On May 12th, I hosted my first Print Buying Basics webinar, which included a look at the six models for sourcing print. One of these six – the BPO – stood out like a sore thumb for two reasons: 1) many attendees were unfamiliar with the concept; and 2) this model is very different from the other five ways to source print, which are as follows: working directly with print manufacturers; sourcing through print brokers; working with designers or independent print production professionals; buying your print online; and finally, buying print at one of the ‘big box’ stores.

In these first five models, the customer is responsible for – and has a hand in – the overall print campaign. The customer is directly involved in selecting and working with printers, brokers, or designers/production pros. In a corporate setting, customers are typically part of marketing, corporate communications, creative, purchasing, or PR units. I know of many firms or organizations where multiple units/departments handle their own print purchasing.

It’s the sixth model that many people still know little about, and which has fascinated me for over five years, when I first learned about print management firms in the UK. I spoke in the UK three different times back then, and the growth of print management as a viable model was evident. I wasn’t familiar with parallel firms here in the US.

Since then, I have watched the growth of this business model spread in the US. Today’s Print Tip is meant to introduce you to the concept, which is perhaps best defined as BPO – Business Process Outsourcing.

BPO is the outsourcing of a particular business process to another firm. Some firms outsource HR and benefits. Some outsource call centers for customer service. Some outsource IT services. And some outsource the management of all of their printing needs.

For insights into this model – the BPO of printing services – I spoke with representatives of the two firms that come immediately to mind: InnerWorkings and Williams Lea. Their sites are www.inwk.com and www.williamslea.com, respectively. There are many more companies in this space, but I read more about these two firms, and get emails from print buyers interviewing with them, than any other BPO firm.

At InnerWorkings, I spoke with Jonathan Shean, the SVP of Operations. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Chicago. Currently they are responsible for over $400 million a year in print spend, the majority of which is for large Fortune 2000 corporations.

He described the BPO solution as one wherein a company outsources a particular function “end to end.” For InnerWorkings (IW) clients that means everything from print sourcing, procurement and production to fulfillment, warehousing and ongoing management. The company also provides value engineering consulting for its clients, helping them optimize specifications in order to maximize a printed product’s utility while minimizing its cost.

IW utilizes its people as an extension of the client’s team, often re-badging existing buyers within a client organization and/or placing its own people on-site.

What’s the benefit for clients, I asked? “The main value of our BPO solution is significant cost reduction and increased operational efficiency,” noted Shean. “We have a huge amount of proprietary industry and pricing data, and we’ve built a software platform that gives us incredible visibility into the market at any given time. InnerWorkings has what amounts to an unfair advantage in terms of buying print, and our clients benefit from this expertise.”

InnerWorkings works with clients of all sizes, but Shean did say that a BPO solution tends to be more appropriate for clients who spend over $3 million per year on print.

With a staff of more than 200 print buyers and hundreds of clients, people who work for IW have tremendous opportunities for growth and career advancement.

Next, I spoke with Deb Dulsky, CEO of Marketing Solutions for Williams Lea. One major difference between Williams Lea and InnerWorkings, I learned, is that Williams Lea does a lot more than just print management. (Visit their site for a look at their sector expertise.) Print is but one of their capability sets, and they refer to themselves as global business process outsourcers.

Dulsky explained that they take an evaluative approach with every prospective client partner. They conduct an assessment at no cost to the client to evaluate whether working with Williams Lea is the right solution for them. They specialize in reengineering processes and are typically able to deliver significant savings to their client partners.

They don’t always put their own people on the client site, said Dulsky. It depends on the situation. Sometimes clients keep their own people on site. Sometimes Williams Lea adds some of their own people to work with them. And sometimes their solutions are offshore as well.

Sizewise, I learned that Williams Lea tends to focus on transformative deals.

What do clients get with a BPO solution? With both InnerWorkings and Williams Lea, clients get vendor independence. The companies do not own printing facilities. They have stringent auditing and vetting processes when considering printers to work with.

“Our clients get transparency and visibility,” said Dulsky. “They see everything. We report all of it, hiding nothing from them.” She added that Williams Lea gives their clients better management tools for tracking their print spend.

Let me publicly thank both Jonathan Shean of InnerWorkings and Deb Dulsky of Willams Lea. I will continue to track this business model in the print space. As I mentioned before, I know of many print buyers who’d lost their positions at the height of the recession and who then turned to a BPO to apply for work. It seems to me to be a natural choice when seeking employment.

Should you like to contact either of our contributors to today’s Print Tip, you may reach Jonathan at jshean@inwk.com and Deb at deb.dulsky@williamslea.com.

(c)2010 Margie Dana. All rights reserved.