Chatting with Keypoint Intelligence Experts: Greg Cholmondeley

We talk about the 2023 European Software Outlook report and automation

Aug 25, 2023 7:54:32 AM

By Sam Keller

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As the head of Keypoint Intelligence’s Production Workflow Advisory Service, Greg Cholmondeley is an expert on workflow automation, strategic planning, software solutions, and the printing industry. When Greg isn’t working on research reports or blog and podcast content, you can see him presenting his thoughts and knowledge at industry events. He started his career designing industry-transforming digital imaging hardware and document management systems before taking on product, industry, and segment marketing roles for several leading print industry vendors.

We sat down to chat about trends towards automation in the print services industry as well how print service providers (PSPs) will benefit from implementing automation technology.

Sam Keller: You worked on and recently published a 2023 European Software Outlook report that analyzes the results of a survey answered by nearly 200 Western European commercial and in-plant PSPs on topics including business concerns, financial plans, software investment plans, and more. What finding from the survey did you think stood out?

Greg Cholmondeley: I was surprised at the automation adoption levels reported by the respondents. They were significantly higher than previous surveys. Now, to be fair, this could be partially due to the respondent demographic. This year, the Western European respondents tended to be from larger printing operations. We hoped smaller shops would respond but, perhaps, they were too busy. It’s possible that large operations employ more automated workflows than smaller shops; however, workflow automation costs have come down to the point where automation makes financial sense for any size PSP. I find that workflow automation can have an even greater impact on smaller shops where improving the performance of a single worker can have a proportionally more significant impact than in a large operation. Think about it…staff in most smaller shops wear many hats. Reducing menial tasks so they can more efficiently get jobs out and work with clients is a huge competitive advantage.

SK: Automation can be a lot of different things depending on the industry and its participants. How specifically can PSPs benefit from automation and what are some of the barriers PSPs face as they start to implement automation technology?

GC: As I said before, our research shows that PSPs are slowly starting to automate their workflows instead of just adopting automation tools. However, it is not occurring as rapidly as it should. Automation drivers have shifted a bit—especially regarding labor needs. PSPs increasingly struggle to find, retain, and compensate labor skilled in the printing process while facing an aging workforce that is nearing retirement. However, the traditional barriers still exist. The resistance to culture and process changes is still strong, but the pressure for change is mounting.

SK: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a topic sparking a lot of discussion on how it can be utilized to optimize workflow as well as the concerns it raises for many. Do you see AI technology tying into the shift towards automation?

GC: Absolutely. Every production software vendor I speak with has initiatives involving AI. These run the gamut from documentation to image enhancement to fully automated prepress workflows. In the future, prepress workers will focus more on managing AI-driven software than operating software tools—and this is moving quickly. Expect vendors to increasingly incorporate AI into their products in the coming months and years. AI isn’t a panacea for automation challenges, and it is certainly in its infancy. However, it will fundamentally change the way prepress, design, and direct marketing departments run as well as changing press maintenance and business analytics functions. We’re living in a time as exciting as the advent of digital production printing.

SK: Going back to the European Software Investment Outlook report as a whole, how did you analyze the results of the survey and infer the data into meaningful trends and information? Was there a specific process you designed for evaluating the answers?

GC: Oh, analysis is where the hard work begins, Sam. I build pivot tables, look for trends and patterns, and compare what I see in the data with previous results and conversations with vendors and printers. Just throwing the data into Excel charts would be easy, but it wouldn’t add the value that Keypoint Intelligence subscribers need. The one analysis area I’ve had to enhance this year involves filtering out bots and junk responses. We do this by sprinkling verification questions throughout our surveys where we can identify unreasonable answers entered by someone just clicking through the survey. It’s painful, frustrating, and reduces our sample size, but it is necessary to ensure that the answers we receive and the conclusions we draw from them are valid.

SK: Right now, you are designing a similar survey for North America. How do you believe the survey for that region will differ from the one you conducted in Western Europe? What factors are in play as you determine which questions to keep and which to change?

GC: I try to keep the surveys as similar as possible so that I can deliver a global perspective, but I do adjust questions based on previous findings. I’ll eliminate some topics and incorporate some second-level queries in areas where the Western European study indicated new trends. For example, now that we have a better idea of new market shifts, we can ask why they are occurring. These surveys typically take 15 minutes to complete, so we must constantly trim them wherever possible and carefully add deeper questions only where needed to maximize information while minimizing time. Also, we have a close relationship with IPMA, which provides us a much stronger North American in-plant panel than we have in Europe. I also hope that more smaller shops will elect to participate.

Learn more about the 2023 European Software Investment Outlook report and how you can purchase it!

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