The Big Picture - November 2013 - (Page 4)

insight by Gregory Sharpless www.bigpicture.net EDITORIAL Gregory Sharpless editor-in-chief gregory.sharpless@stmediagroup.com Adrienne Palmer Assistant editor adrienne.palmer@stmediagroup.com In the Round Our annual Industry Roundtable features six participants this year. I think you’ll find their discussion, which begins on page 18, to be very useful as you plot out your company strategy for the year ahead. As always, however, there were far too many interesting nuggets of information and too few square inches of space. Here are just a few of the comments we had to trim from the printed article: • Peter Mayhew, LightWords Ltd., on critical industry issues: “Managing growth (both turnover and profitability) is a key challenge. It’s relatively easy to market new capabilities to new markets – although this may not be the most efficient way to grow. But it’s quite another to deliver new products and services profitably.” • Tim Greene, InfoTrends, on profit centers: “I’m a pretty big believer in the idea of transforming products into services, so what services can a shop add that will both differentiate them from their competitors and extend the value they provide to customers? I know it isn’t always easy to get customers to pay attention to new services that a shop develops, so it’s up to the shop to get their attention when the situations arise to say, ‘Hey, that implementation didn’t go perfectly – we can manage those installations for you.” • Lori Anderson, ISA, on 3D printing: “3D printing continues to improve and some of the options being discussed are truly mind-blowing. As refinements are made, I believe there will be opportunities – and perhaps even expectations – that this technology moves into retail, point-of-purchase, and marketing. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on.” • Marco Boer, IT Strategies, on wallcoverings: “By the way, while technically often falling outside the definition of ‘wallcoverings,’ large-scale murals used as backdrops in retail stores are now commonly printed on digital printers. Many of higher-end stores on Fifth Avenue in New York rotate their murals every quarter to tie-in with new product releases.” • Dan Marx, SGIA, also on profit centers: “Lately, I’ve been looking at how companies can evaluate both their current market and product areas to discover untapped but easily achievable (hopefully) new opportunities.” • John Zarwan, J Zarwan Partners, also on 3D printing: “It’s not an illusion, it’s a real market. It will be interesting to see if wide-format print operations can move into it. Right now it’s mostly in companies serving A/E/C, which many wide-format providers do currently service.” Enjoy the Roundtable and the rest of the issue. Kathleen DeZarn Art Director kathy.dezarn@stmediagroup.com Marty McGhie, Craig Miller, Jared Smith columnists Rick Bachelder, Kathy Boydstun, Terry Corman, Scott Crosby, Brandon Gabriel, Michael Garcia, Kirk Green, Robert Kissel, Tina McLaughlin, Craig Miller, Carmen Rad, Greg Root, Jared Smith, Mark Taylor editorial Advisory board SALES Murray Kasmenn Senior vP/Group Publisher 770/578-2577 murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com Lou Arneberg business Development manager east and midwest US, e canada 800/654-5169 lou.arneberg@stmediagroup.com Ben Stauss business Development manager West and South US, W canada, europe, Asia 513/263-9363 ben.stauss@stmediagroup.com Linda Volz Production Supervisor linda.volz@stmediagroup.com Tedd Swormstedt President Steve Duccilli Senior vP of content Christine Baloga Audience Development Director Kari Freudenberger Director, online media Subscription Services/ Copies/Back Issues (847) 763-4938 tbp@halldata.com bigpicture.net/subscribe bigpicture.net/renew THe bIG PIcTUre (ISSN 1082-9660) is published 9 times annually (Jan/Feb, march, April, may, June/July, August, September, october, Nov/Dec) by ST media Group International Inc., 11262 cornell Park Dr., cincinnati, oH 45242-1812. 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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - November 2013

The Big Picture - November 2013
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
Up Front
Graphics on the Go
Business + Management
Industry Roundtable: Analyzing the Market
Outstanding Out-of-Home
Sourcing Specialty Media
R+D
Explorer

The Big Picture - November 2013