Crystal Ball Gazing

The afternoon wrapped up with crowd favorite, Andy Paparozzi, senior vice president and chief economist for NAPL, and his offering of “A Future View of the Industry”.

Paparozzi told the group, “Our industry really has changed. PSPs are getting involved in the process earlier and staying longer. According to studies, nearly 40 percent of revenue is from something other than lithography. We are offering services we didn’t even consider 10 years ago. And we will offer services 10 years from now that don’t exist today.”

He pointed out that sales grew between one and three percent this year—the first real growth we’ve seen since 2007. “We have a lot of ground to make up, but we will start making it up this year,” he assured the audience. “The economy will grow and will continue to grow, but we must prepare for this recovery. We have to ask: What are we doing that is new? What are we doing that is innovative? We can no longer use being busy as an excuse for not getting better.”

Remember, it's “print-and”, not “print-or”, he cautioned. Complement your core print capabilities with new businesses. Your customers communicate in different ways; be sure you can as well. There is opportunity out there, but it’s not in the same place and it's not the same things.

“We are at the start of a meaningful upturn, but there is nothing fair about this upturn,” Paparozzi stated. “It will be discriminating. It will reward those best prepared and punish those who aren’t. The recovery will be heartless in dividing the prepared from the unprepared.”

Relax and Refresh

After absorbing all that information, many attendees took to the links Wednesday afternoon for the golf outing at The Rookery at Marco. No doubt, the excellent venue, meaty information, and outstanding networking opportunities will draw attendees back to Vision 3 Summit next year. The 2013 conference will be held March 10-13 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, AZ.