Or at least that’s the view of one player in the industry. Mariane Stefani is managing director of RedTie, a software developer upstart which has recently launched new web-to-print software. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that she views web-to-print as the future of the industry, but her route to market comes specifically from the print side.

RedTie is the sister company of CCS Digital, a commercial print firm in Northampton. A few years ago, it wanted a web-to-print product for its calendars and gift products. But Stefani explains that it was frustrating to find a web-to-print provider that had a cost-effective system. She also found many to be too complicated.

So the firm came up with its own system and called it RedTie. With help from HP, the software has been tested and is now available to buy, but Stefani has found the UK market frustrating to crack and she feels that printers are not clued up when it comes to making the big investments in IT. “Printers should ignore web-to-print at their peril,” she
cautions. “The buyers are savvy and a generation of 25-30 year olds will expect to be able to order print over the internet. But to ask a print company to change is quite a big thing.”

Canon Europe felt that it needed to understand the web-to-print market even more, so it commissioned InfoTrends to produce a report. Covering 13 western European countries, the survey provides an overview of web-to-print market opportunities. A total of 652 respondents participated from countries that included the UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Norway. Canon wanted an accurate picture of the market and wanted to get an idea of the future developments and directions.

“We wanted clarity,” says Mark Lawn, Canon European solutions manager. “We are seeing so many customers buying into the idea.”

Burgeoning demand
According to the InfoTrends report, half of all print service providers are expected to have a web-to-print system by 2012, representing a growth of 68%. Web-to-print volumes are also expected to increase by a staggering 264% by 2010 and will be worth in excess of £7.25bn (EUR10.5bn).

Currently, the leaders of the pack are in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Germany, Austria and Belgium are lagging behind, but the UK isn’t exactly up to speed on the new technology. According to the report, we are in the bottom third of nations planning to adopt web-to-print.

The statistics suggest that there is an untapped market for software providers although it could be tough going in the short haul. A total of 60% of print firms in the UK have no plans to deploy a web-to-print system compared to 20% that do. A further 10% plan to in the next two to five years, 2% in the next one to two years, 2% in the next six to 12 months and 6% in the next six months (see p6).

“The battle is not won, but it is certainly getting easier,” explains James Gray, managing director at Transeo Media, which distributes the Press-sense iWay web-to-print product. The system is currently the market leader in off-the-shelf systems. “A few printers are now reacting to the market. They see that their rivals are winning business from them.”

On average, 10% of UK printers receive their jobs through web-to-print systems compared to a European average of 14%. But that UK figure, according to InfoTrends, is expected to nearly quadruple by 2010. At the moment, 25% of the current web-to-print volume consists of variable jobs, well ahead of the 17% European average.

“The UK is slightly lagging behind,” explains Ralf Schlözer, associate director at InfoTrends, which produced the Canon report. “It is split between those who have no plans and some heavy users of web-to-print.”

Those companies that are using web-to-print systems tend to have developed their own software. Internally developed systems are the most popular in the UK with 55% going down this route. Printers have their web-to-print well linked to internal production or management systems. A total of 80% have a link to their workflow, 65% to MIS, 55% to accounting and 55% to stock control. It makes the UK the best linked in Europe with only 15% of web-to-print devotees not having a link to internal systems so far.

Being linked up is vital to making any web-to-print system work, according to Paragon Group director of value added services Jonathan Stuart. “Web-to-print is only effective if it links up to an integrated workflow,” he explains. “It is more powerful. There are two main benefits to web-to-print: it reduces the process costs of the business and the tolls can help drive growth.”

Paragon is in the unique position of having developed its own software and opted for a partner. For online ordering that requires templates allowing users to alter the text, Paragon linked up with ROI and used its Xralle product. “We think it’s the best available solution,” says Stuart. “Web-to-print using artwork generation requires special software and specialists. ROI are particularly good.”

A lack of IT skills in an organisation was one barrier for respondents in the Canon/InfoTrends survey. Over half said that IT skills related to the internet presented a challenge. Of those that already had or planned to implement a system, 55.3% had trained or hired dedicated IT staff to support digital print and internet-related activities.

