Print Solutions Magazine

Setting up a web-to-print system for end users isn’t easy or cheap. One of the first decisions a company will have to make when switching to this type of print solution is who will create and ultimately control the technology behind their internet-based service: an application service provider (ASP) or in-house technology staff. Though most distributors and manufacturers with web-to-print capability have at least one person in house who manages their web sites, the market is split between those who chose to acquire hardware and write their own software and those who chose to hire an online print technology provider, or ASP, that handles most of the technical work and maintains the system for them.

Rationales for and against both ASP and in-house technology vary within the web-to-print market. Some companies argue that in-house technology allows for web-to-print solutions to be more easily modified according to client needs and makes the company more competitive in the long run. “You can listen to the marketplace and the client and take the technology in the direction they want to go, rather than stay stagnant,” says Doug Traxler, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Webb/Mason.

To build the system from scratch would be extremely complicated. If we did it ourselves we would have to run our own infrastructure and do our own disaster recovery.

Paul Edwards, president

FormStore Incorporated

Fenton, Mo.

Others claim that company funds would be better spent elsewhere. “To build the system from scratch would be extremely complicated,” says Paul Edwards, president of FormStore Incorporated whose company chose to invest in digital printing technology rather than hire in-house staff for FormStore’s web-to-print system. “If we did it ourselves we would have to run our own infrastructure and do our own disaster recovery… I didn’t feel that building up a server and staff for that was the best decision.”

For distributors and manufacturers that choose either model, it is not a simple question of how much the web-to-print system will cost. The choice between an ASP and in-house technology is also dictated by a complicated mix of the company’s priorities and directives.

When MaverickLabel.Com began in 1994, it was founded with a web-to-print model in mind. “Maverick Label started out as a short-run label maker, and I mean really short run—as in one label in some cases,” said Mark Trumper, CEO. “It was a great model, but we figured the best way to do this would be over the web.”

With in-house technology “you can listen to the marketplace and the client and take the technology in the direction they want to go, rather than stay stagnant.
Doug Traxler, executive vice president of sales and marketing
Webb/Mason
Hunt Valley, Md.

Though MaverickLabel.Com based in Edmonds, Wash., uses Oracle software for its accounting system, the company built custom software for its web-to-print solution. Both the front and back ends of the workflow are web enabled. “The huge advantage is that we don’t have to see if everything is ODBC compliant,” Trumper says. ODBC, or Open Database Connectivity, is a database programming standard that allows data to be exchanged between software systems. “We have our own servers,” Trumper says, which are located throughout the country. “We are controlling it completely from our offices.”

Distributors can offer a version of MaverickLabel’s unique label quoting/ordering software on their own web sites. MaverickLabel has a partnership with manufacturer Ward/Kraft, based in Fort Scott, Kan. Ward/Kraft’s MyNetLabels program, one of several web-to-print solutions offered by the company, is powered by MaverickLabel’s proprietary software. “Ward/Kraft is licensed to create affiliate web sites for distributors and we do all the manufacturing for orders placed at those sites,” says Michael Del Chiaro, Ward/Kraft’s senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Technological flexibility was also important for Webb/Mason, a print management provider based in Hunt Valley, Md. Webb/Mason has 10 software developers and engineers on staff to maintain its proprietary web-to-print software, along with a content management and implementation team to maintain customized client Web sites. Brian Fritsche, CIO at Webb/Mason, says the company’s data center in Hunt Valley has 10 servers that allow Webb/Mason’s 350 clients to use its web-to-print system.

Webb/Mason made the decision nearly six years ago to build its own software, Enterprise Print Management (EPM) Online. Webb/Mason, like many companies, has proprietary software that integrates with other core software components like Oracle and Pageflex. But with EPM Online, Traxler says, programmers at Webb/Mason can make modifications for clients whenever necessary.

“We have a process whereby every 90 to 100 days we make a new release of features and capabilities from which the customers benefit,” Traxler says. These changes come from a bank of suggestions made by clients and even prospects who decided not to do business with Webb/Mason. “Those companies will say, ‘Your system is great but it needs to go in this direction,’” Traxler says. “They will say, ‘We would love to see these types of capabilities in the future,’ or ‘This application is cumbersome or counterintuitive.’”

Since 2002, the constant fishing for new ideas has led programmers to create 15 major structural releases of Webb/Mason’s proprietary software. “We want to be able to say yes to our customers,” Fritsche says.

Other companies choose to leave the bulk of the hardware and software maintenance for their web-to-print systems in another company’s hands. FormStore Incorporated is a manufacturer based in Fenton, Mo., that specializes in laser printable membership identification card documents. “Our focus in web-to-print is digital print,” Edwards says. “We have been using a program called Printactics that allows a distributor to go on the internet and make their purchases. They can select different types of paper. It can be static or variable.”

FormStore currently has an ASP that hosts the company’s web-to-print site and maintains its servers. “For us at this time, the ASP model is what is working,” Edwards says. FormStore Incorporated has invested instead in another technology closely linked to web-to-print: digital printing. “We needed the web-to-print model to drive digital print solutions,” Edwards says. “Digital printing operates at a much faster speed, and we needed a simple way to get it through the system.” Edwards says the company’s money is better spent focusing on this rather than acquiring in-house web-to-print systems and staff. “As we started to do web-to-print, we decided that if we’re going to do this, we deserve to be the distributor’s digital source,” Edwards says. The way to do that was by purchasing more digital printing equipment. FormStore recently committed $3 to $4 million in digital printing technology and securing a facility to house its hardware.

We handle the server and the technology. For distributors, it’s a totally hands off process.

Mark Cupach, national sales director

Business Stationery International

Cleveland, Ohio.

Other manufacturers are selling their services as ASPs for distributors, offering their systems, expertise and inventory to other companies. “We have our own in-house proprietary web ordering program in place,” says Mark Cupach, national sales director for Business Stationery International in Cleveland, Ohio. “We handle the server and the technology. For distributors, it’s a totally hands off process,” he says.

The company has two technology professionals on staff that exclusively handle the web-to-print side of the business. They also have a web manager dedicated to handling all the customized web-to-print sites. “Typically with the web-to-print sites, the distributor likes the customer’s logo on the site because it is their ordering site. Then we have an area that says ‘supported by’ with the distributor’s logo. We want it to be seamless.”

In addition to offering proprietary software, Business Stationery International also trains distributors about the ins and outs of web-to-print. “We kicked off our webinar program in the first quarter of this year,” Cupach says. “The first point of the webinars is to educate distributors on what online ordering is. The second point is to present our services to distributors and tell them how to make the sale.” So far more than 50 distributors have attended Business Stationery’s six webinars. Cupach says 15 more webinars are scheduled for later this quarter.

LaShell Stratton is assistant editor at Print Solutions magazine. Email her your comments at lstratton@PSDA.org.

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