A Tide of Innovation

Dr Paul Twomey, the President of ICANN, the internet's administration body, stated in a recent paper: 'There is a tide of innovation sweeping the world. While we are offered glimpses of how the internet might evolve in the coming years, the last 30 years has taught us that we probably haven't yet imagined the long-term impact of the global internet on society.'

The printing industry is just beginning to realise the impact that the internet is going to have on its traditional business model. Needless to say, the strong and agile will not only survive but prosper, as new solutions to existing and developing problems are executed in highly effective and efficient ways.
Soon, the mobile phone will get a bigger screen and faster internet connectivity to applications and data in the 'cloud'. This will bring many more customers (and competitors) into the mix.

'Ten years ago, 100 million people used the internet. Today it is 1.4 billion.
By the end of 2010, 5 billion people will have a mobile phone. Many of these will be internet enabled.
The consequence of this growth and convergence is an enormous democratisation and devolution of decision-making throughout the globe, especially within the developing world. India alone has a mobile handset uptake of 9 million per month.

The expansion of mobile networks, combined with the latest smartphone and other internet enabled devices, are enabling developing economies to leapfrog traditional technologies and remove barriers to entry to the global economy for their citizens and businesses.'

Printers should not forget that 'data' can now be 'manipulated' in real-time, anywhere in the world. Even if it is printed locally, the margin will mostly belong to the manipulator, so leaving the poor printer once again as the 'manipulated'. It's so important to get into Web-to-Print and multi-channel marketing NOW, before the tide engulfs you.

'The internet has proven to be a deeply transformative technology in the developed world, as so it will be for the developing world.'

So new business models will emerge, new ways of delivering marketing messages will be invented, new markets will open and others will close. Printers should not underestimate the power of the internet, nor the speed with which it can disrupt conventional business models. New strategies are required and new skills must be acquired.

It's time to take your business online.

www.w2p.co.uk