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It saves enormous amounts of time and money and in just a few years could be the norm in the industry.

Yet very few in print seem to have heard of it, let alone adopted it. We’re talking about web-to-print – a technology whose supporters claim is the future of print.  

Web-to-print has been kicking around in some form or other since the days of the dotcom boom and subsequent bust. Like all good ideas, the concept is simple. In essence, web-to-print is all about making things easier for the customer. It allows users to produce documents and upload them via the internet for printing without the need for traditional print buying, or order printed material online using existing templates.

Disciples of the technology, which is made up of a wide range of bespoke and off-the-shelf systems, tend to speak reverentially of it. “Web-to-print is like the Holy Grail,” they say in suitably hushed tones. “Everyone’s trying to reach it.”

The comparison is not quite as far-fetched as it first appears, as the potential benefits are enormous. But the claim that everyone is trying to get there is a little overstated. In reality, few printers and buyers are aware of it. But why is this, if it’s so wonderful?

“I think there’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing going on,” says Paragon director of value-added services Jonathan Stuart. “Printers don’t install it because they don’t perceive a demand from the print buyers, while buyers don’t demand it because either they don’t know much about it, or they’re not sure of its value.”

The advantage for printers should be obvious. Get the customers to do more of the work and automate the process and your profit per page goes up. But what is the advantage to buyers? They have historically focused on reducing the cost of the product – a goal seemingly at odds with the printers’ aim.

“There are dramatic process cost savings to be made,” insists Stuart. “Reducing the cost of the product is, in a way, old hat. Everybody’s done that. Printers have competed against each other so fiercely on price that that’s not where buyers can get further benefit.”

So where is this elusive benefit? From a buyer’s perspective it lies in control – both brand control and buying control, plus the automation of processes such as purchase order management. Typically, these authorisation processes, which would be carried out by both printers and print buyers, incur costs of a similar magnitude to the cost of the product itself.

“By using online web-to-print services set up in a contractual environment, you can dramatically reduce the amount of administration,” says Stuart. “You can also get better visibility and control over spend and your internal print users can be more effective. This is worth real money to an organisation.”
One key area where web-to-print is currently used is for pre-defined contractual items that have already been negotiated with a customer and then made available via an online system.

This is of particular value to multisite organisations, as it allows the various sites or divisions of a company to order from a web-to-print system that feeds directly into a production workflow. This could either be completely automated, to produce that item on demand, or used to manage stock and then pick, pack and dispatch the item.

One problem is that this kind of workflow requires a high degree of standardisation – yet there is no such thing as a standard customer or a standard job. “Print is such a broad marketplace. You can never predict what people will want,” says WebMart managing director Simon Biltcliffe.  

One way around the problem is to allow buyers to create custom specifications, which can then be saved as templates for future use.

“Once we’ve received a custom specification, we can automate it for next time,” says Biltcliffe. “So if somebody asks for something unusual once, then the next time anybody else asks for it we will have an online offering where they can have an instant price.”

For many print buyers, this kind of self-service might seem more trouble than it’s worth. However, the payoff for the initial effort required is an instantaneous quote on every subsequent similar order. And while web-to-print providers will be the first to admit that not all jobs are suited to the technology, it’s surprising to learn just how quickly a lot of jobs can make the transition.

Phillip Rodgers, studio manager for web-to-print developer RedTie, whose customers include Suzuki UK and HP, has been working on the concept for the past four years. “If your template is only going to be a one-off then it’s probably not suitable for web-to-print,” he says. “But anything repeatable, even if only once, is worth it.”

Naturally this makes web-to-print ideally suited to short-run, on-demand digital print jobs. “If someone’s going to come online and order 250 business cards, then web-to-print to a digital press is absolutely perfect,” he says. “If they’re going to order a calendar with their own photos in it and they’re only making one, then that’s even better.”

This is not to say that digital is the only medium suited to web-to-print procurement. “Web-to-print basically saves the cost of artwork, saves the cost of handling, and saves the cost of unnecessary steps in the chain to a finished result,” says Rodgers. “In the end the question is: do I need it in a hurry, in which case it’s digital, or can I wait a few days so it’s cheaper on a litho press.”

Despite the advantages, take-up of web-to-print software remains painfully slow, especially in the UK, which – according to a recent Infotrends report – is in the bottom third of European countries for its adoption.

However, many predict it won’t be long before automated online print procurement becomes the norm. “The next generation of users doesn’t expect to have to physically go somewhere to order this sort of thing, they expect to be able to do it online,” notes Stuart.

Will web-to-print be the salvation of the print industry in the online age? Certainly it could throw a lifeline to hundreds of work-hungry printers, while to increasingly overworked buyers it could prove an invaluable time and cost-saving tool.

“I think what you’ll find is that there’ll come a tipping point somewhere in the next 12 months and then in three years’ time you won’t even be asking the question,” says Biltcliffe. “It’ll be unusual for people to be doing things any other way.”