Digital publishing on the roll, to takeover conventional printing

Will digital take over conventional publishing? If HP Digital Publishing Solutions commercial development manager Steve Donegal is to be believed, the answer is a big "Yes". 

According to Donegal, the change over is a certain, especially in the enterprise segment, where printing is often outsourced. And he has statistics to back his prediction: digital publishing is growing at 65 % year on year, while conventional publishing is posting only 1% annual growth. 

Steve reasons that though conventional machines have faster output speed averaging 10,000 pages per hour, they accept only static data. Also these machines are economically feasible only to for bulk printing. 

"Enterprises now want to offer personalized mailers or marketing collateral for internal and external use. And these are usually be in limited numbers," Steve reasons. In such a scenario, digital printing would be the ideal alternative, as the user has the option of adding variable data or printing as little as 10 pages. 

Also, some vendors like HP offer digital printing solutions that can be remotely managed. This shortens the printing cycle as well, while offering mobility to the user. These innovations are putting the brakes on the growth of the conventional printing solutions. 

He however adds that for the next few years, conventional publishing will continue, as there will always be a need for on-demand and bulk printing. But the volume of this demand will also see a recession. 

Vinita Bhatia

CI News Bureau

Singapore