According to a blog at InfoTrends, Canon will be starting a User Group focusing on Production Digital Print. It is unclear if this would include wide format printing but certainly would include high speed digital print, somewhat divorced from the world of wide format.
The blog reads ..... Probably the most interesting news item to come out of the recent Canon Solutions America (CSA) briefing was CSA’s announcement that it was forming a user group steering committee, and that it hoped to have its first convention in 2015. The focus of this user group will be production digital print.
Keep in mind that two of the most successful user events in the production digital print space—Dscoop (a cooperative of HP Graphic Arts users) and EFI Connect (the annual EFI worldwide users’ conference)—have been gaining more traction in recent years. That CSA would consider creating a group for its own production digital print users should come as no surprise, particularly with Francis McMahon on board. McMahon, Vice President of Marketing for CSA’s Production Print Solutions division, played an integral role in getting Dscoop off the ground many years ago when he was the Director of Marketing for HP’s Graphic Solutions Business. In addition, CSA’s hiring of Dscoop Executive Director Eric Hawkinson in 2013 should have tipped us all off; it makes sense that Canon would use Hawkinson’s skills to start an initiative like this.
CSA’s Eric Hawkinson with Customer PanelExactly what form (or what name) the user group will take has yet to be determined. CSA intends to test the idea with a steering committee of ten customers, who will begin meeting in April. The user group is another example of CSA’s recent push to work closely with a range of customers to get real-world feedback. During its briefing, CSA announced another initiative to continue these efforts—its Transactional Printers Advisory Council (TPAC) has just wrapped up two years of meetings and guidance. The next such CSA group will be the Digital Print Advisory Council (DPAC), which will include thirteen CSA customers representing service providers across the book printing, commercial print, direct mail, and financial services sectors.
InfoTrends
www.infotrends.com
