Antalis has opened a new digital academy in Leicestershire, dedicated to helping clients and staff to get the most out of their digital printing equipment. Digital Printer was the first magazine on site. Michal Lodej reports.
A bright and colourful environment, Antalis’s new digital academy immediately gives the impression that it is an area for learning, with comfortable seating arranged in a circle, and a separate seminar room complete with electronic white boards and plenty of product examples.
Antalis says it is the only major digital paper supplier to offer facilities such as this and uses the site for seminars with customers who want to make the move from litho to digital. It is also used by the company to train its own staff, to make sure they are giving the bestadvice possible.
It is this culture of sharing information and ideas that Antalis hopes to capture in its new facility. ‘We now want to be more than just a media supplier, we want to help inform our clients about what can be achieved using digital and also which substrates might be best for the job,’ said Sham Ahmed, national digital sales manager.
He added: ‘We have noticed that the digital printing industry has a strong sense of sharing information with the wider community. It is this collaborative thinking that we hope to encourage and we hope we can share innovative ideas for the greater good ofthe industry.’
Service is obviously an important asset to the paper merchant, evident from the posters in the warehouse which display the message ‘Right Product, Right Pallet, Right Vehicle; Every Time!’
However, now this service will include more than just supplying the right materials.
‘This demonstrates our commitment to this rapidly expanding market sector. Our digital specialists will advise the customer with technical information to try and maximise any investment they have made into digital technology,’ said Mr Ahmed.
February was a busy month for the company, which launched two new products including Novatech digital in the coated segment, which is a premium silk and gloss paper and board range, guaranteed, according to the company, for all forms of digital printing. As well as this, the company has become the exclusive distributer of Arjowiggins’ creative digital papers.
The academy offers a bright learning environment for customers
New approach
With these new products comes a new approach. Antalis is not just concerned with supplying customers with a sample of a particular substrate, but instead will do so in a way which is application led. This means that the samples supplied will be linked to the machinery the customer has in place. This practice will demonstrate the products in action, and give the client a better idea of what a finished job will look like.
Mr Ahmed said: ‘We think that our customers should know the full capabilities of our digital media and that is why we have set up a new sales team. The objective of the team is to work with our customers as consultants, to help develop the job from creation to print. With our specialists we hope our customers candevelop their digital business.’
He added: ‘Thinking about direct mail, the market has moved on from sending out thousands of generic pieces. The future is now personalisation; the future is adapting to your customers requirements, whether it’s using their name, hobbies or their buying habits.’
Antalis has also added a number of tools to help its growing list of digital production clients, such as the d2b digital to business website which is dedicated to large and small format digital printers. The site has some helpful features such as an inspiration section, where customers can show off digitally inspired work.
There is also the ‘Just Ask Antalis’ function, where customers can direct their technical questions online to the company and receive support for a range of issues from a specialist adviser.
The host of additions to the way the company offers its service is a clear reflection of how the industry has changed and great example of how to keep the momentum of change going. The more this industry learns and shares, the more it will thrive.
Watch Sham Ahmed, national digital sales manager talk about the new academy
