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Today, we're seeing an increasing number of Web-to-Print (W2P) solutions on the market. This was particularly evident at drupa this year, where everyone seemed to have their own W2P solution. Some industry analysts have have even dubbed drupa 2008 as the "Web-to-Print drupa". OK, let's not get too carried away now...
I've done some homework of my own and put together a list of over 30 different W2P solutions available today. That's a lot of products! Many of these products claim to offer VDP capabilities—it's almost like a feature checkbox for W2P suppliers; "tick, yes, we do VDP". It surprised me when talking to many of these suppliers at drupa that when asked about their VDP support, many exclaimed "yes of course, we do that!" But it's important to understand to what level these W2P solutions offer support for VDP, as I've found that many only offer a mail-merge approach which often isn't sufficient for most VDP campaigns.
Also, it's important to clarify what I mean by "W2P products with VDP capabilities". There are a couple of approaches for these solutions. The first type refers to API-driven solutions that enable the development of web-template driven customised applications. Solutions like Creo WCS and XMPie uProduce offer full-featured APIs to enable you to build a custom web-to-print application from scratch, and enable you to hook into their document composition engine to proof and generate documents on-demand. But that's not what I'm referring to in this entry.
I'm talking about the numerous shrinkwrapped solutions that appear on my W2P list. While these solutions vary in functionality, many claim 'VDP support' but only offer a PDF form mail-merge solution or similar approach. On the other side, there are several W2P solutions that are VDP-centric and provide a rich level of VDP support, such as Pageflex Storefront, GMC PortalBuilder, PrintShop Web, FusionPro Web and XMPie uStore.
If you're in the market for a W2P solution and want to offer VDP applications to your customers, then you really need to understand what your VDP requirements are and whether the W2P solution will give you the VDP functionality that you need. Here's a list of key areas that you should consider:
1. Do you need to assign business rules to variable elements? (e.g. text and images)2. What level of creative flexibility do you require in your applications? (e.g. Layer support, transparency effects, control character and object attributes, copyfitting, etc.)
3. Do you need to offer data-driven charts? (pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, etc.)
4. Do you want to include personalised images in your VDP applications?
5. Do clients need to be able to upload their own VDP templates?
6. Do clients need to offer database management capabilities? (i.e. add/edit/remove recipients, use recipient list for other campaigns)
7. Do you need to offer cross-media components in the VDP application? (i.e. not just print, but email or other channels)
8. Is the output format optimised? If so, what formats are available (PPML, VPS, PDF, other) and which do you need for your production printers?
This really isn't an exhaustive list, but hopefully it will get you thinking about the questions that you need to ask when investing in a W2P solution. When choosing a W2P product you need to put the applications in front of product features and workflow. Good luck!
Posted on Tuesday, 24 June 2008 at 11:27 PM | TrackBack: http://www.veedeepee.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/156
Great article, Eliot. Thank you.
Posted by Brian Gibson on Wednesday, 25 June 2008 at 8:35 AM
One web-to-print vendor you left out is www.printjob.com
Been around for almost ten years, but low profile outside the UK. More of a print eprocurement system that appeals to print buyers and managers. Low in cost. No special VDP support.
Posted by Kevin on Wednesday, 25 June 2008 at 10:51 AM
Hi Kevin, thanks for letting me know. I've added PrintJob to my list. If you come across any others, please pass them on!
Posted by Eliot Harper on Wednesday, 25 June 2008 at 6:18 PM
Eliot,
Very impressive list!
I have yet to find what I have been looking for for some time. I am really in the need to a product offering that is based on interchangable parts, more of a toolkit.
Most all of the web2print products are semicustomizable web sites. They all have many features, but they all end of failing to meet all of the specific customer requirements. Not their fault, customers just want what they want.
I'm looking for more of a parts kit that can be cobbled together as a custom application. For the most part, web2print is just ecommerece plus some customization for the orderable item and proofing. I have been looking for ecommerence toolkits that can be extended with VDP. Most of these products are the opposite.
Have you seen any products that are kit oriented?
Jeff
Posted by Jeff Stewart on Thursday, 3 July 2008 at 6:47 AM
Finding your site very useful. Are you aware of online print solutions? http://www.onlineprintsolutions.com/
Would like to see more details on W2P solutions, perhaps with answers to your questions. Maybe something along the lines of a wiki so we can help out with the load.
Posted by Rich on Friday, 4 July 2008 at 9:29 AM
Hi Rich, thanks for the tip. I haven't heard of this company before. I've added them to my list. I checked out their site and it really doesn't give too much away. They appear to offer an installable model rather than a hosted (SaaS). Do you know if this is the case?
Regarding putting a Wiki together for W2P products, I agree it would be a useful resource and it's something that I've considered in the past (and also considered for VDP products). But the problem is that content quickly becomes out-of-date. When suppliers release new versions and add new features, it's almost impossible to stay on top of different products and keep product information up-to-date. However, if you're up for the challenge, then don't let me stop you!
Posted by Eliot Harper on Saturday, 5 July 2008 at 6:13 AM
Hi Jeff, thanks for the feedback. I agree, most of the web-to-print solutions on the market are shrinkwrapped products which require the users to "work the way the software does" and not the other way around... I have yet to come across a W2P solution with an extensive API that you can use as a framework for rapid development of a custom W2P application. Sorry!
Posted by Eliot Harper on Sunday, 6 July 2008 at 8:42 PM
If you're looking for a resource center for W2P solutions, check out www.w2ptestdrive.com. This is hosted by the E-Business Council of Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (yeah, a mouthful!) We've built a site that will soon offer actual demos for each of the products listed. We also do maintain a pretty detailed Wiki showing features of each product, and it is certainly a challenge to keep updated, but we have the vendors themselves do the updating periodically. Take a look: http://ebusinesscouncil.org/tikiwiki
There are more than 50 products listed and we have to add a dozen more I discovered at drupa!
Posted by Julie Shaffer on Wednesday, 9 July 2008 at 4:37 AM
Hi Julie, what a great resource! Some feedback: while you have a field in your matrix for VDP, it would be useful if you could distinguish if the solution uses mail-merge approach, or whether you can assign business rules to variable elements. Just a thought. Thanks for sharing this excellent resource!
Posted by Eliot Harper on Wednesday, 9 July 2008 at 4:48 AM