Web-to-Print Educational Program Presented by WhatTheyThink and NAPL, Sponsored by Press-sense, Attracts Record Crowd

Attendees learn about innovative uses of Web-to-Print technology in commercial and in-plant environments

October 26, 2007 -- Lexington, Kentucky USA -- WhatTheyThink.com today announced that nearly 550 industry professionals attended a free printing industry educational webinar conducted in partnership with NAPL.  Web to Print: More than a Storefront, led by industry expert Barbara A. Pellow, Director of the Business Development and Custom Communications Services for research firm InfoTrends, was sponsored by Press-sense, the program will be held Wednesday, October 24th, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EDT (-4 GMT).

The session archive is available here:

http://members.whattheythink.com/home/webinars/webinar071024.cfm

“The high level of interest this session generated is encouraging,” said Randy Davidson, President, WhatTheyThink.  “Much industry research reflects slower than expected web-to-print adoption rates. But the record attendance perhaps reflects a change in that trend. This session provided attendees with solid, actionable advice from experienced web-to-print users.”

Pellow has proven to be one of WhatTheyThink’s most popular webinar hosts, with hundreds of printing executives regularly attending her WhatTheyThink webinars and accessing the archived material for later review. She was joined by experienced graphic communications services providers who shared their opinions and expertise, including:

• Andrew Swankie, Pre-Media Manager for R&R Images, Scottsdale, Arizona, a B2B provider of personalized end-to-end marketing services
• Cathy Skoglund, Manager of Operations and Business Development, Arizona State University Department of Printing Services
• Martin Richard, President, ExUnivers, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. ExUnivers is a B2C site producing customized sports cards.

“The U.S. Census Bureau reports that retail e-commerce sales (B-to-C) in the United States reached $108,729 million ($109 billion) in 2006, up from $88,026 million in 2005, an increase of 23.5 percent,” said Pellow.  “E-Commerce sales accounted for 3.27% of sales in the 4th quarter of 2006 with expectations that consumers will purchase 4.5% of goods over the Internet by 2012. Yet many graphic communications service providers have not made the move to web-to-print.  We are clearly in an era where web-to-print is becoming a requirement to do business, even in the printing industry.”

“Among other things,” said Skoklund, “web-to-print enabled us to reduce our turnaround times from weeks to days.  It has made a huge difference in the efficiency of our operation.”

“Our web-to-print implementation was fast and easy,” said Richard. “For our business, web to print has allowed us to automate our workflow and helped us ensure we eliminate mistakes and execute accurate billing. It also allowed us to enter new markets we had not previously considered.”

“Web to print has added a significant amount of convenience for our customers,” added Swankie.  “And our sales team is one of our biggest web-to-print users.  We have added all of our sales collateral to an online catalog to make high quality materials instantly available to them.  And because they must use the system themselves, they are more easily able to explain the system to customers.”

About Press-sense

Founded in 2001, Press-sense has rapidly evolved into one of the world’s leading developers of automated Business Flow solutions for the printing industry.

With an installed base of successful customers throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and a dynamic team that continuously maintains a clear understanding of the printing industry’s ever expanding and evolving needs, the company’s flagship Press-sense iWay™ family of products is recognized today as the market leader for integrated Web-to-Print and business management solutions.

The company’s integrated tools provide commercial printing and digital service providers with an elegant, yet comprehensive approach to creating internet-based revenue streams, automated production workflows, and business management tools that maximize production efficiency, monitor and reduce costs, and increase profit ratios.

For more information, visit www.Press-sense.com or call 1-866-257-9792.

About WhatTheyThink.com

WhatTheyThink.com is the printing and publishing industry's leading online media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. Serving a membership base of more than 50,000, WhatTheyThink.com also hosts webinars and live events as well as providing content through a syndication program, which delivers content directly to related websites and through RSS.

About NAPL

A not-for-profit trade association serving companies in the $100 billion+ printing and graphic communications industry, NAPL offers a comprehensive slate of business-building solutions that provides company leaders with the strategies, insights, and guidance they can use to make informed business decisions, minimize risk, anticipate change, and profitably grow their business.

For more information, visit www. NAPL.org.

About Barbara Pellow

Barbara Pellow recently assumed responsibility for the development and delivery of two new services at InfoTrends specifically focused on the evolution fo the Graphic Communications Market – The Business Development Service and Custom Communications Service. Pellow has served in a number of roles including the Chief Marketing Officer of Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group. In the role of Chief Marketing Officer, Pellow was responsible for all marketing activities for the division, including marketing communications, public relations, marketing intelligence and advertising strategy. She was an active participant in developing business strategy and helping define the group’s go-to-market organizational structure.

Prior to joining Kodak, Pellow was the Gannett chair in integrated publishing sciences in Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) School of Printing Management and Sciences (SPMS). She has also held senior marketing roles at IKON Office Solutions, InfoTrends, Xerox and IBM.

See more WhatTheyThink.com Press Releases.