The company

Established in 1991 to offer scanning and repro services, Scantech later diversified into commercial litho and digital print, producing "everything from a business card up to a multi-page sales brochure," to insulate the company from the demise of transparency scanning.

The Sussex-based, £2m-turnover company decided 18 months ago that it was time to shake up its offering once again. Its chosen direction this time was near-field communications (NFC), the technology being heralded as the QR code’s more sophisticated successor.

The aim
"With even the most established of companies recently going to the wall, it’s essential that printers of any size look to diversify," says sales director David Walker.

What the company needed, then, was to offer something just on the cusp of taking off, so that they could be one of the first companies to really take it to market. Following a client expressing interest in NFC, a bit of cursory research revealed that this technology, in its ability to supersede the QR code and finally make the integration of print and digital communications a truly appealing proposition, was the perfect solution.

"One of the many advantages of NFC over QR codes is the ease of use – you haven’t got to worry will it or won’t it scan," says Walker, explaining that an embedded NFC chip is also a lot less intrusive visually when incorporated into a piece of print.

"You also get much more specific data and metrics back," he adds. "You can see what browser and hardware someone is using, if the same user returns, and their location. Of course, you can get their location with a QR code, but only if you’ve printed the posters digitally so that every code is different, which can have cost implications that make data capture with QR codes unfeasible."

So NFC’s potential, it was quickly decided, was huge. "We don’t believe there is a business sector that wouldn’t benefit from utilising this technology, which is the exciting part," says Walker. "Firstly, there’s the various applications for cashless payment where the user swipes their smartphone across a contactless terminal to pay. Obviously, the big financial firms are already investing a lot of money into developing that."

"But for us the focus isn’t just on payment, NFC has so many applications," he qualifies. "We’re invested heavily in this technology to take it to the promotional marketing arena; in-store marketing, brand loyalty and adoption and opening another channel for the consumer to glean more information."

Walker cites the example of someone being able to scan a POS in a mobile phone shop to join a queue whereby they’re called back to the store when a sales assistant is available. "That way the retailer doesn’t lose out on business," he says, citing a second example of someone being able to scan a display next to a new BMW, for example, to access an app which enables them to view the car in different colours and with different features.

"It’s not just about retail though," adds Walker. "NFC can be deployed to enhance the experience at an attraction or place of interest – trade shows for instance."

The method
But obviously, understanding the vast potential of NFC is only one small step on the road to actually capitalising on this opportunity.

The first stage in making this an enticing proposition for customers saw Scantech work with its tag suppliers to ensure that these small electronic chips were really suitable.

"Standard off-the-shelf tags aren’t clumsy, but they are bigger than we’d like," reports Walker. "So we spent a lot of time, money and effort researching and developing a wafer-thin tag. With our partners we devised a totally unique tag that’s approximately 25mm in diameter, but barely registers on the scale in terms of thickness, so it’s practically invisible."

Tag technology as Scantech found it, also wasn’t as stable and resistant to interference as the company would have liked.

"If the tag is being deployed on an electronic device or a metal housing, there’s a danger that there will be interference compromising the tag, so we’ve devised a unique coating that deflects any such interference," explains Walker. "If you’re putting NFC technology onto anything metal, you need to shield it so that the tag will work properly."

Once the tags were developed into an incarnation that Scantech was happy with, it was a matter of writing the software to support them. What brands require is both the online platform, which users will access on their smartphones once the print is scanned, and a back-end portal for analysing scan-rates.

"What we typically do is provide our customers with a web portal that’s tracking the number of hits, providing access to a management console via the web," says Walker. "Customers can log in in real-time and see who is looking at what and when, and that will vary depending on what the application is."

"We have a raft of app solutions on the front end as well," he continues. "There will obviously be similarities within a particular sector, but most clients will want something bespoke, and that’s where our in-house IT department, headed by Mike Alexander, comes in – developing the client’s requirements into an application or applications to suit."

The firm also had to develop software to ensure the integrity of its own processes in producing tagged print. "The main thing we’ve developed software-wise is the tools to make sure that the right tag is going with the right artwork and going to the right location," reports Walker.

The tags themselves are applied to the vinyl or poster substrates through encapsulation. "The POS or print collateral is printed and then fixed to an adhesive backing or protective coating; the tag is effectively sandwiched between the substrate and the adhesive or coating and then these layers are heat treated to bond them," explains Walker. "If this can’t be automated, then we have a team of highly skilled hand workers that can adhere the tag behind the print."

The result
Scantech is now at the stage of officially launching this offering to the market. But already the company has a contract in the final stages of being signed off.

"We are working very closely with a number of companies in different sectors, not just in the UK," reports Walker. "We’re talking to various sporting arenas and concert venues, and it’s looking likely that they’re going to adopt NFC in some form. Applications will include ordering interval drinks from where you’re sitting, or perhaps getting a discount for a certain gig or event, or signing up to receive news about the arena’s future events, all helping to keep the user engaged and informed."

So Scantech’s decision to be at the forefront of this new technology, and equip itself for NFC ahead of the competition, is already looking like a very shrewd one. "We are extremely confident this is going to be a success," confirms Walker. "One of the key USPs for us is that we are one of the only complete solution providers in the UK. People can go and buy tags, they can go and develop the software and apps, they might be able to employ another supplier to write the tags and possibly ensure that the processes are in place to ensure the tags and materials match, but they can’t do it with one phone call except through one of a very small number of companies – such as us."

Exactly how lucrative this new arm of the business will be is, however, hard to predict. "Our investment in this offering has exceeded £100,000 and we feel we should see an acceptable ROI within the first year," says Walker. "We expect NFC to lift our turnover figures by at least 17% in year one, with projected growth to add up to a third and beyond in years two to three.

"But it’s hard to put a figure on estimated profits or ROIs at this stage in the process, as the major factor in making this all take off is going to be the acceptance of it from the consumers," he qualifies.

The verdict
Walker is nonetheless very optimistic about the future of NFC, and Scantech’s success in offering it. He is also convinced of the case for other printers following suit and finding a similar niche with which to insulate themselves from reduced demand for some kinds of print.

But whether NFC will be the right string for other printers to add to their bows will depend on the company in question. "It needs a company with excellent in-house IT, software capabilities and a solid understanding of the application to which it is to be deployed," he says. "We saw NFC as a product that offers great synergy with what we already do, but printers could get themselves into all sorts of trouble if they don’t have the right expertise."

Printers considering capitalising on the rise of NFC will also have to ask themselves whether they might be too late in jumping on the bandwagon. "It’s whether partnerships can be developed quickly enough," warns Walker. "We’ve been working around the clock on this for the past 18 months and we are only just about to deploy this out to market. It takes a lot of work, a lot of investment and a lot of thinking about the processes that have to be put in place. It’s been a steep learning curve for the business, but one we hope will enable us to be in business for another 21 years."

So whether or not the specific new trend of NFC is worth everyone investing in, is a complicated issue. It is one which will become clearer over the coming months as more and more brands catch wind of NFC and decide if it’s for them.

What the case of Scantech shows, however, is that staying abreast of developing technologies and trends is crucial in an ever-more competitive print climate. After all, if you’re the first to radically enhance the way another business operates or communicates, chances are your own business will also be radically transformed for the better.