Keep it simple, writer suggests

Those supplying printing services should keep their offering simple, not bamboozle clients with complicated technology.

That's according to writer Jenny Roper, a regular commentator for Print Week. She explained that increasingly, print businesses are turning to innovative technology or web-based systems to facilitate their work.

This could "represent a dangerous turn of events" though, according to Roper. "Your average print boss... does not typically have the expertise to properly specify and manage a range of complex IT systems and as a result, print businesses will wind up with systems that are unsuitable... unnecessarily costly and poorly run."

As such, she believes that print specialists should stick to what they know best; for example advising on the wide-format printers to use, or the most efficient design for printing on A3.

That's not to say that print specialists should avoid technology altogether, but that they should recognise that they don't need to have an advanced, in-depth knowledge of how it works - or inflict it upon their clients, if they don't want it. Likewise, they should be able to explain the simplest benefits of it, rather than any complex technical details.

In fact, instead of focusing on the software surrounding their services, print specialists might want to focus on keeping their product as competitive as possible, as according to Sacbee.com, the market is becoming hotter than ever. Keeping things simple might help with this, as an easy-to-use service is often favoured by companies or bosses.