We got away from designing for data and data management over the last few posts to bring the news from the TransPromo Summit in Boston and Print09. It's time to get back to the mission! What perfect timing!

Print 09 is now behind us, and outside of the trade show floor, there was an amazing amount of education taking place in seminars. A theme that emerged from the catalogue of options was the need to get refocused on the customer and how we communicate with them. It doesn't matter if you are a traditional litho printer, a printer who has both traditional and digital kit, a pure digital printer, or a multi-channel Marketing Services Provider - it seems everyone is coming to the conclusion that a well educated market provides the best opportunities.

One way to refocus is to look at what programs you have in place to ensure that everyone in your organization is up-to-date on their skills. Are you using all of the tools you have as efficiently as possible? Are your team members well versed in all of the features of the composition, color management, asset management, and other tools in your shop?

Then look outward. How educated are your customers? Do they know what you have to offer, or are you just fulfilling the same orders? Do they understand everything you can do for them? Do they know the power of variable data? Have you discussed data driven programs to enhance response rates?

Another common conversation at Print 09 and other venues this year has been right-sizing. It might include some reduction in print, but well-designed programs look at using a number of customer communication channels and making them work together. Often, for a well-outfitted provider, that might mean selling less print but more services. It you can sell your print for more money because it is smarter and drives a higher response rate, that's a win-win for all in the supply chain!

And, finally, reaching out! When was the last time you went to visit a customer? When was the last time you had a customer event in your facility? When was the last time you participated in a local user association event or a national event? Reaching out into the community raises your profile and establishes you as a thought leader with your customers. It is a sure-fire way to grow your business!

Have you walked this path? Have a story to share? Drop me a note: twitter.com/PatMcgrew - we'd love to share your success story!

Today is K3-DAY, the third day of a series of Digital Printing Solutions Innovations Days here in the demo center at La Hulpe in Belgium.

'Achtung Baby' was the 7th album of the Irish rockband U2. You'll ask: what does this have to do with the DPS Innovation Days? Well U2 made this album after a lot of thinking and changing. It's also an album in which much more digital technology was used than in their previous work.

Hence the link to our event which is the result of a lot of brain storming, planning, organizing and with a bigger digital portfolio than ever.

The 80+ customers today were welcomed by Ursula Voss-Eiden, Regional Marketing Manager Germany and Reinhold Frech, DPS Manager Germany

After an overview presentation of our DPS solutions, a detailed presentation was given on Kodak's workflow solutions by Oliver Markgraf.

As the last session before lunch, we also got some insightful customer presentations from Mr. Udo Gilgert, Bauer Druck, Mr. Markus Stricker, MSP and Mr. Peter Dehm, T-Systems.



An important aspect of our event are our partners: Hunkeler, Müller Martini, Lasermax, Sappi, Ziegler, UPM, Kanzan, M-real, CVG and GMC. They not only support is with equipment, SW and paper, but also with their knowledge.

As such we've a true knowledge center here during the DPS Innovation Days at the service of our customers when they've specific questions on these topics.

If you came to the TransPromo Summit to learn more about TransPromo the content of the sessions was more than sufficient. In addition to updates from customers who have presented at past events, there was a new emphasis on the importance of data and campaign measurement. What SHOULD you measure, what CAN you measure, and how to evaluate the results in the context of the campaign were key questions.

While it was a great event for content, sadly we didn't see many customers. Marc Johnson and I held down the fort for Kodak, though even some of the usual vendors were missing or made limited appearances. It may be that this is an event that needs to happen attached to another event, or perhaps only every other year. It's hard to know, too, how much the economy and the August timeframe impacted the attendees. We counted 141 people in the opening session, and that was the most attended presentation.

For Kodak, though, we'll call it a success as we supported Chris Nicholson from Humana by co-presenting in the TransPromo Strategy session. Chris shared that they now have 19 applications using the philosophy and workflow created for the Smart Summary RX application he discussed last year. (It prints on Kodak Versamark printers!) We also had a chance to catch up with our fabulous customers from Speos in Belgium, Wilen Direct (one of our PROSPER S10 beta sites), and a few prospects from around the world. Any time we can talk to customers it's a good day!

The next big opportunity to talk with customers will be Print '09! I hope to see you there!