There is a plethora of web to print technologies and obviously printers need to take advantage of the Internet as a new front door to their business, so what is keeping the two parties from coming together in a manner that is mutually beneficial?

I believe we have a serious last mile problem – not the kind that makes it hard to get things to your front door but the kind that prevents the human behavioral changes required to create real change. Buying technology doesn’t create change (except in your bank account); embracing technology is about people changing behaviors and processes that lead to tangible results.

Why should we care about the last mile? The entire industry benefits from printers evolving online and building viable businesses using the latest Internet technology. Print is still an extremely relevant form of communication but the purchasing of print has to evolve in order to maintain its position among the online alternatives.

If we continue to ignore the last mile challenges, web technology will continue to be grossly underutilized (purchased but not fully implemented). This is our worst-case scenario; printer’s making an investment without the ROI, and more importantly without moving any closer to web enablement or automation.

How do you impact the last mile and encourage the behavioral changes necessary to succeed on the web? I suggest we focus and invest in innovations that encourage behavior that we know leads to success. What if every web to print project tracked the number of days from purchase to the first live transaction? This would be a little nudge in the conscience of the industry to reflect the fact that ROI begins when customers start using the system. This little “nudge” would begin to influence both printer and vendor towards a more targeted focus on ROI.

There is a great TED video about the last mile problem, don’t get put off by the lengthy discussion about diarrhea ;-)