What are your new year’s resolutions for your business next year?

To maintain the double digit growth we’ve had for the last three years.

 What’s at the top of your Christmas wish list?

For BMC to secure a strategic acquisition opportunity. On a personal note, that my three young sons sleep in until 6am on Christmas Day, although I stand more chance of waking to find a gift-wrapped red Ferrari parked on my drive, quite honestly!

What business or technology trend do you think 2013 will be remembered for?

After countless false dawns, 2013 was, finally, ‘Year of Mobile’.

What do you think will represent the single biggest opportunity for printers in 2014 and why?

Appreciating that print is still a very important part of the marketing mix and any multi-channel campaign. Print is evolving in its uses. Our collective role is to ensure clients dont forget the power of the printed medium.   

What do you think will represent the single biggest threat for printers in 2014 and why?

Each year at BMC we host a supplier forum. This year, as part of that, we conducted a survey with our strategic supply chain partners.  They told us that the biggest threats are ‘price pressure’, ‘downturn in spend’, and ‘the ability to invest’. 

What’s the one thing that the industry should do more of, or do better, in 2014?

Remember that the best and most cost-effective source of growth is almost always right under your nose, in the form of existing clients.

What was your highlight of 2013?

On a personal level, the birth of my third son, Joshua.  He is an absolute angel! For the business, BMC being recognised in the IAOP ‘The Global Outsourcing 100’ list for the first time, and the (much-needed!) revamp of the BMC website earlier this year, which we’re hugely proud of.

What are your hopes for 2014?

That companies will stop merely talking the talk about customer focus being their top priority and start walking the walk. The emergence of customer experience as a discipline in its own right, gives me some grounds for optimism.

What was the most important thing that you learned in 2013?

That multi-channel marketing has arrived, which is good news for print, in that this new approach is forcing marketers to review all print and digital channels. And that social media marketing is here to stay. It’s no longer an option for companies to sit on the sidelines thinking that the hype will eventually blow itself out.

What will you do differently in 2014?

From a business point of view, nothing – it’s working! From a personal point of view, try to get the work/life balance a bit more balanced! When my oldest son came home from school the other day and said that his friends asked ‘do you actually have a mummy, Alex?’  that did tug at the heart strings!

What does the industry need to do differently in 2014?

Think like a client, and focus on ROI. Don’t sell on price. Focus more on ideas about how print can be used effectively in campaigns to deliver exceptional and measureable results. 

What will you be having for Christmas dinner?

Assuming I complete the budget process and get through the scrum at Waitrose, all the traditional calorific fair: turkey, Christmas pudding and one too many glasses of vino!