What do you think will be the greatest opportunity for, and threat to, the print industry this year?

Looking at the industry over all, the past two years have been tough – and this continues to be the case. The challenges that the industry faced in 2011 continue to affect demand, finance availability and print generally, which has meant that everyone in the industry has had to update their plans. Despite the challenges, there are still signs of optimism and people are still investing and looking to grow their business.

2012 is going to be about developing realistic plans to help customers grow their business. In changing and challenging times, you need to be flexible. That’s what we’re trying to achieve ourselves and help our customers to achieve.

What do you believe is the most under-recognised aspect in printing that is likely to gain more prominence in 2012?
In 2012, print really needs to reaffirm its position as an integral part of the media mix and print service providers need to work to demonstrate print’s return on marketing investment. The fact that cross-media communications are becoming more and more prominent in the marketing mix presents a good opportunity to do this. Print buyers are increasingly demanding bespoke, personalised campaigns from their print suppliers, and the growing number of cross-media tools means that print service providers are in an ideal position to expand their service offerings and produce even more personalised print.

What new technology do you expect to see at Drupa 2012 in your sector?
I don’t think we’re going to see any landmark changes in digital production print technology at Drupa. You will see some new updates and new technology, and it will be interesting to see what those are, but I don’t think this will specifically be a ‘technology’ show. For Canon, certainly, it will be more than just printing.

What new technology do you expect to see at Drupa 2012 in other sectors?
All developments will either support differentiation and added value for print service providers or offer gains in efficiency and cost-advantage. Considering this, I expect we’re likely to see everything from new applications in 3D printing and printed electronics integrated into print through to new workflow software to further optimise offset production.

What do you think the main trends will be at Drupa 2012 in your sector?
Technology is reaching the point where you buy a machine and it prints well, so you need to think beyond that. For me, you need to step beyond the technology and look at customer relationships and how people interact in the industry value chain. Businesses need to find opportunities to deepen those relationships and I think there’ll be a big focus on that at Drupa. Additionally, there’ll be an emphasis on how print works with other parts of the marketing communications mix to deliver return on marketing investment.

What trends do you think will emerge at Drupa 2012 in any other sectors?
Around the world, runs are getting shorter and demand for faster turnarounds is growing, so we’ll no doubt see increased automation and more efficiency in workflows and hardware alike across most sectors.

What do you hope to get out of Drupa 2012?
Drupa will be our main event in 2012 and we’re working with our colleagues at Océ on the preparations for that. Our focus will be on helping our customers to see the bigger picture by providing them with research and insight into what is important to their customers – the print buyers of 2012 and beyond. Our goal is to help them better understand their customers and with our unmatched portfolio, our confidence in the future of print and our investment in helping our customers to develop their businesses, we’re uniquely positioned to do that.

What can the industry do to increase its profile this year?
The industry needs to look at customer relationships and businesses need to look for opportunities to deepen these by, for example, inspiring and supporting their customers with additional valuable services that will have a positive impact on their business. This is the time for print to stake its claim as a vital part of the media mix and to prove itself with a measurable return on investment. It’s up to us as Canon and to others in the industry to make sure that people understand the opportunities that exist in print.

What will you do differently this year?
Lots! Many of us have never experienced a year of such unexpected challenges as 2011 offered. But people are still doing good business and there are still successful companies out there, so we will of course continue to support them by helping them to understand their customers and find new ways to do business. In 2012, we will focus more on customer successes and on using these as real-life customer examples to inspire other Canon customers. We’re working to remain flexible because it’s impossible to predict what will happen in the coming year.