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The internet and e-commerce have become essential parts of everyday life, and are rapidly evolving into the channels used for the vast majority of business transactions.
To remain competitive in future, SME commercial printers will need to offer Web2Print (W2P) solutions, including remote publishing, online printing and e-business printing, to communicate and sell their products and services. Your customers will already be familiar with Web to Print and web-based systems, and well-used to buying products such as books, office supplies, stationery and greetings cards, and services including travel, data storage and cloud computing.
Which is Web2Print is so crucially important for you as a print services provider. It lets you differentiate your services from competitor companies, reduce your overheads, improve efficiency and much more.
Web2Print offers a vast range of potential benefits in the printing environment, including:
Web2Print solutions are fast becoming essential components of a digital printer’s strategies not just in terms of access, but also sales, marketing and design. The options it offers are also critical tools for overcoming the common burden of major increases in back office administration generated by high volumes of low run, low cost jobs. Most print provider’s administrative processes and conventional management information systems are suited to offset production and struggle with the demands of a digital print environment.
With lightning-fast speeds, simple operation and powerful in-line finishing, the AccurioPress range of high-speed colour production printers raises the bar in digital productivity – saving time, labour costs and space on your production floor.
Are you looking to hit the ground running when installing your Web 2 Print solutions? You need to start with exactly the right software. AccurioPro Flux Ultimate is a sophisticated Web 2 Print application that enables print service providers, in-house printshops, public authorities and the educational sector to offer secure, job ticket-based online submission of print jobs. End-users can then take advantage of this convenient service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Our experienced, knowledgeable specialist staff will answer any questions you may have, and show you how to operate your product. Our services function for your benefit, within a support system designed to ensure you and your company benefit fully from the solutions. We offer a range of different services, including optimised print services to combine your consulting; hardware and software implementation; workflow management to lower your document spending; and smart security services, to keep your business safe.
Web2Print lets customers comfortably order, upload and preview their jobs online. Print-ready documents can be provided in catalogues, while non-print articles can also be offered for ordering. The application checks whether files are printable, images provided by the customer feature the proper resolution, fonts are embedded, and transparencies have been included. Most Web-to-Print applications let clients customise pre-designed templates and upload their own content for automated print production.
Optimised for B2B print providers and in-house printing
Web-to-Print and digital storefronts are the print sector’s version of e-commerce, using the internet to commission print more efficiently and cost-effectively
Web-to-Print is an end-to-end solution for the procurement and management of print
Web2Print solutions let anyone procure print solutions from a computer no matter what their location, approve PDFs, and send it all instantly to the printer
It provides a quick and easy tool for customers to calculate prices
Accurio Pro Flux - the automated print flow solution
Enabling business through Web to Print
In today's networked corporate environments many of the internal processes are already web-based. So why shouldn't in-house printing be as well? Web to Print (W2P) offers in-house print rooms an exciting opportunity to enhance the efficiency, convenience and speed with which print orders can be placed and implemented. W2P enables print orders to be placed at any time because the print room is open for business 24/7. Besides, W2P makes significant savings possible – both company-wide and within the print room. As most in-house print rooms are run as profit centres, the economic advantages of W2P are particularly important. How your business will benefit from Web to Print in the print room:
How an in-house print room profits from Web to Print:
Cost-cutting self-service is one of the biggest benefits W2P brings to an in-house print room. Can you afford to miss out on this technology?
Why does it make sound business sense to look into a specific opportunity for growing your business? We offer a number of White Papers dealing with a wide range of topics, such as Web to Print, Variable Data Printing, Workflow Automation, Inline Finishing and Book Publishing.
How does this business opportunity fit into my existing operational setup? Our Assessment Guides, written by independent industry experts, will help you to assess in practical terms if your business is ready for a particular new business opportunity, for example Web to Print.
How have other print providers profited from a particular new business opportunity? Read how other customers similar to yourself have benefited in case studies from the different business opportunities fields. Then you can judge for yourself if the investment is worthwhile.
Want to ensure successful implementation while avoiding pitfalls which can lead to disappointments? A step-by-step Implementation Guide written by an independent industry specialist will enable you to put the new business opportunity into practice in your company. Because implementing a new business opportunity can be a complex business, of course, we also offer you practical support throughout the implementation stage.
The AccurioPress range of digital systems is designed to meet the growing needs of new generation digital challenges. Meticulously engineered for print providers and professionals, these systems offer outstanding colour reproduction and registration stability, as well as creating digitalised files from hard copies, efficiently and reliably.
The trend towards online and cloud computing will affect all of us sooner rather than later, as more and more customers migrate online and expect your business to offer web-based services.
The volume of e-commerce has grown exponentially across the world over the past two decades. Where the number of net users was just 0.4% in 1995, it had jumped to 34.8% by 2012, and was continuing to explode. The most mature market, the US, was still growing at 8% per annum in 2015, while China was due to overtake it in volume terms in 2015 and triple its volume of online trading by 2020.
The potential benefits of this growth trend for the printing industry, in the form of Web2Print, are vast. Web2Print lets Print Service Providers extend their range of print products, offering creative online solutions, providing services such as remote publishing around the clock, and streamlining job processing.
If you think you could benefit with some advice on how to grow your Web2Print capacity, please click on Contact Us to make an appointment with a Konica Minolta representative, who will personally take you through the Full Implementation Guide!
Web-to-Print installation produces revenue growth of 30%
A/S Varbas is a company in Oslo, Norway, offering a wide variety of facility services, including warehousing, packaging and fulfilment services, as well as a mechanical shop.
