Rolling the DICE: What Happened at the Indigo Users Meeting Part 1

By Cary Sherburne, Senior Editor

November 14, 2005 -- I made the trek out to Las Vegas this past week to attend the Indigo Customer Exchange (ICE) annual meeting, both as a judge for the ICE Awards and to cover the event for WhatTheyThink. As many of you will remember, ICE has been in existence for over a decade as a vendor-supported but independent user group for (now) HP-Indigo owners, and earlier this year, HP withdrew its support for the organization in a move that surprised many industry watchers. In part, that was what made this meeting interesting, because in the absence of HP, both Xerox and Kodak decided to throw their support behind the event and the organization as premium sponsors. We were interested to observe the member reaction to the Kodak/Xerox presence, as well as to learn first-hand where the organization is headed in the future.

This is Part One of a two-part series. In Part Two, we will take a look at the state of user groups in general in our industry—which ones still exist, what does their future look like, and what is their value proposition for both the users and the vendors.

Las Vegas: What Happens Here Doesn’t Stay Here…

… or at least one hopes not, in the case of the educational program offered at ICE, which was held November 11th and 12th at the Aladdin Resort Casino with 25 vendor sponsors in addition to Kodak and Xerox. Be sure to visit the ICE site to see a list of sponsors who generously supported the event, many of whom have offered their support for years.

The event, in its 11th year, had record attendance with about 150 individuals from just over 80 companies, representatives of the sponsoring partners, and a smattering of press. Over the day and a half agenda, in addition to the educational sessions, there was plenty of time built in for peer-to-peer networking and learning what the sponsors had to offer. HP, of course, was most notable by its absence. In fact, in the first keynote of the session, industry pundit Frank Romano began his talk by quipping that he had attended a magic show the night before, and the magician was so good, he made HP disappear from its own user group.

Romano’s talk was one of the best I have heard him give. He questioned why we haven’t been able to educate our market on the value of VDP since color digital presses entered the market in 1993. He said, “We are the third largest industry in the U.S. But the problem is, we are not speaking with one voice. We are too fragmented.” He also attributes the slower than expected growth in VDP to the reluctance of printers in general to invest in new technology, and the insistence of vendors on providing proprietary technology. He also pointed out that printers often fail to “walk the talk” in using the technologies they are selling, such as direct mail, to promote themselves. He added, “Why is the first thing we see on most printers’ web sites a picture of their building. Do they think visitors are going to say, ‘Gee, he uses stucco, maybe I will buy from him.’”

What all of this has meant for the printing industry, according to Romano, is a steady decline in the number of printing establishments in the U.S. since 1995 and flat revenues. Not coincidentally, he says, 1995 marked:

• The birth of the Internet browser and the World Wide Web;
• The wide availability of Adobe’s PDF;
• A paper shortage, forcing a faster migration to electronic communications for many companies; and
• The passing of the Federal Government Reduction in Paperwork Act.

A key theme in Romano’s talk, and in fact throughout the entire conference, was the need for printers to engage themselves in the multichannel world, selling solutions in a consultative fashion; to do a better job of promoting themselves; and to become the experts in how marketers can effectively leverage print as part of their media mix.

Kodak’s Barbara Pellow and Xerox’s Gina Testa delivered informative keynotes with their perspectives on how printers can grow their businesses. Pellow outlined the elements of an effective marketing and business plan for printers, and Testa talked about the resources Xerox makes available to its customers as examples of how ICE members can be more successful in marketing their digital print capabilities.

There was also a user panel on Web-to-Print Strategies, moderated by Rick Littrell, Chief Marketing Officer of MagiComm LLC. Panelists Steven Amiel, Senior Vice President of Strategic Content Imaging; Kate Dunn, President of Digital Innovations Group; Wilhelm Soll from digital print GmbH; and Pete Sweers, Director of Data & Imaging Processes at K/P Corporation shared their own experiences in implementing Web-to-Print and fielded questions from the audience.

The formal conference concluded with a talk by Mike Panaggio of DME who shared his thoughts on building a $100 million dollar business—a goal he says he is likely to achieve this year, his 20th year in operation.

Interestingly, Panaggio is a customer of both Xerox and Kodak, with four iGen3’s and a number of Kodak and Xerox black & white digital presses. ICE President Val DiGiacinto met Panaggio when they participated in a panel at VuePoint earlier this year, and was so impressed with his achievements and message that he asked him to participate at ICE.

