VIGC web2print conference: all about cooperation

Vice President of Cimpress Open, Diane Swint

The traditional web to print conference by Belgium VIGC which was held on 14 September hosted by Agfa was all about cooperation. It followed the trend of companies increasingly using the strength of others, even competitors, and the important role of automation.

In her new role as Vice President of Cimpress Open, Diane Swint talked about a future where companies not only work with partners, but also with competitors. Quite remarkable from a company, previously Vistaprint, which is known to be quite closed. It was hard for people to find open doors and the production processes were kept a secret. Vistaprint only sold what they produced. So this is a 180 degree turn. Cimpress, parent company of both Vistaprint and Drukwerkdeal, has opened its doors with Cimpress Open. Any supplier can become partner and any webshop can sell Cimpress Open related products. There is a good reason for this switch. According to Diane Swint “the world print market is worth 980 billion dollars according to Pira. If we want to remain a player in this market we will have to work together with others. When we started the advantage was in developing one´s own closed industry. That is no longer the case. To grow faster we  have to work together.”