During the event, which was sponsored by EFI, the audience voted on how engaged they were with colour management, with a third of respondents saying they rely on their customers to provide colour correct files, and only 7% said they considered colour management to be a unique selling point of their business.

A third said they manage colour internally and a further 27% said that colour management extended to their print partners as well.

Colour experts Paul Sherfield, of Missing Horse consultancy, Kevin Dunckley, technical director at HH Associates, Paul Lyward, managing director at Windsor Print, and Oliver Luedtke, marketing director at EFI, answered questions live from the audience on everything, from how often to calibrate a monitor, to addressing why advertising agencies seem to lack awareness of colour management.

Dunckley outlined the company's HH Quality Printer Programme, which audits the colour management processes of members and rates them against each other, while Lyward highlighted how colour management can bring in new kinds of business that offers attractive recurring revenues.

All agreed that to make colour management work, a print business needs a 'colour champion' with board-level approval to lead the initiative, and both sales staff and customers need to be educated as to the benefits.

The audience asked far more questions than there was time to answer, but a follow-up article will answer the best of these.

The webcast will be available for replay tomorrow at the same web address.