ICE brought in sales expert Bob Waks for an afternoon of sales training, and held breakout sessions on substrates and finishing. There was also a production roundtable attended by three HP technical folks that have been long-time friends of ICE, the only HP presence during the event. . ICE also announced that its marketing tools project would be launched soon, and gave attendees a look at what would be available to them in the initial offering, including self-promotion post cards that can be customized via the Web and delivered as a printable PDF courtesy of an iWay Prime Web storefront interface provided gratis by Press-Sense. The post cards and other tools are designed to help members better promote their services to existing and potential customers.

Although some members had expressed concern about participation at the conference by Kodak and Xerox, most attendees were appreciative of the resources they—and the other sponsors—contributed, and attendees spent time learning what the sponsors had to offer.

Recurring Themes

There were several recurring themes through the session that are applicable not only to Indigo owners but the printing community at large:

• If you are not already in the Web-to-Print game, you are in deep trouble. This is the workflow of the future and it is now. It is not an option. You must leverage the Internet to interact with your clients.
• Printer, Promote Thyself! The best way to educate customers about the value you can deliver in helping them grow their businesses is to use the tools you would use on their behalf in promoting your own business.
• Selling print or responding to requests for quotes is not a strategy for success in today’s highly competitive market. That success can only be achieved by selling a total solution in a consultative sales approach and developing a partnership with customers.
• Leverage suppliers to help grow your business. Look to them for education, tools and support for marketing and PR, and for solutions that can differentiate your offering.
• Make sure you have your IT bases covered. If it doesn’t make sense to hire IT resources, then partner to get them. Off-the-shelf software can often be an excellent way to get your feet wet in Web-to-Print and other advanced services, and using an ASP solution can ensure the 24/7 availability of these services that is required in today’s market.
• Have written business and marketing plans in place and execute effectively against them.
• Measure, measure, measure. Measure your own business results against specific goals and help your customers to do the same.

The sessions contained lots of inspiration and information. For many in the audience, especially the smaller businesses, this embarrassment of riches was overwhelming, and several expressed concerns about how to get started. DiGiacinto reiterated that the important thing is to get started, and to take advantage of available resources, including networking with other ICE members and seeking help from ICE sponsors, all of whom are more than willing to help.

Kudos to Mike Vinocur, ICE’s executive director; the ICE Board, led by President Val DiGiacinto; and the 27 vendor partners for a well-run and extremely educational event. Members should be heading home inspired, enthusiastic, and ready to take their businesses to the next level.

The Future of ICE

Following the conference sessions, ICE held a closed door session with the members, followed by a Board meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to elect new board members and to determine whether to change the name of ICE to DICE … Digital Imaging Customer Exchange … opening the door for membership of owners of other digital printing platforms. According to Mike Vinocur, the change in name passed by a large majority, and the bylaws were amended to give the Board some flexibility to create new technology forums based on a changing membership. While marketing support and activities would apply to all members, the technology forums that might be added in addition to Indigo would be open to owners of specific technology platforms. Vinocur reports that the initial technology forums to be added are most likely to be Xerox iGen and Kodak NexPress. He says that most members felt that growth in the digital printing market was not about the technology anymore, and that opening the membership to other platforms would increase the learning for everyone.

What About HP?

Despite predictions of its demise, ICE seems energized and positioned not only for survival but for continued growth. It seems to me—and this opinion was shared by many at the conference—that HP will live to regret its decision to withdraw support for the group, especially in light of the support ICE is now getting from key HP competitors Kodak and Xerox. HP gambled in doing so, and the game has not yet played itself out. In the end, their actions may turn out to be a service to the industry by setting the stage for the birth of a vendor-agnostic digital imaging customer exchange that serves a broader audience than simply Indigo owners. Let’s face it, regardless of what printing technology is being employed, purveyors of digital printing services share a common need for information, inspiration and insight into how to market their businesses in an increasingly complex, competitive and multichannel world.

That being said, there was a strong message from the ICE (now DICE) membership that every effort should be made to reengage HP as a supporter of the organization, and the Board will aggressively look for ways to do so. Vinocur said, “We all want to find ways to work with HP, and we hope that they will want to work with us as well.”

Part Two: Where Are User Groups Headed?

Watch for Part Two of this series to learn more about what’s happening with industry user groups.

This report was written by Cary Sherburne. She can be reached via email at cary@sherburneassociates.com, online at www.sherburneassociates.com and by telephone at 603-430-5463.

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