Digital print vendors are facing maturity in corporate markets and fierce competitive pressures in home/consumer markets. At the same time, businesses worldwide continue to spend approximately $1 trillion each year on traditional analog print services. The trigger for change is the arrival of the WEB which has begun to set a new standard for all business communications - a standard that will dictate the role of print in business communications and which will require the increasing integration of print into digital information and work flow. Therefore, direct digital printing will replace the traditional analog print process because that process is incapable of complete integration into digital information flow.

This will not happen quickly or everywhere and will not necessarily replace old markets, but will instead create new markets. The opportunity for the digital print vendor is to use the platform of the WEB to offer enhanced digital print services and systems which start from existing analog print specifications, standards and value formats and offer unique digital enhancements impossible for analog printing.