Features
Feed your head: tips for bridging the skills gap
Let's start by stating the obvious: being a manager is tough. Ensuring employees are happy, directing the future strategy of the company, having a good understanding of everything from sales and...
Don't ignore warning signs of staff strife
Disciplinary and grievance.' Two words your average print boss will be none too fond of, standing as they do for pretty much everything that could go wrong with a company HR-wise.
Lost in transmission: is FTP getting left behind?
An FTP site can be a confusing place to be. Even with service support acting as a guide, print clients looking to submit files can often still find themselves wandering aimlessly for hours without...
Business inspection: Why rivals benefit from being friends
Peer-to-peer networking isn't about giving up trade secrets, but mutually useful interaction
'Print's too volatile to not understand what you're doing'
Historically the printing industry has relied heavily on gut feeling. Just a decade or so ago some printers were still knocking up an estimate on the back of a cigarette packet and then securing the...
Interview: 'Belief in the vision carried us through'
Real Digital International (RDI) was the archetypal 'field of dreams' business. Its founders, Peter Rivett and Andy Ruddle, had a vision: that the future of transactional and direct mail was...
How the public can pile on the pressure
Would you rather print products that you can charge a few pence for, or products you can charge a few pounds for? Not, most printers would agree, the toughest of questions. Which is why, spurred on by...
Applying a human touch to proofing
Manual proofing has proved a crucial component in Pixartprinting's web-to-print success
Putting together a model manager
For some it might seem the most disastrous start to a CEO-ship possible. Day one and the new head of a large financial services company, let's call them CEO X, calls a board meeting and addresses, as...
Interview: 'No printer wants a Vistaprint customer'
It began life as a catalogue, survived the dotcom boom - and bust - and went on to become the world's biggest web-to-print business. Jo Francis talks to Vistaprint founder and chief executive Robert...
Learning to be a better people person
Say the words 'performance management' to a print boss and chances are you'll be greeted by a detailed account of exactly how they have ensured productivity on their latest treasured printing machine....
Are you prepared for the new tax timetable?
Rather than allowing employers to submit annual PAYE accounts, like they used to, HMRC is about to demand that they upload details every time they pay someone, starting from this month's payday.
Business inspection: Adding extra strings to your bow
The ability to offer a one-stop service to your clients is a powerful incentive to bring new skills in-house, but there are costs to consider
Label novices must learn to roll with it
There's no denying it: one of the biggest stories to emerge from last year's Drupa was that digital and packaging finally seemed serious bedfellows. But what may have surprised some, was the...