Up close and personal
Innovations and developments in print personalisation equipment and software continue at a pace. Andy Scott looks at some of the current offerings available to the print community.
Print personalisation software development has increased significantly over the past few years, with new software and equipment enabling just about any piece of printed matter to be personalised. As witnessed at this year’s Drupa, where new personalisation software was launched, crossmedia seems to be one platform that is setting itself up to be an all-encompassing hot-topic.
Variable data, especially in relation to promotional personalised matter, is another area witnessing key developments, especially as more companies look to make their marketing and promotional materials more target specific.
Business forms and documentation is another area where software personalisation comes to the fore. Companies are starting to drive more business with better and improved communications to their customers and potential new business. With businesses seeking kit and software to help with these processes that are easy to use and provide a quick return on investment, what does the market have to offer to them?
Smarter printing
Ricoh has a number of products that can help boost a company’s print personalisation kit and software portfolio. Ricoh UK’s value proposition manager for production print, Gareth Parker, points to PlanetPress Suite as one of these solutions. He explains it is aimed at the transactional audience that need to handle a variety of variable data documents and customised document workflows.
Now in its seventh version, Parker says PlanetPress Suite has a strong search and development (R and D) background, coupled with its ease of use, makes it a ‘solid product’. It also claims to have a wide range of additional benefits that can give flexibility, optimise production times and reduce the chance of delays.
“It is a workflow application that provides printers with complete control of any data, allowing them to create and generate high volume transactional print jobs,” comments Parker, adding: “It is recognised as a leader in its class and comes from a financially secure vendor.”
Parker also explains it offers a quick return on investment—within six months—can be achieved. He claims this is possible through its ability to create and transform business documents into better communication vehicles, with the addition of barcodes, graphics and the ability for the documents to then be printed on any printer, or emailed / faxed.
“We want to provide printers with a smarter working practice. They don’t need to be an IT expert, and can respond quickly with this application to new opportunities as they arise,” he states.
Another offering from the Ricoh portfolio is PrintShop Mail Suite. This is a variable data printing application that allows personalisation of any document within a few minutes. Parker explains the main difference between PrintShop Mail and PlanetPress is that PrintShop Mail focuses on data that comes from spreadsheets, such as Excel, allowing the merging of any design with any database and print on any printer.
According to Parker, print outlets such as Kall Kwik’s, and also universities and higher education facilities are also using PrintShop Mail to cut design time. This is possible through the use of its drag and drop import facilities and increased output capabilities.
Parker explains that due to its ease of use, training for PrintShop Mail is provided via web facilities, where customers can utilise web tutorials and also gain access to an online library of FAQ’s and web tutorials.
“We sit down with the customer and make sure this is the right product for them. This is an essential tool and additionally is easy to install,” he states.
Growing market
Canon’s European marketing group product manager, professional print solutions, Antony White, agrees that print personalisation is becoming more popular. He believes that variable data printing (VDP) is ‘more accessible than ever’ as most digital presses capable of producing this type of work and come with digital front ends or RIPs that have some sort of VDP capability built in.
“Unless you’re getting into very specialised variable data printing, such as for transactional print or datastream conversion, there isn’t really any specialised kit needed to provide print personalisation,” explains White.
He goes on to say the market for this type is continuing to grow as financial constraints bite: “Marketing departments, the industry’s biggest customers, are measuring the results of every penny they spend, demanding print service providers (PSPs) demonstrate the effectiveness of each printed product.”
In terms of developments in the sector, White points to the increase in demand for colour and the use of images within personalised communications. This in turn creates a requirement for PSPs to have design and prepress knowledge, skills and competence, as well as the ability to market these. He also believes the lean towards multi-channel communications is driving VDP forward, stressing the importance of a knowledge of web technology and data management: “Print volumes will progressively go online and you’ll have a combination of online content and personalised print. Canon’s Insight Report suggests this can be beneficial to digital print providers with 94 percent of multi-channel campaigns including printed communications.”
In addition, the increased trend towards the integration of VDP into web-to-print systems. He explains how many Canon customers that are investing in web-to-print are adding the option to personalise content either manually or automatically within pre-defined templates, so they can offer this accessibility to clients.