If it was 30
years ago and your son or daughter, who just graduated college, said, “Dad (or
Mom), I’d like to join the family reprographics business, how about you set up
a new branch, across town, for me to run?”, it is likely that you would say,
“no problem, that sounds great, we’ll find a good location, one where we can
service customers we currently don’t have, I’ll acquire the equipment we need,
and you’ll be good to go”.
But, the
fact of the matter is that it isn’t 30 years ago, and the reprographics
business faces challenges today, challenges that most of us never expected to
be challenges. To me, the most major
challenge is “what action(s) must we take in order to continue being relevant
to our customers?”….. (and, for most reprographers, revenues from
A/E/C-sector customers continues to be their main source of revenue.) Per what I read in ARC Document Solutions’ Q2
2016 financial-results report, ARC’s revenues from “reprographics” services
(still primarily from printing plans and specs) continued to decline*. And, not because non-residential construction
has declined, but because A/E/C-sector firms are continuing to push the
envelope of “digital document
management, collaboration and distribution.”
Why “print”…… what does not need
to be printed! (*I suspect that
other reprographics firms are experiencing the print-revenue pressures that ARC
is experiencing.)
ARC offers
Skysite. What do you offer?
The larger
question, I think, is what do you know
about products that enable digital document management, collaboration and
distribution? ReproMAX (at least many of
ReproMAX’s members) offers DFS. RSA
Corp’s members have an RSA-developed product.
But, are these products sufficient to compete against products developed
by the non-reprographer community? Does
Skysite, does DFS, etc. go far enough?
This
morning, I visited Bluebeam’s web-site.
(As many of you know, Bluebeam was sold about two years ago – for $100
million (nearly 5 times Bluebeam’s annual revenue at the time.)
Do you know
what Bluebeam is? If not, you should
take the time to learn what it is …. especially, why it appeals to A/E/C-sector
customers and how it affects the issue of “print less” (I hesitate to use the
word, “paperless”.)
Read the
case study at this link:
While on
Bluebeam’s web-site, I visited the page that shows BB’s resellers; here are the
“reprographers” who are BB resellers:
-Lellyett & Rogers Services Co.
-Print-O-Stat
-MasterGraphics
-TPM, Inc. (formerly known as The Print
Machine)
-C2 Imaging (formerly known as C2
Reprographics)
Why are only five reprographers signed up as
BB resellers? What do these reprographers know that you don’t know?
When I
visited BarkerBlue’s web-site to see what BarkerBlue (a ReproMAX partner)
offers in the way of document management / document control services, I did
notice that BarkerBlue has a web-page where it talks about “platform integration.” BarkerBlue mentions PlanGrid, Bluebeam and
Newforma (among others) and says that “we help organize your files in the cloud
of your choice, updating your repository in PlanGrid, Box, Procore, Newforma,
Bluebeam Studio”. BarkerBlue also offers
DFS (a ReproMAX product.) Apparently,
BarkerBlue is not a Bluebeam reseller.
Take a look at the information at this
link. You will find it interesting!
After you’ve read what’s on that page, be
sure to click on the link (in the right hand side-bar) that says, “Peer
Exchange on e-Construction”. That will bring up a pdf file that contains very
interesting information about paperless construction initiatives.
Do you know
about these companies and what they offer to customers in the A/E/C sector who
are looking to improve business process and workflow, print less, and deliver
projects faster?
And, there
are other products I’ve not listed!
I’m
certainly not (by any stretch of imagination) an expert on document management,
project collaboration or digital distribution.
But, I do know that there’s a push in the A/E/C sector to expand the use
of software (cloud-based or otherwise) that will enable A/E/C sector customers
to print less.
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On September
1st, the IRgA changed its name to the Association of Printing and Data Solutions Professionals. If you’re a
reprographer, what “data solutions” do you offer? And, if your firm does offer “data solutions”, are your solutions relevant, competitive, compelling? Just a suggestion to the APDSP Board –
compile a thorough list of digital document management, collaboration and distribution”
products available on the market and then do a write-up to explain what each
does. APDSP members will benefit from
knowledge of those products. And, with
knowledge, when you are out in the field having discussions with A/E/C sector
customers (and prospects), you will be able to hold your own. And, if you’ve developed your own data solutions product(s) and/or are a reseller for another (or others), that might
help you keep your relationships and develop new ones.
Reprographics 101 