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Highlighting new member benefits
As prism business manager, I hope to answer your questions and explain how initiatives in the new membership package will benefit members and the industry as a whole.
‘Why are you re-launching as prism, and why now?' is a question some may ask an association that has been successfully supporting the UK print industry since the 1930s. The answer is simple, to introduce a host of new initiatives and member activity, designed to meet the researched and defined challenges and pressures faced by today's UK markets. We are always striving to provide the best possible service to members and, to do this, the association needs to adapt and grow to meet new demands driven by market changes.
The community prism will serve is larger than under the DSPA, covering the UK and Eire, including imaging specialists in wide-format and speciality print (and suppliers of equipment and consumables) operating in the three market sectors of POS/graphics, garments/textiles and industrial printing.
Prism builds on the DSPA's heritage. Members will still benefit from the essential resources the association has provided since its start, like access to current market research, best-practice guides, educational courses and discounted corporate services. Prism's new initiatives are designed to increase members' success.
I hope prism's success will be measured not only by the industry in its acceptance of, and engagement with, the new organisation but also in terms of how prism helps the competitiveness, performance, productivity, and profitability of the community it serves.
Prism aims to support the profitability of the print industry in general. By providing access to events and market knowledge and by lobbying central and local government on behalf of the industry, we hope to ensure all UK businesses will continue to trade efficiently and competitively.
So, what are the new initiatives prism has to offer? The first step in providing printers with influential market knowledge will be delivering the new ‘prism Print Summit'. This event will provide key platforms for discussing important industry issues and opportunities for printers and suppliers across the digital, screen and pad printing markets. The first takes place in autumn 2008 entitled Value-added solutions - Price is not the only differentiator. It will focus on ways printers can maximise their business potential by offering additional value-added services.
The Print Summit will be followed by the Take the Green Advantage event. Reducing environmental impact requires effective communications and a relationship between government, business and consumers. When asked, 80 per cent of consumers wanted to make a positive impact, though 80 per cent of these were confused, feeling they were receiving mixed messages and were consequently unsure where to start. Joined up thinking is what prism aims to help promote, and although ambitious, it is my opinion prism should be seen to be trying its best.
A supply chain conference will provide expert advice on current environmental legislation and reveal how industry professionals can utilise the ‘green' message to win new business.
Prism's new offering also includes an exclusive member energy purchase scheme, negotiated specially to provide small businesses with the buying power of a large organisation.
The association has always enjoyed a relationship with Fespa the ‘umbrella' organisation, comprising of 27 national associations across Europe. Being a member, prism has access to a global knowledge resource, events and best practice guidelines. Also, HP has acknowledged the key role prism plays in the industry and has committed to becoming prism's Digital Technology Partner. This partnership aims to support prism's new initiatives, such as the forthcoming summit and conference.
Last but certainly not least, the new prism website promises up to date features and tools to make it easy for the community to engage and interact with its association.
As you can see, prism has an exciting future, one that all UK printers and suppliers should be a part of.
For more information about prism's events, initiatives and membership package, please call John Keith on 01737 240792 or email your enquiry to info@prismuk.org.
