In a recent interview Kate Dunn told the Graphic Arts Services Association of Australia (GASAA) that offset printers looking to get into VDP should focus on finding a sales professional who was comfortable talking to C-level decision makers, who understood how to solve business problems and had some grass roots knowledge of marketing.

She says, “I’d partner up with businesses who can manufacture the digital print, emails, landing pages, or whatever else I needed to execute the strategy. I’d build my business that way and then decide if I wanted to add manufacturing or just focus on thinking up the solutions.”

Dunn continues, “I’m not sure that the two should even be combined. It takes a different mindset to be a manufacturer than it does to be a creative solution provider. One sells what they can make and the other figures out how to get made what they can sell.”

Dunn also gave five key requirements of moving into VDP, which included:

• A different workflow than your offset workflow

• An effective proofing and QA process

• An intuitive data person, not a button pusher

• Select only software partners with training who teach not just the hows but the whys

The PODi App Forum will be held September 15-16 at the Sydney Masonic Centre.

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