Fulfilment services, including online print management and ordering, will also be important.

Speaking as part of an industry overview with IBM, entitled "The Power of Digital Printing", CAP Ventures associate director Jim Hamilton said printers needed to anticipate market trends and look for ways to improve customer relationships.

Bruce Otte, IBMs Printing Systems manager of production solution strategy, said the industry was in transition and trying to find ways to remain profitable.

He said IBM had started to see more targeted and personalised material being produced, with a number of book publishers moving from traditional print methods to print-on-demand.

Successful printers had started to turn to digital to assist businesses, he added.

Digital printing could help printers "build a platform for tomorrows e-business possibilities," claimed Otte.