Idealliance Business Tools Provide a Competitive Edge
The advanced equipment, systems, and services on the PRINT 17 show floor are critical resources for today’s visual communications and media companies, but they are only part of what it takes to achieve success in our ultra-competitive industry. Of equal importance is business acumen: knowing when, where, and how to invest, manage, and apply a company’s resources.
That’s why Idealliance (Booth 2067) provides both technical process standards and best practice business management tools, including the Idealliance State of the Industry Series, Capital Investment Research Program, and Leading Indicators dashboard.
Industry bellwether
Idealliance’s State of the Industry Series—an annual report and three quarterly updates—has been an industry bellwether for more than two decades, providing advance notice of key trends through in-depth surveys, one-on-one interviews, and economic/trends research. The series is sponsored by Canon USA (Booth 1213), and overseen by Idealliance Chief Economist Andrew Paparozzi.
“The challenge in our industry is not a lack of opportunity,” says Paparozzi. “It’s deciding what is and isn’t an opportunity for a company given its specific resources, capabilities, and circumstances. To make this decision, companies need to implement a rigorous, analytic process for evaluating their options, developing an implementation plan, and executing choices effectively.”
For many leading industry companies, the data and informed interpretation in the State of the Industry Series play an important part in the planning process. For example, the 2016 Report identified more than 20 products, 20 services, and 10 processes industry executives believe will have the most growth potential over the next two or three years—vital information for those planning their company’s course of action in the years ahead.
Investment insight
The Idealliance Capital Investment Research Program is an ongoing study of how, where, and why industry companies make their capital investments. It is sponsored by Canon and overseen by Paparozzi and Tim Baechle, Idealliance VP, Global Print Technologies and Workflows.
“Our industry is getting even more competitive as the internet and digitization continue to break down traditional business boundaries, and companies move into new products and services,” Paparozzi continues. “Whatever they decide to do, companies must maximize efficiency and speed, and minimize steps and touches. It’s not surprising, therefore, that our research found the most frequently cited capital investment objectives for the next three years are to reduce labor costs and increase automation (68.4%), develop a more efficient workflow (63.2%), and reduce process turn times (57.9%).
Real-time dashboard
Even the best investment decision is moot if a company cannot finance it. Keeping track of company financial performance is critical to understanding what and when a business can afford to invest—and waiting weeks or months to get such data can lead to missed opportunities and miscalculated decisions.
To provide companies with a real-time dashboard of their financial performance, Idealliance developed Leading Indicators, a web-based financial benchmarking program that creates a month-by-month profile of an individual company’s performance in areas such as revenue growth, productivity, and profitability. The program is administered by Paparozzi and sponsored by Konica Minolta (Booth 2031). There is no charge for participation, and confidentiality of information is assured.
“Leading Indicators not only offers an assessment of company performance in a dozen vital financial metrics, it does so in a timely fashion so the information can be accessed when it is needed to seize an opportunity or reverse a threatening trend,” says Paparozzi. “It can also present an instant snapshot of how a company’s performance compares to its industry peers, intelligence that can result in a real competitive edge.”
To learn more, visit Idealliance’s booth, call 703-837-1070, or visit www.idealliance.org/research.
