Business

John Boland is co-founder of custom workwear and safety signage company HiVis.co.uk, which has seen its in-house large-format print operation take-off since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. His take on developing that side of the business may well help you do likewise.

Retail has always been a key market for large-format digital print companies. So how will the sector be impacted by the retail reboot - or lack of? I asked well-known consultant Steve Lister for his take.

As your focus moves from survive to thrive, clever marketing is going to be a strategic necessity. Ice Blue Sky works with B2B organisations to deliver higher than average marketing qualified leads and/or sales qualified leads, so what its MD has to say on the topic is worth hearing.

Wish you had a crystal ball to tell you how business is going to look post Covid-19?  Well, we have the next best thing. Having raised some interesting points in his talk at the Future Print virtual summit, I linked-up with Colin McMahon, research analyst with Keypoint Intelligence, and asked him to expand on some of his key messages. It doesn’t all make for comfortable reading.

Looking beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, Walter Hale highlights some good habits - and principles - that can help you manage cash more effectively as you enter the new normal. 

Wondering when it will be ‘back to business’? Isn’t everyone. There can’t be a single print operation that has not been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, nor can there be a single way of coming out the other side as fit as before, but is there a case for what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger? I asked ImageCo MD and Fespa UK board member Nathan Swinson-Bullough for his take 

Training is a bugbear to many a large-format print provider - many companies citing issues such as irrelevant apprenticeship schemes as problematic for the sector. So, with the BPIF the largest supplier of apprenticeships to the UK printing industry, I went to talk with Karly Lattimore, the federation’s managing director of training, on how this sector can be better served. 

Or does it? If you use contractors you need to be aware of changes taking place from 6 April regarding IR35. Luke Menzies, director of Menzies Law, explains.

‘Skills shortage’ is something we’re hearing a lot about – the blame frequently blamed on Brexit. But with this shortage applying to mainstream job roles - such as electricians and mechanics - where does that leave an industry that requires a more niche skillset? Paula Thirkell of Ambitions personnel steers you in the right direction.

Every company would like to be more creative, which is why there is no shortage of books offering advice on the topic. Yet too many managing directors aren’t sure how to ignite the creative spark in their businesses. But in a rapidly changing, digitally driven, economy we need to get used to the idea that ‘no normal’ is the ‘new normal’ and behave accordingly. 

Nicole Spencer, operations director at trade house RMC Digital Print in Hull, became president of the Fespa UK Association last autumn - the first woman to do so. In the run up to Fespa Global 2020 we met up to discuss her plans for an association in transition.

This is the rallying call of Leach MD James Lavin. Read on and you’ll find out what he’s talking about…

The PanaWrap global licensing programme is bubbling up very nicely for its developer. So should you be drinking from that fountain? 

Organisers of Sign and Digital UK (SDUK) are promising “an all new show in a new hall” when it takes place  on 28 - 30 April, 2020.  A new team has been put in place to deliver what they promise will be “a fresh show with a new website, new layout, new features and new stand options”. But is so much change code for “panic, we’re in trouble”? I met up with new event director Jenny Matthew to get her strategic take on developments.

By Lesley Simpson