Paragon may be a large commercial print company that has several sites dotted around Europe, but Stuart says that web-to-print is what buyers are increasingly asking about. “It is a new tick on the list,” he adds. “This is particularly the case when dealing with larger corporations. A significant proportion of marketing customers are not print specialists; they are procurement specialists. They are used to web offerings.

“The new generation of buyers is happy to see files online and onscreen. They want the whole process to be efficient.”

Perhaps it’s not surprising that RedTie’s Stefani believes that there are benefits to web-to-print. But her view is that web-to-print systems can keep presses busier. If a system is easy to operate, then a buyer is more likely to place an order.

Canon’s Lawn reckons more needs to be done to commu­nicate the benefits. “We have to help people understand the potential,” he says. “From the point of view of the end customer, there is a convenience factor. It takes out a lot of admin and the hassle of phoning around. From the print provider perspective, it allows the small guys to compete with the big guys.”                 

They may well be able to compete, but some respondents will need to know a definition of web-to-print. Job submission is the primary connotation, but surprisingly, a total of 40% said that they were unsure what web-to-print meant.

As the report notes, web-to-print has become something of a buzzword, highlighted by the fact that so many print firms make their decisions on whether to invest or not without understanding the true potential of the technology.

Those European firms that have made the plunge into web-to-print have found that their system is under-used and lacks sophistication. They also lack integration with internal workflow and administrative systems that their UK counterparts boast. Part of the problem seems to be the limited choice of web-to-print software providers.

“There are not many strong providers of software at the moment,” explains InfoTrends’ Schlözer. “It is an extremely fragmented market and there will be more consolidation. It’s meant that some print companies still have a very narrow view of web-to-print and are just using it for accounting or web design on the side. It’s unsophisticated but that will change in the future.”

But Transeo Media’s Gray doesn’t agree that companies are ignoring off-the-shelf products. “There are not many companies developing their own web-to-print systems,” he says. “Those that do tend to be larger organisations. A lot of printers do not have the technical IT staff. By opting for an off-the-shelf product they get year-on-year development. What they also get is support which allows them to concentrate on the print side of their business.”

Having the right IT skills is certainly a barrier. The Info­Trends report found that in Europe, having the staff with the right skills is a problem. Over half that had planned to install software, or had already done so, had trained or hired dedicated IT staff to support digital and internet activities. In addition, 53% of European firms surveyed, viewed the cost of implementation as a stumbling block to installing web-to-print.

Companies that have made the leap into web-to-print have, in the main, been happy with the way it has increased efficiency, lowered costs, improved customer service and met customer requirements. They also stated that web-to-print could extend their geographical reach.

At the moment, web-to-print is still in the ‘early adopter phase’. In Europe as a whole, only one third of respondents reported that they had deployed a web-to-print system and a further 20% were considering installing a system in the next few years. This would result in a 68% increase in installations over the next five years.

Currently larger companies are leading the way in adopting the new technology. About 45% of respondents with 50 plus employees have deployed a web-to-print system with another 16% planning to go down that route in the next few years. In contrast, only 25% respondents with less than 50 employees have gone for web-to-print and only 21% plan to in the next few years.

Those with the higher adoption rates tend to be from digital print specialists and pre-press service bureaux. A total of 29% of digital print firms had adopted web-to-print while for bureaux, the figure was an impressive 45%.

“Digital firms are definitely taking up web-to-print,” observes Transeo Media’s Gray. “They are in the short-run, highly personalised markets, so a web-to-print system allows them to get an order together.”

Those companies are the initial drivers of a market that is set to take off in the next five years. The InfoTrends report concludes that there is a significant growth opportunity. This will come about because the technology is becoming far easier to use and procurement departments are shifting to web-based services; printers will have to keep up with that change if they want to win more contracts.

It might seem like a buzzword today but in a few years’ time web-to-print is likely to become an integral part of a print business. It could boom further still if more consumers log on to order print from the comfort of their own homes. It’s certainly an area that can’t be ignored– you have been warned.