Planned investments

Finally, what have print businesses been buying?

In 2018, planned investment in a Management Information System (MIS) peaked at 20%, but has been on the wane ever since—and notice how the decline in planned investment in MIS tracks the decline in the perception of implementing an MIS as a business opportunity. Perception as a challenge rather than an opportunity reflects the sense that an MIS is a “necessary evil” and not necessarily something that can make or save money—again, the tendency to think of software in a different way than equipment.

Investment in a CRM is also fairly low, although has been on the rise post-pandemic.

“Workflow automation software” has also been on a general downward trend as an investment—or probably as an investment category unto itself. As more people understand what is meant by “automation,” it’s more likely that they are liable to look for automation features in other kinds of software (like a RIP/DFE, etc.) rather than some dedicated “automation” solution.

Top investments are almost predominantly equipment-based; capital equipment does require a more formal budgeting process than software, although an MIS implementation should not be the kind of thing one does willy-nilly.

But it does also reflect the sense we get that software is not necessarily perceived as something that is a money-maker per se, or at least not in the way that, say a digital press is.

This is understandable, but the key will be to change that perception—software can play a very large role in both saving and making a company money.