\u201cIt\u2019s all above the forces.\u201d Speaking at EFI Connect 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Guy Gecht took the stage to deliver Star Wars-inspired business advice for the document imaging industry. With more than 20 years tenure as the CEO for EFI, Gecht shared what he believes can help carry your business through 2016 and beyond.<\/p>\n
Nothing in business ever stands still, that much is self-evident. What isn\u2019t always self-evident, is that change is always rapidly accelerating. \u201cBecause we\u2019re connected, trends come a lot faster\u2026Things happen very quickly,\u201d said Gecht.<\/p>\n
To illustrate this point, Gecht used an example from media. According to his presentation, it took radio 38 years to reach an audience of 38 million. Television took 13 years to reach that same mark. Facebook? Two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only are the strong forces getting stronger, [but also] the weak forces are getting weaker at an accelerating rate,\u201d Gecht said.<\/p>\n
And the strong force he\u2019s hinting at is digital printing and online services, while the weak force is analog printing and traditional, unautomated processes. This leads us to\u2026<\/p>\n
Another way to phrase Gecht\u2019s second piece of advice: If you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, join \u2018em. Instead of being stuck in a traditional print mindset and fighting against what he believes to be the stronger force of digital and online, use their momentum in your favor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings are moving to the cloud, every device will be connected, everybody is holding a mobile phone, documents are going online\u2026This is a strong force,\u201d Gecht explained. \u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve got to face it; the online force is stronger than the print force, and it took a lot away from print.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what do you do? Gecht says, \u201cThe same tools that apply in Judo apply in business. When you\u2019re weaker, you\u2019ve got to be nimble. If you stand still, they\u2019re going to get you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gecht urged the audience to investigate integrating the advantages of online into your business, such as \u201cweb to print\u201d highly customizable jobs that are only feasible through digital printing.<\/p>\n
Gecht said, \u201cIt\u2019s very consistent, I would say, when I talk to customers. When they do short-run, when it\u2019s personalized, it\u2019s high profit. They like the idea that they get many jobs that are short, because the jobs can be priced higher because there is special attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLong-run is much more competitive. It\u2019s difficult to differentiate. It takes more time to setup,\u201d said Gecht. \u201cThe world is moving to be more personalized anyway. We\u2019re all used to personalizing our news, our music, our TV\u2026We don\u2019t like to consume a generic product anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you want to grow your business, you should be looking at more than paper, says Gecht: \u201cThere is a wisdom in business that says you always want to expand your TAP, or Target Addressable Market. Why? Because there are new forces and commoditization, and you want to appeal to a bigger market with bigger products.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrinting used to be all about paper\u2026but now it\u2019s starting to change. Some paper is still selling, like the catalog, documents, and valuable data\u2026but if you really want to increase your TAP, you look beyond paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
How do you make that happen? Gecht explains, \u201cInkjet is really an enabling force to do that, because inkjet is the only printing technology that doesn\u2019t touch the material. So when you want to print on many materials, you gotta use inkjet. There\u2019s no other solution if you want to print on a variety of materials\u201d<\/p>\n
Gecht said, \u201cThe future is the only thing you want to touch when it comes to the printing process. Anything else, getting the job, sending it to the printers, packing it, cutting it, shipping it\u2026you don\u2019t want to touch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe online world gave us the capability to go away from the manual [workflow]. Us humans sometimes make mistakes. We\u2019re not built to repeat a job all day\u2026and we cost more and more money every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to get people to do the thinking, and software to do the automation. And with [EFI\u2019s] productivity suites, that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re aiming at. Non-automated workflow is a trap. It\u2019s a profit trap, and we want to avoid it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gecht closed his presentation with a reminder about the dangers of stagnating while the world is changing at an accelerating rate around you.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst thing you can do is make no bet,\u201d Gecht said, \u201cNo bet is a guarantee not to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt\u2019s all above the forces.