Page 54 - Print 21 Magazine Sep-Oct 2018

Business
Transforming an organisation with
effectiveness for web to print
Web to print: growth opportunities
'Within a year of working with us, you will be entrepreneurial, confident in your area of expertise and amongst the top of your game – the envy of your peers...'
Technology companies are now considered fun places to work – and
if you want employees who are comfortable embracing innovation and have imaginative personalities, this will appeal. 'At work no day is the same. We are at the epicentre of the $8bn experience. We reward' initiative and courage, risk- takers and those who live in excellence...'
Be clear. Be concise. Don't frighten potential candidates with a job description that implies the work of three people. No one wants to be a beast of burden.
Remember, if your job description is boring, it will not attract top
talent. Talented people do not
enjoy being bored. Failing to recruit technical designers and developers will absolutely guarantee that your web-to-print initiative will fall at the first hurdle, as will a lack of training amongst your sales crews. Your personnel are your most valuable resource. Investing in them equates to a direct investment to your business.
Furthermore, failure to plan properly will hamstring your
efforts. Plan for every consideration and aspect of your web to print implementation – understand the entire process thoroughly, from workflows to invoice management. You are seeking to comprehend things from the level of your employees and your customers, so you can better support them and ensure that, when the sales come flooding in, your teams are ready to go.
Organisational transformation requires perseverance and diligence. Change takes time and is difficult to implement, but once you start, you will gain momentum. When that happens – as your tech and design teams gain some implementation experience and your sales teams have closed some web to print sales – things will become easier. 21
Ali Ridha Jaffar is the vice president
at the Syncoms Group and would be glad to help you with your web-to-print questions, get in touch by email at ali.jaffar@syncoms.co.uk .
EFI technology expert Ali Ridha Jaffar discusses important aspects about the adoption of web to print, as part of an organisation’s transformation from a traditional print business model to a more technically-orientated print business.
With a decent team behind you, you can reuse their skills for other activities like email marketing, during those quieter sales months.
For some personnel, it will be easier to hire externally than to retrain. Cast your gaze around your existing teams and think hard about who could be retrained, internally. You want to build a team that can communicate and rely upon each other, so make sure you have a consolidated, dedicated web to print team.
Retraining a sales team is much easier than attempting to imbue
your developers and designers with experience. For sales training, you will want to run through multiple drills and role-playing exercises.
Asignificant element
of organisational transformation involves identifying your key resources. For me, it was people: technical sales personnel, digital designers and web developers. Without these crucial pillars, there would be nothing to support web- to-print initiatives, regardless of however many sales I might win.
Technical sales personnel are a dedicated resource focussing on web- to-print sales. They can work with an existing team to spread their expertise as well as secure new sales. Your digital designers should have solid online experience, as they will be performing template and customisation designs. Lastly, your web developers have to
be completely au fait with HTML and CSS, at a bare minimum, as you will
be relying heavily on them to beautify your product and to perform the elegant customisations envisaged by your digital designers.
“Your personnel are your most valuable resource. Investing in them equates to a direct investment to your business.”
Once you have run through your programme, train and drill some more, until they have their patter down pat and are confident that they thoroughly understand web- to-print concepts.
Do not let your team make excuses rather than admit any deficiencies or gaps in their
knowledge. Print is now officially boring. You are a business that is pivoting to technology. Use this to inspire any applicants, including that spirit of inventiveness in your advertisements so it could look like:
54 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018