Shadi Bakhour, General Manager, Canon Emirates, says the onus lies on channel partners to educate customers on the new trends and the possibilities digital printing technology can offer to businesses.
Digital printing is gaining more prominence over offset printing and an increasing number of organisations in the Middle East are opting for in-house printing. Channel partners need to undertake the role of the trusted advisor to guide customers to understand the advantages of the technology and how it can enhance everyday business.
The printing industry in the Middle East is moving away from traditional, offset style of printing and embracing the new digital style more aggressively.
Factors such as faster turn-around times, qualitative print runs and more effective control and security of the printing architecture are causing businesses to move to digital. There is higher demand for variable data printing, customisation and personalisation; businesses are experimenting with a variety of printing media following customer demands, which is therefore making them to consider digital printing for the various advantages it offers.
The cost for digital printing has dropped dramatically. Five years ago, the quality difference was huge between offset and digital, but now this gap has reduced greatly. In terms of print quality, colour management and customisation, digital provides users with HD-type of clean photo prints; it involves shorter print runs and is cost-effective.
Another trend that is picking up among organisations using printing technology for their businesses is in-house printing. Having a printing solution in-house (and not depending on a third-party supplier) is being touted as highly rewarding.
According to business, they can be assured to have their prints turned around quickly, saving on costs and hiring more people to do the tasks.
There is an increasing awareness being gained by the customer about what he can do with a printer, but there is still a lot that needs to be learnt and understood. Most consumers know the features of a printer, but they do not understand printing solutions and the various applications it can be used for and it is here that channel partners come into play.
Solutions can be in-house or they can be outsourced but it depends on the requirements of the client and on factors such as turnaround time, sensitivity of the application, security of the place. It is therefore the responsibility of a channel partner to weigh these variables and help the customers decide whether to go in-house or get their printing needs outsourced. The challenge in this market is that people do not understand printing media. The first question the end-user asks is how much the printing media will cost when ideally he should be asking what is the media he is buying, what are the advantages, will the prints look good on it, what is the drying speed and so on. This approach needs to change and it can be only done through education and awareness.
More than simply selling technology and products, companies need to sell the business value this technology brings. Channel partners need to tell customers not that they have the best products but how the best products can bring value to their work – help them reduce costs, improve quality and lean the business process. It is therefore im-portant to target businesses in various verticals not from the vertical point of view but from their business strategy and challenges point of view.
