Paparozzi on the State of the Industry

It’s one thing to be told what the state of our industry is, but quite another to learn how a print business can adapt to how the state of that industry is changing. On Monday, September 11, from 12 noon to 1:30 pm, in Room S102cd, join Andrew Paparozzi, Chief Economist at Idealliance, for “The State of Our Industry: What’s Happening, What’s Ahead, and What We Can Do About It.” Paparozzi will discuss three realities that are shaping the commercial printing industry’s performance and prospects, and how print businesses can make those realities an opportunity, rather than a threat.

The session will also cover trends in commercial printing industry sales, profitability, confidence, and other key business indicators, and offer Paparozzi’s outlook for 2018. Paparozzi will also present the results of Idealliance’s “State of the Industry” research into print businesses’ investment plans for the next three years, their capital investment objectives, and the skills they believe will be essential to sustainable success.

Key topics Paparozzi will be discussing include:

• What we really should be asking clients.
• How to calculate a “customer effort score” and why it’s important.
• Striking the right balance between past, present, and future.
• How to make critical business decisions more effectively.
• Taming the future by reading “weak signals.”

“Our industry is not simply changing, it is being redefined by history’s Third Great Economic Revolution,” says Paparozzi. “And not just our technology, but our clients and competition, labor force and critical skills, value proposition, and everything else that matters. This revolution exempts no one. There is no waiting it out. And although it is expanding our gamut of opportunities—both inside and outside print—it is also shrinking our margin for error. There are essential steps—‘must-dos,’ we call them at Idealliance—which companies of any type and size can take to capture the revolution’s opportunities.”

Andrew D. Paparozzi is the Chief Economist for Idealliance. His responsibilities include preparing the association’s State of the Industry Series, a set of timely, authoritative reports on the graphic communications industry’s performance, prospects and defining issues, and “Must-Do’s,” or actions to help graphic communications companies grow profitably. His most important responsibility, however, is being an observer of our industry, listening carefully to the issues and concerns of company owners, executives, and managers. Paparozzi joined NAPL, Idealliance’s predecessor, in February 1984. He was previously employed by the New School for Social Research, where he analyzed the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Stamp Program, and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he developed a reduced-fare program for low-income riders of New York City’s public transportation system. Paparozzi has also taught mathematics, statistics, and economics at various colleges.