Transformation—the Opportunity to Reinvent Yourself
by Oliver Cynamon
For many customers, printed paper is on the list of media threatened with extinction. Does this mean communication will become entirely digital? No. It is and will remain hybrid. Print will continue to play a role in the future, but not everywhere. That’s why now is the best time to address a fundamental transformation of your own business model.
Printing is a capacity-utilization business. The capital-intensive, high-performance machines in our industry need work to generate contribution margins. For customers, however, printing is a service they use only when needed. And that need is shrinking. It’s not just the retail sector that’s shifting from brochures to pixels. The shift in budgets from print to digital is sweeping through nearly all segments, thereby shaking the foundations of a traditional business model. Customers no longer have much faith in print—or in its sustainability. How wrong they are.
For several years now, the printing industry has been responding to this change. More and more companies are investing in digital printing to produce faster, more flexibly, and with greater customization. Automation and digitization are gaining importance as ways to reduce costs. Online portals, web-to-print solutions, and AI agents are being deployed to improve sales efficiency and, at the same time, enhance customer service. The industry is demonstrating its adaptability. But is optimizing the existing business model the solution to the continuing decline in print volume in the coming years?
As valid and important as these measures are in the short and medium term, they essentially fall short. After all, if large parts of the market are at risk of disappearing in the coming years, the real challenge is not technological but strategic in nature. The ability to transform is becoming a decisive competitive factor. It’s about building a resilient business model and the ability to adapt quickly and continuously in order to tap into new sources of revenue and remain profitable in the long term.
Imagine today is Day 1. You’re starting your business with all the knowledge and experience you’ve gained over the past decades. What would you do? What wouldn’t you do? What would you do instead? These are the fundamental questions that mark the beginning of a transformation process.
But why should you be addressing these questions right now? Because your customers are going through the same process of change as you are, and they’re looking for new solutions to new problems. These solutions can come from you—or from others. That’s why now is the best time to reinvent yourself—for your own customers and those of others. Here are 5 practical tips to help you do just that:
1. Foster understanding
Transformation is a complex process and doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and thorough preparation. A rigorous analysis of the current situation is a prerequisite for this. Based on these insights, the goal is to make everyone in the company aware of the need for transformation, to convey the purpose behind it, and to foster as much understanding as possible for the change taking place within the company.
2. Find Your North Star
In this second phase, let your ideas run free. Formulate a vision and set some initial, broad goals. This is always easier said than done. Our tip: It’s best to start by breaking away from the status quo. Don’t worry about what you’re doing today. Instead, figure out what fundamental capabilities your company possesses that make it special. From there, determine which customers need these capabilities and in what situations—and think outside the box. Discover new markets that you don’t currently serve but where your capabilities are in demand. Summarize everything into a clear, achievable vision of the future that provides direction for the company. That is your North Star.
3. Start at the edges
Customers don’t buy products—they buy solutions, especially in the B2B sector. The more complex the problem, the better. Just think about the impact that PPWR in the packaging sector or the digital product passport will have on your customers’ internal processes. Many companies are grappling with these or other issues and are looking for partners who promise and deliver solutions. Begin your journey toward your North Star by thinking through these or similar challenges on the periphery of your core business and developing solutions that offer real added value. It may sound cliché, but it isn’t. There are remarkable examples in our industry of companies that, thanks to their solution-oriented approach, are still seeing significant double-digit revenue growth even in the current challenging phase.
4. Start small and fast
When it comes to transformation, perfection is the ultimate enemy. So start with a solution for a specific customer group. Develop an initial prototype quickly and cost-effectively. Go to your customers and test their reaction to it. If the feedback is negative, scrap it. If it’s positive, begin final development. Make sure to design the solution to be scalable so you can sell it to many customers without much additional effort. IT and digitalization are of enormous help here. Regularly measure the success of the new solution and make adjustments if the results aren’t satisfactory. Embed the solution within the company. This may require new roles or processes and thus change the face of the organization. Once the solution is successful on the market, the process starts all over again.
5. Work on the company, not in the company
Transformation is not a one-time event—every day is Day 1. Nor is transformation a project with a fixed end date; rather, it is an ongoing process that requires consistent leadership and management. Therefore, set aside sufficient management capacity and resources, and consciously make time for the further development of your business model. After all, in the end, it is not the best technology that determines success, but the ability to continually redefine your own place in the market.
Peter F. Drucker, a pioneer of management theory, once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Take advantage of the opportunities that transformation offers and set the course for a successful future in these volatile times.