\u201d Speaking at EFI Connect 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Guy Gecht took the stage to deliver Star Wars-inspired business advice for the document imaging industry. With more than 20 years tenure as the CEO for EFI, Gecht shared what he believes can help carry your business through 2016 and beyond. Bet on changes in market forces to accelerate. Nothing in business ever stands still, that much is self-evident. What isn\u2019t always self-evident, is that change is always rapidly accelerating. \u201cBecause we\u2019re connected, trends come a lot faster\u2026Things happen very quickly,\u201d said Gecht. To illustrate this point, Gecht used an example from media. According to his presentation, it took radio 38 years to reach an audience of 38 million. Television took 13 years to reach that same mark. Facebook? Two years. \u201cNot only are the strong forces getting stronger, [but also] the weak forces are getting weaker at an accelerating rate,\u201d Gecht said. And the strong force he\u2019s hinting at is digital printing and online services, while the weak force is analog printing and traditional, unautomated processes. This leads us to\u2026 When facing a stronger force, use the Judo strategy. Another way to phrase Gecht\u2019s second piece of advice: If you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, join \u2018em. Instead of being stuck in a traditional print mindset and fighting against what he believes to be the stronger force of digital and online, use their momentum in your favor. \u201cThings are moving to the cloud, every device will be connected, everybody is holding a mobile phone, documents are going online\u2026This is a strong force,\u201d Gecht explained. \u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve got to face it; the online force is stronger than the print force, and it took a lot away from print.\u201d So what do you do? Gecht says, \u201cThe same tools that apply in Judo apply in business. When you\u2019re weaker, you\u2019ve got to be nimble. If you stand still, they\u2019re going to get you.\u201d Gecht urged the audience to investigate integrating the advantages of online into your business, such as \u201cweb to print\u201d highly customizable jobs that are only feasible through digital printing. Take the short runs road to long profits. Gecht said, \u201cIt\u2019s very consistent, I would say, when I talk to customers. When they do short-run, when it\u2019s personalized, it\u2019s high profit. They like the idea that they get many jobs that are short, because the jobs can be priced higher because there is special attention.\u201d \u201cLong-run is much more competitive. It\u2019s difficult to differentiate. It takes more time to setup,\u201d said Gecht. \u201cThe world is moving to be more personalized anyway. We\u2019re all used to personalizing our news, our music, our TV\u2026We don\u2019t like to consume a generic product anymore.\u201d Look beyond paper. If you want to grow your business, you should be looking at more than paper, says Gecht: \u201cThere is a wisdom in business that says you always want to expand your TAP, or Target Addressable Market. Why? Because there are new forces and commoditization, and you want to appeal to a bigger market with bigger products.\u201d \u201cPrinting used to be all about paper\u2026but now it\u2019s starting to change. Some paper is still selling, like the catalog, documents, and valuable data\u2026but if you really want to increase your TAP, you look beyond paper.\u201d How do you make that happen? Gecht explains, \u201cInkjet is really an enabling force to do that, because inkjet is the only printing technology that doesn\u2019t touch the material. So when you want to print on many materials, you gotta use inkjet. There\u2019s no other solution if you want to print on a variety of materials\u201d Don\u2019t touch what you can automate. Gecht said, \u201cThe future is the only thing you want to touch when it comes to the printing process. Anything else, getting the job, sending it to the printers, packing it, cutting it, shipping it\u2026you don\u2019t want to touch.\u201d \u201cThe online world gave us the capability to go away from the manual [workflow]. Us humans sometimes make mistakes. We\u2019re not built to repeat a job all day\u2026and we cost more and more money every year.\u201d \u201cYou want to get people to do the thinking, and software to do the automation. And with [EFI\u2019s] productivity suites, that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re aiming at. Non-automated workflow is a trap. It\u2019s a profit trap, and we want to avoid it.\u201d Remember, not placing a bet is giving in to the dark side. Gecht closed his presentation with a reminder about the dangers of stagnating while the world is changing at an accelerating rate around you. \u201cThe worst thing you can do is make no bet,\u201d Gecht said, \u201cNo bet is a guarantee not to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16365"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16365"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16368,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16365\/revisions\/16368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}