While in some respects it is still an evolving technology, certainly inasmuch as the speed of developments coming on stream, so far at least, the demise of litho still seems a long way off.

There can be little argument that digital technology has revolutionised print and will continue to do so, by enabling new applications and creating new markets. But in the majority of cases, it’s still a complementary technology to litho rather than the ringer of the latter’s death knell.

However, one important, often overlooked, aspect of the digital revolution is its role in levelling the industry’s playing field.

The fact that a print business can take its baby steps into digital with an investment of a few thousand pounds and, with a little luck, the right customers and unwavering belief in the business, grow at an exponential rate, means that it is highly likely that many of what will be the biggest print businesses in another 20 years are quite probably yet to even be born.

Because whereas in the past it would typically take a minimum of 20 or 30 years to organically build even a respectably sized print business, digital has rapidly accelerated every business’s growth potential to breakneck speeds.

It’s not just printers that have been empowered by digital either. Access to professional print is now very much within the grasp of the consumer, as illustrated by the emergence of companies like Photobox (see page 14).

It’s this two-pronged democratisation of print that has for me represented digital’s biggest impact on the industry, and perhaps, rather than being labelled the killer of litho, will be its lasting legacy.