Successful W2P Story- From my associate Tom Thayer -
I have been managing W2P operations at my company for almost three years now. Before I arrived, our company had been on the fringe of the W2P game for a little over five years using Printable. When I came in we implemented Press-Sense’s iWay product.
I agree that out-of-the-box systems can certainly be a disaster. Especially due to the fact that most printing companies see this as an opportunity to “set it and forget it”. Usually putting an extra pre-press worker on the case to periodically manage orders when time permits.
If you want your W2P system to succeed, the main ingredient to success is a knowledgeable staff that you can solely dedicate to the operation. A W2P manager should be knowledgeable about print, IT configurations, web standards, and at least have some basic skill with regard to code.
Although it may be a shameless plug, RIT’s School Of Print Media breeds exactly this type of candidate.
Over the last two years we were able to customize the iWay product into our own system, because we were already informed on the technology as well as what is needed for a successful B2B customer interface.
Being able to customize our product and develop our own features has enabled us to take W2P to the next level, beyond simple stationery and into the world of highly personalized variable data projects.
Having a dedicated support staff for your W2P service will also help attract the bigger customers.
Another method I found successful is to use your contacts and networking skills to find out how others are already succeeding at this. Take bits and pieces, ideas and workflows, put it all together using your own philosophies for success.
I would suggest you lay a foundation with your existing clients. Get them using your system for simple projects like stationery and then get them asking “What else can you guys do?” and take it from there.
If you want to bring in serious money through the web, your system can’t just be something you did because your competitors did it already.
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.