WEEK 06

PRE-PRESS

Overview: Knowledge associated with workflow and colour management in the pre-press sector will become integral to multi-channel publishing of content. The skills to do this offer a critical area of competitive opportunity for the traditional print industry.

Pre-press is being impacted by consolidation within the commercial print sector

Pre-press opportunities are being strongly impacted by the changing structure of the commercial print industry. Margins in the commercial print sector are under threat and thus, any area where there are opportunities to drive out costs, this is being done. Offloading pre-press activities is one area commercial printers have targeted.

As a result, for pre-press organisations, new business models are emerging that involve both consolidation of existing pre-press activities and the uptake of highly localized production. For example, an increasing number of commercial printers have outsourced their plate making requirements to dedicated pre-press organisations. This has involved full re-location of pre-press activities outside the physical boundaries of the print businesses. But other models have arisen including facilities management services where pre-press organisations are located at the premises of commercial print operations.

Pre-press is also being impacted by technological convergence

There are signs in the pre-press sector that sales by pre-press equipment vendors are by-passing the commercial print sector altogether. In other words, the impact of technological convergence is enabling pre-press equipment vendors to sell their wares directly into large complex enterprises, where pre-press activities are undertaken on an in-house basis to support the core business of the organization.  There is potential for this trend to become more prominent, as the trend towards the development of enterprise-wide publishing systems accelerates.

Print workflow as a crucial area of competitive advantage

Technical knowledge of pre-press activities and in particular PDF workflow could prove to be one of the most important issues that need to be integrated into new enterprise-wide publishing systems infrastructure. For example, these new publishing systems may by-pass the need for traditional desktop publishing packages if ways of transforming workflow associated with complex magazine design (and which rely on highly structured content architectures) can be fully integrated into new and emerging publishing systems infrastructure. One of the crucial areas of importance here will be the management of colour fidelity across multiple media outputs.

KEY IMPLICATIONS

• Pre-press business opportunities are continuing to emerge as a result of the consolidation of the commercial print sector. This will involve both direct service functions as well as facilities management services located within large commercial printers and packaging organisations.
• Pre-press opportunities are also emerging directly with the large complex enterprises – with the potential that vendors will sell directly to large complex enterprises.
• There are signs that this trend has the potential to accelerate, especially if the trend towards enterprise-wide publishing gains momentum. 
• A vitally important issue in this space will be to do with resolving complex matters of intellectual property rights and copyright agreements. The resolution of such matters could have a large impact on whether services will be in-sourced or outsourced.
• Successful pre-press activities will become increasingly dependent upon being connected to the communication value networks of large complex enterprises via strategic partnerships and cost management value propositions. Such organisations may take up completely new opportunities in enterprise-wide publishing infrastructure.