Printers are already seeing results from the first round of briefings in the free Future Print business coaching program, with nearly all those attending signing up for the next phase.
The project, which aims to help printers transform themselves to meet the challenges of the future, has more than 150 companies signed up and includes free briefings and workshops and governmet-subsidised training courses.
Future Print lead advisor Allan Ryan ran the first workshop on February 10 at PIAA headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Auburn used a benchmarking formula to help printers evaluate their businesses.
The formula uses feedback from attendees to evaluate their business processes against other businesses. He then revealed the results, which he says were ‘enlightening to the group’.
[Related: More Future Print news]
Future Print business advisor John Clements says benchmarking is an important tool available free to all businesses that sign up for the Future Print Business Transformation Project.
He says it gives participants a chance to anonymously evaluate their performance against ‘like’ businesses both within the graphic communications sphere and, on certain criterias, more widely.
The results revealed how businesses were performing in areas including revenue per employee, gross profit, net profit, return to the business owners and even areas like insurance payments.
“A participant described his efforts until now as ‘trying to run a four minute mile without a stopwatch’. They thought they were on track, but now have a very different, and much clearer, idea of where they stand," he says.
“It left many participants with furrowed brows, but also encouraged many by showing that they were performing well in many areas and while some things might need to change, in other areas they can keep doing what they are doing.
“To help print businesses adapt to the fast changing world of online, we have some government funded subsidised courses, which aim to address skills shortages the companies might have.”
Clements says the courses are subsidised 64 per cent for a business with less than 100 employees, 50 per cent for businesses with less than 200 staff members and for business with more than 200 employees the rates vary from 34 per cent to 66 per cent.
Ryan says the training courses are now available to Future Print participants at a subsidised rate, as part of the federal government funding for up to 500 training places.
Clements says they include not only registered Certificate and Diploma courses but targeted training designed to deliver specific skill sets.
Free leadership briefings are open not only to print service providers but all participants in the wider graphic communications and media space. Sessions will take place around the country until February 27.
“With almost 100 per cent of businesses who attend a Leadership Briefing signing on to continue in the program, it is important that any businesses who are still considering whether to get involved realise that once the project has 350 companies signed, then it is closed to further enrollment," he says.
"There is no guarantee such an opportunity will ever be offered again, so there is no time to lose.”
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