A new year, a time for new thinking, and new approaches. While this January feels quite different than most, it is still that time to pause and reflect and define the goals for the year.

Healthcare companies of all types continue to face the brunt of the pandemic. The people managing the in-plant print operations continue to respond to dynamic changes in business conditions and the need for print, signage, and mail.

Many new inkjet production presses have been installed across all sectors of the print industry in the last five years. The overriding reason they are installed is because they print faster at a lower overall cost than toner and offset.

K-12 school districts’ in-plant print facilities have been on a rollercoaster since COVID hit. Many faced similar challenges last spring when the shut-down required an immediate transition to online learning. School districts were faced with the immediate need to print millions of books and documents to enable students to continue learning.

Does everyone on your team know all the plays? It’s Fall. It’s football season. It’s fourth quarter. And for many companies it is the time for budgeting and strategic planning. Companies have both formal or informal processes for strategic planning and budget planning. Yet, few people get excited about the time spent in the planning process.

I recently interviewed three managers running large in-plant print operators — Mike Lincoln, Colorado State Printer, Jerry Hill, California State Printer and Tammy Golden, Assistant Commissioner of Document Solutions at State of Tennessee. Despite significant differences in print volumes and approaches, all three managers expressed the need to assess, adapt and expand their services to meet the changing requirements of their customers.

When your leadership team demonstrates optimism and positivity on a regular basis it lays the foundation for and reinforces a culture that breeds results. Optimism and positivity are the underlying goals of many corporate cultures.

Someday we will reflect on how the world changed in 2020 with perspective. Right now, as businesses continue to adapt to new ways of engaging employees and customers, the single focus is how to get the work done.

Many sales teams are challenged in the current business environment to connect with customers and prospects. New sales are harder to find and harder to close. When I ask sales teams about who they plan to contact for referrals [always ask for referrals], often they speak about customers who buy specific types of print jobs.

Salespeople regularly complain that they don’t get enough leads. Most salespeople expect their company to engage in marketing activities to generate sales leads. This seems like a reasonable expectation. Yet effective marketing strategies have shifted to multi-touch nurture programs that take planning a strategic content approach before they hand off marketing qualified leads to sales.

In-plants are often the unsung heroes for their companies. They often operate in a basement or a remote facility without too many visitors. Their internal customers are the many departments and lines of business, like marketing, legal, compliance, customer service and HR that create communications for customers and employees. In many cases, the departments they serve have no idea what the print department actually does or how they do it.

Inkjet presses from many equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have delivered on the promise of lower cost, higher throughput, and better uptime. Many in-plant print operations attribute part of their success to their inkjet adoption strategy. Performing regular preventative maintenance is the key to drive uptime and excellent image quality.

Many sales cycles are stalled. Whether your team is selling print, services, direct mail, software, equipment, or products, the current situation has many sales cycles stuck and delayed. Your sales team may be hearing from customers that decisions are on hold or postponed. Or they may be hearing nothing as prospects do not respond to emails and phone calls.

In printing, mailing, and direct marketing companies, most production work is highly functional with distinct departments. There are separate units for data processing, creative design, pre-press, printing, finishing, mailing, and shipping.

As in-plant operations install larger and faster inkjet solutions to replace toner, offset and cut sheet printers, most would benefit from a revamp of their end-to-end workflow to achieve cost reductions and gain throughput efficiencies. Many struggle to change older processes that should have been retired with older equipment.

Companies of all sizes across all vertical markets are now in an uncertain and uncharted situation due to COVID-19. Many of you may have recently pulled out and used parts of your business continuity and contingency plans. And many of you have found gaps as staff have shifted to working from home.

The excitement and agony of college basketball and March Madness are almost here. I’m reminded of the many conversations with my sport-loving husband about his favorite teams and their strategies for success. Many discussions center around the ability to move the ball forward in basketball and football, or moving the runner along in baseball.

Do your customers know everything you can do for them? This is a question I ask at the beginning of consulting engagements. The answer is usually some variation of, “No, most customers don’t really understand everything we can do.”

Are you reaching your strategic goals? Strategic planning comes in many flavors and there are many methodologies to create a successful plan to guide companies to achieve their substantial goals.

Inkjet technologies have enabled in-plants and service providers to print more, faster, and at a lower cost. The big buckets for cost considerations when migrating to inkjet include assessing the capital requirements, changes in operating costs for inks and service plans, power consumption, and changes in labor and finishing.