’s)
  • Opportunities to pre-empt and gain competitive advantages
  • Business strategy

Kevin Abergel from MGI and Charlotte Graham Cumming from Ice Blue Sky focused their attention on “What brands want” and how printers need to adapt to the changing demands of consumers and marketers. Print embellishment and adding value to the printed product were seen as essential requirements along with creative ideas and helping smaller brands with marketing automation and multi-channel communications.

To round off the conference and to get delegates inspired they were treated to two fantastic sessions. The first was from Lee Warren – “How to persuade anybody to do anything – well almost”, followed by Mark Denton the round the world yacht race skipper with “resilience in the eye of the storm”.

                                                          Mark Denton describing how his team were planning to face Hurricane Michael

Mark told the compelling story of how he took a team of rookie sailors and sailed around the world battling all the odds to finish 3rd.

After the conference closed delegates and spouses were treated to a memorable evening celebration dinner at the L’Umbracle venue in Valencia. During the dinner four Prokom members were recognized with a Prokom Innovation Award sponsored by EFI for their outstanding entries this year. They were Jingpin Daoyuan Culture Communication Company, Sri Sivarama Digital Press, Langhorst Design and Print and Huizhou IDprint Technology Company.

In summary, Prokom members are ready and motivated for change. They have been challenged at the conference with a 123 scenario - to come up with three new things they are going to start, two things they are going to stop and one thing they are going to continue to do based on what they have learnt at the conference. They were also tasked with introducing these things within 72 hours of returning to their business.


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About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe


Konica Minolta’s journey started 150 years ago, with a vision to see and do things differently. We innovate for the good of society and the world. The same purpose that kept us moving then, keeps us moving now.


Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, based in Langenhagen, Germany, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Inc., Tokyo, Japan. With its unique expertise in imaging, data processing and data-based decision making, Konica Minolta creates relevant solutions for its customers - small and medium-sized businesses, large enterprises and public sector - and solves issues faced by society.


As a digital workplace solution provider, Konica Minolta helps its clients to identify and unlock the potential digitalisation holds and reach the next level in the digital maturity of their organisation by rethinking the workplace. In support of an ‘Intelligent connected workplace’, Konica Minolta offers cloud, IT, managed print and video solution services for remote working, collaboration, workflow management and automation and security. The company’s success in driving transformation is also confirmed by IDC, since the ‘IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Print Transformation 2020 Vendor Assessment’ stated that Konica Minolta is ‘recognised globally as a leader in print transformation’. Konica Minolta has been a Microsoft Global Managed Partner since 2021.


Konica Minolta's Igniting Print Possibilities offering helps printers, converters and brand owners maximise workflow automation to increase efficiency. The company delivers consultancy in all communication matters as well as top-of-the-line production, packaging as well as label printers. Its finishing devices create print products that stand out and create added value. Konica Minolta has established itself as the production printing market leader for more than a decade in Europe (InfoSource).


For an increasing number of organisations, success today is more than the narrow definition of financial prosperity – it also includes protecting the environment and having a positive impact on their workforce as well as the societies they are embedded in. With its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Konica Minolta has pledged to consistently pursue its sustainability and social responsibility goals.


The company has been repeatedly recognised for its rich history of social contribution as well as for working towards achieving the SDGs throughout its business and supply chain. Konica Minolta is listed among “2023 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” and received a GOLD Level Recognition Medal in the EcoVadis sustainability ratings for 2023.


For its remote services, Konica Minolta was awarded the prestigious ‘Buyers Lab (BLI) 2023-2024 Pacesetter Award in Remote Service for the Western European market’ from Keypoint Intelligence.


Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe is represented by subsidiaries and distributors in more than 80 countries in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. With more than 8,700 employees (as of April 2023), Konica Minolta Europe earned net sales of over EUR 2.26 billion in financial year 2022/2023.


Worldwide, the company has over 39,000 employees and is operating in over 150 countries.


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