The crux of the issue
Michael, your last paragraph poses perhaps the most pertinent scenario for the next generation of print provider.
"Just one more thought. If a job can be clearly defined in specifications by a client - as in filling out a web form - it's a commodity. The lowest price wins. If you are the low price supplier, you get the job.
But as soon as the customer cannot fill the standard web form there is the real opportunity. Then you are not selling them what they think they want, you selling them what they need. And almost by definition you are not competing on price, you're competing on innovative product design."
It is in the inability of the customer to properly, or completely, fill out the web form or provide usable files for production that the opportunity for printers to distinguish themselves from competitors lies. As in my previous argument for the new archetype of print worker, I believe that digital pre-press skills combined with a CSR's communication skills is the perfect meld. Paramount to this however is the ability to actually complete the job. If a CSR/Digital worker has great communication and organizational skills but can not do the desktop work necessary to properly and efficiently produce a final piece, there is no product and no sale. On the other hand if a desktop operator is moved into the position of a CSR/Digital worker and has adequate communication skills and can create consistently high quality product, you have a sale. In short, I believe that the digital age of printing has consolidated, and continues to consolidate, skills into the hands of less and less people. Ten years ago the thought of a midsize shop running with 2 Pre-press employees per shift was ridiculous, computers changed that. The next stage of automation is fast approaching and those workers with computer skills and a willingness to engage and guide customers may be in the best position to benefit.
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