One of the firm’s business units is dedicated to offering digital print services to businesses in the vicinity. The unit has grown from a single-person print shop five years ago to a successful digital print service provider employing 6 staff and print volume of over 3 million prints per year.
The challenge
In the year 2000, Varbas was looking for new revenue opportunities. As Roger Kristiansen, General Manager of the Varbas print centre, says: “Growth in volume had levelled off, and we wanted to use the print production capacity we had in our print shop more effectively. We had a number of small clients, but were looking for bigger customers who would give us a substantial increase in our print volumes.”
The solution
During a series of conversations with Konica Minolta, Kristiansen learned about the possibilities of setting up a web portal, providing customers with a new, simpler way of submitting print jobs. This would also reduce the time spent internally on job submission processes. Mr. Kristiansen realised this would enable him to spend less time on the acceptance process and more time acquiring new customers.
While Varbas was considering this, Konica Minolta became aware that one of their other customers, a consultancy firm in Oslo, had decided to outsource all its internal CRD activities, and was looking for a print service provider to take care of its printing needs. This included reports and training manuals, which were too big to print on the local MFPs. The key need was that the print ordering process had to be standardised using a web portal, and that delivery was prompt. Konica Minolta introduced Varbas to the consultancy firm, and the two Norwegian firms came to an agreement about providing the print services.
The result
With this major customer on-board, Varbas implemented the AccurioPro Flux Ultimate, setting up a special web portal for this consultancy firm. Office managers from the consultancy firm were authorised to access the portal when ordering print jobs.
In the first full month of operation alone, Varbas’ web portal generated some € 10,000 in extra revenue; since implementation, print volume has grown to an average of € 12,000 per month. This represents approximately 30% growth in revenue Varbas did not have before.
Today, some 20% of total print volume produced by Varbas is generated through the portal. Even jobs submitted by e-mail or other channels are entered through the web portal internally, because it automatically generates price quotations, and links the administration to each print job. Within a few years, therefore, the firm’s Web2Print solution has become the backbone of its ordering process.
Future outlook
Thanks to the huge growth in print volume generated by the web portal, Varbas is now offering web submission portals to other customers as well. “One of Varbas’ other divisions has a large warehousing customer, a public service company,” says Kristiansen. “We’re now talking to them about reducing their pre-printed stock, and ordering those prints on-demand through a web portal, where all the templates are already loaded.”
With historic origins going back to the 18th century, the public University of Miskolc in northern Hungary has today evolved into a scientific centre of regional and national importance. Earth Science & Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering & Informatics still are the most important faculties. However, the fields of Economics, Law, Arts, Health and Music are also covered, offering a comprehensive university education that fulfils the requirements of the Bologna System. In line with this and joining forces with Konica Minolta as their sole partner, the university achieved a comprehensive modernisation of its printing facilities that includes convenient web-to-print as well as flexible on demand production of printed materials for students, lecturers and external customers.
The beginnings of the University of Miskolc in Hungary go back to the 18th century, when a technical school of mining and metallurgy was first founded in the area. Today, the university is the biggest higher educational institution of Northern Hungary and a scientific centre of great regional and national importance. The university has 9 different faculties, of which Earth Science & Engineering (formerly mining), Materials Science Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering & Informatics are the institution’s strongest. Since 2006, the university has been completely restructured into an internationally oriented organisation that focuses on students being educated within the Bologna System. According to its motto, the university considers itself “a competitive member of the European higher education region.” These days, the number of students exceeds 12,000.
The university’s central printing facilities (CRD) are run together with the university library and the publishing department. Print production is extensive and includes all documents and materials required in larger quantities, such as
In the past, this CRD relied on inflexible offset technology and was staffed with a team of 7 operators. The entire setup was time-consuming and ineffective as production was based on large offset print runs so that the extensive material quantities produced lasted for long periods of time. Consequently, mistakes could not easily be corrected, prints frequently became outdated and a lot of printed material was wasted, not even taking into account the huge amount of space required for storage of the prints. In other words, the entire operation was much more costly than it needed to be!
Eventually the decision was made to turn the university CRD into a profit center. The challenge was to transform the production unit into working more flexibly and productively, to streamline the order and production workflows, and to enhance the overall cost efficiency. Joining forces with Konica Minolta, two professional printing presses were introduced (bizhub PRO C6000 and bizhub PRO 1051, both with SD-506 finishing equipment).
The second essential change was a comprehensive modernisation of the university’s IT, enabling users to transmit their print jobs via a customised University Internet page. To achieve this, Konica Minolta installed AccurioPro Flux Ultimate. With this system the CRD is no longer available only for internal use but also to students and lecturers; and print services are even offered to external customers. The Print Room operates now as a profit centre for the organisation. With the new digital presses, all of the printed products vrequired by the university are flexibly produced in small quantities and in much better quality. The fact that new “customers” could be gained increases the overall print volume and makes the operation of the CRD economically more viable. At the same time, the entire operation now only requires 4 employees instead of the 7 that were needed before.
The solution implemented by Konica Minolta provides comprehensive answers to all of the university’s needs and challenges. By combining hardware and software from one supplier, the university is now only dealing with a single professional and highly competent partner who provides everything – and helps Miskolc University to deliver a modern and up-to-date service to lecturers and students. Besides the gain in flexibility and productivity, the improvements achieved include for example cost savings of up to 40% thanks to the reduced manpower now required to run the CRD. In addition, green aspects and sustainability are fulfilled by dramatically reducing the amount of printed paper and especially wasted prints.