How business intelligence software solutions could transform the printing industry

The term ‘Business Intelligence’ (BI) refers to a range of software solutions for analysing business data, which enable companies to manage their entire processes more easily. What is the current state of development of these solutions, what advantages do they offer, and how important is human control in their use? 

Since the Industrial Revolution, the industry has moved in only one direction: higher-quality products, improved services and a better quality of life. The printing industry, as we knew it just a few years or decades ago, has evolved into an industry of print and visual media communication. Everything we see, read and feel stems from what we develop and produce together with our customers for their communication strategies relating to their brand identities, products and services. It’s all about consumers, their entertainment and their everyday needs. This industry has the privilege of transforming our daily habits – from the moment we are born – into images, emotions and communication, and of offering products tailored to them. And it often has the privilege of recognising these trends and becoming part of them before they reach the wider public! Day after day, there are new productions, jobs and projects we’re working on. And that’s the beauty of our industry.

Just as we grow with ever-new skills and knowledge, so too does our industry constantly evolve – to improve production, shorten production times and thus respond more quickly to our customers, whilst simplifying processes for them and for us. We have a fleet of machinery that is constantly being updated, based on ever-improving technology and, increasingly, on digitalisation. Every year, the technologies used by print service providers open up new opportunities for our further development. This enables us to work more efficiently, quickly and easily – and our businesses grow.

Here at DGI (Digital Graphics Group International), we are keeping pace with this development and experiencing it at the very forefront. However, we need further tools to make faster progress and to understand in real time what is happening in the industry, how we can serve our customers even better and how we can support our teams’ work even more effectively. We call our digitalisation initiative BISS (Business Intelligence Software Solutions). It helps us create a better world for everyone involved.

The ‘internal’ BISS systems help us to fully manage our production – from order intake, through production planning and quality control, right through to packaging and dispatch, including the tracking of deliveries. There are countless solutions that provide us with the valuable information we need to manage the entire process, implement corrective measures and find new solutions for continuous improvement in the future.

The ‘external’ BISS systems connect us with our customers. They offer them better and simpler ways to place their orders, track the process and stay up to date. They give them a sense of control over the process. We can offer open portals where customers feel ‘right at home’ and can engage with us more easily by uploading their files. We check their order details immediately and automatically, enabling us to print faster and to a higher standard. We track our customer retention rates and our customers’ reviews. We provide them with comprehensive, data-driven insights into their communication tools and channels across all their shops. Where are their print materials distributed and how are they being used? To what extent can they be adapted immediately should strategic measures become necessary to ensure our customers’ success in their markets?

Digitalisation is the key factor in all these areas. Within these three areas – technology, internal and external – BISS manages all our business processes and enables us to make better management decisions. We are gaining control over our production, our customer relationships and our efficiency. Companies that do not recognise this as a priority will not be able to position themselves optimally for the future. Furthermore, they will lose their ability to grow and stand out from the competition.

However, all of this relies on human skills and decision-making. Digitalisation will not replace people’s work or intelligence. But it will generate new jobs, new opportunities and new professions.

Having digitalised the industrial processes and production technology that are making our suppliers ever more intelligent – and thus providing us with better, more innovative solutions – we are now digitising our knowledge – with the aim of making better decisions, managing our businesses more effectively, further optimising our workflows and interacting more effectively with our teams. This development enables us to reach both our markets and our customers through high-performance customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Which market segments do we want to target, and which market players should we focus on? How can we strengthen our bonds with our customers, and how can we increase their appreciation of us? Which is better: expanding our customer base? Or increasing our customers’ appreciation and loyalty? In which direction do we want to develop? What can we achieve in future with new products and an expanded range of services? We use such marketing tools to secure orders for our businesses. Nothing motivates us more than knowing that we have overcome the initial stress and the additional pressure to perform and work hard – whilst, in the context of continuous growth, the focus must always be on striking the perfect balance between customer satisfaction and production capacity.

In terms of planning, we can now fully automate the order workflow to ensure smooth and convenient processes for both our customers and our production planning: order data can be uploaded automatically and checked immediately – and colour proofs can be made available to customers. By offering different prices for varying production and delivery times, we can influence our production capacity utilisation and manage our customers’ satisfaction. We can automatically control the scheduling of individual, fully utilised machines, set them up more quickly and produce with virtually no interruptions, even when changing materials. Thanks to digitalisation, we can achieve all this for both individual and multiple machines across all process steps and for all print run sizes – whilst receiving continuous ‘live’ information. This is what the perfect, magical world of productivity and profitability looks like.

The exclusive and dedicated customer portals are key to building a stronger, more positive relationship with the customer and fostering loyalty. I wouldn’t call it dependency, but rather teamwork, in which we provide the customer with all the information about their products, sizes, geographical data and even updated assets that they need on a daily basis for their growth and to better serve their own customers and consumers. When we work hand in hand with our customers and engage with their requirements and strategies on a daily basis, we evolve from being mere product and service providers into strong, self-assured and trustworthy partners. We grow together in a unique win-win situation.

The wide variety of ERP systems that manage our production processes support us in all the necessary tasks – from stocking raw materials and determining delivery times, through to providing information on the availability of required materials, right through to optimising the use of capital. These tools also help our operational teams to plan more effectively and make immediate decisions in the event of unexpected changes in demand. I cannot imagine that companies in our sector can continue to develop and grow without this culture of digitalisation and without a willingness to invest. The information these systems provide us with is vital and so valuable that it has implications for all aspects of management, work processes, internal and external working relationships, and profitability.

At present, it still seems as though this is a topic for the future. But artificial intelligence (AI) may, in the near future, help us to manage our fluctuating capacity utilisation and demand forecasts. All companies experience fluctuations in their workflows on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. The extent to which this is the case depends on the markets and market segments in which they operate. We need management decisions that enable us to manage our resources more effectively. We will be able to gain an overview of market trends and better insights into how these might affect the communication needs of our target groups and markets. Just think of how many political and economic changes (interest rates, inflation, weather, seasons…) can influence our lives – and affect our customers’ behaviour and their communication needs. How often do recessions lead to more campaigns and communication, aimed at motivating consumers through promotional activities and securing sales of our products?

AI is already being used to replace the tedious practice of recording calls for quality control of our customer interactions with the analysis of hundreds of specific, segmented and classified ‘words’. Based on these, the quality of conversations can be immediately assessed without the need to record them. We are able to assess the quality of our internal customer service whilst simultaneously analysing customer satisfaction. This, in turn, enables us to respond immediately, ensuring that we are on the right track. This helps not only our management but also our customer service teams to better understand our relationships with customers.

Building on the long-established and indispensable finance and accounting software that enables us to manage our basic cash flow and profitability, today’s digitalisation of entire organisations can provide a comprehensive and clear overview of all areas, departments and human resources, paving the way for a better future and continuous, rapid improvement.

This short article is not intended as a technical guide. Rather, it aims to provide a brief insight into what is available and how DGI members manage their businesses from a management perspective.

drupa is the world’s largest event and trade fair in our industry. It is the place where every participant wants to find out about the latest developments and learn how to stay up to date and grow in the right way. Following the cancellation of drupa 2020 due to the global pandemic, we can now look forward to seeing the key developments and innovations surrounding the digitalisation of our industry, as well as all the ‘BISS’ mentioned above that are available to us. DGI members from across the five continents will certainly not want to miss this event!