VDP: Web-to-Print In the Real World

Properly implemented, Web-to-print applications essentially move printers from a short-run sell to a long-term program sell. This is yet another transition printers are having a difficult time making. According to “Digital Printing 2007: A Vendor Perspective” (The Industry Measure, 2007), only 1 percent of commercial printers see “changes in sales compensation models to reflect program selling/business development rather than traditional sales” as a top challenge to their businesses. The extreme disconnect between the critical need for this selling model and printers’ nearly non-existent level of concern about it shows how severe this challenge really is—more severe than printers realize.