Reading the news story about EFI's latest quarterly results (that HQ sale deal sounds like a kerr-ching moment for the business), reminded me about something noteworthy CEO Guy Gecht said at Drupa. He's a hugely entertaining speaker and had the room falling about in laughter at various points in his presentation. But underlying it all was a serious point about "the window of opportunity". This window is constantly moving, and successful companies move with it, while also looking ahead to where it will go next. Gecht drew a powerful analogy by pointing out that if one were to look at the internet through a window that showed, say, AOL and Netscape, then your reaction would probably be "the internet is dying". And the same applies in the printing industry. If you just look at certain parts of it then you'd think the whole industry was on its knees. Hence I can speak to two different print bosses in a morning, and one of them has never known trade so bad while the other has just recorded a third consecutive record month. "The window of opportunity is shifting and people who didn't renew themselves are dying. But if you are in the window of opportunity you're doing quite well," Gecht said. EFI is striving to make sure the company, and its customers, are in the right pane. That's why the firm has reduced its reliance on Fiery servers, where it's not master of its own destiny, and shifted into high-growth areas of inkjet printing. When you look out of the window, what do you see?
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