The On Demand discussion on TransPromo: The Technology… The Tools was outstanding on many levels.

The speaker panel consisted of (in order of presenter) Jeffrey Dowd, Business Consultant, DPS, HP; Chris Irick, VI Strategy & Planning Manager for the Workflow Business Unit, Xerox Corporation (myself); Christopher Reid, Global Solutions Manager for Commercial Print, IBM Printing Systems; and Buddy Mountcastle, Software Marketing Manager, Océ.

Many of the themes were consistent across the four vendors; each has an offering of services, each has some software solution to address the technical aspects of creating and deploying the applications, and each highlighted the print engines in their portfolio that they believe will drive TransPromo. Where the vendors differed was either where they placed their emphasis. HP for example focused on educating the attendees on the current statistical opportunity of TransPromo as detailed in industry literature and concluded the discussion with an overview of a sample application that won an award earlier at the show.

IBM Printing Systems (Ricoh InfoPrint Solutions) focused on the classic transaction side of TransPromo printing. Helping to illustrate that point, they highlighted AFP as their data stream of choice for driving applications and the InfoPrint 5000 system. In addition, they announced a new consultative services offering for TransPromo.

Océ had two primary topics; the Prisma suite of products and their printers. The latter is where they placed the greatest emphasis. Buddy declared that the printer “is where TransPromo happens” using the new Océ JetStream™ 1100/2200 machines as the backdrop. Like their Ricoh counterpart, Océ announced new services designed to address TransPromo specifically.

Finally, Xerox put its focus on end-to-end workflow flexibility, scalability and productivity. The cornerstone of the presentation was the VIPP Pro technology and how it enables a framework whereby customers can drive everything from classic transaction to graphic arts applications. Resource management and extensive printer fleet capability (from office to enterprise) were addressed as well. Attendees resonated with the Elixir Vitesse customer testimonial where the printer achieved an extra one million pages per month volume by switching to VIPP Pro. Like the other vendors, Xerox touched on the services that we deliver that help printers.

In the Q & A session customers were interested in where the true cost of printing TransPromo was; color or postage? The answer was, as you may imagine, it depends. The second question was around the adoption of onserts versus inserts and if it was practical for applications where customers need to take the inserts to a location. The answer was yes, it is practical and it is a growing trend. To the point of practicality, automated perfing machines and electronic redemption strategies are both ways to address the requirement.

All in all, it was a great hour. The audience, all from various market segments and disciplines seemed to enjoy the discussion.

Chris Irick
Strategy and Planning Manager, Workflow Business Unit
Xerox Corporation