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IBSA Environment Scan - January 2011:
Printing and Graphic Arts:
Prografica - skills for new brand management services
Multi-award winning company Prografica was established in October 1995 providing offset print services to small to medium enterprises in Sydney’s inner western suburbs. Today, Prografica is positioned as a marketing company offering world class services at competitive prices; its robust infrastructure meets customers’ ongoing brand management needs.
Prografica has increased its market profile achieving repeat and referred business from some of Australia’s most recognised and reputable brands. Its entrepreneurial approach has seen it move from traditional print manufacturing to an industry leading marketing brand management service offering printed merchandise, website design, development and maintenance, multi-touch and multi-channel, direct marketing campaigns along with product warehousing and logistics.
The company has 18 employees and has won awards for innovation, business development, digital marketing and health and safety. As a small company with a growing range of services, Prografica requires staff with core technical competencies in their field such as graphic design, web development, pre-press and digital printing, bindery and sales. Further skills to enable staff to multiskill across the business focus on time management, customer service, leadership and collaboration. Capabilities required by managers at Prografica include technical, project, service and human resources with a functional understanding of production processes, deadlines and budgets.
Prografica’s business development team have two, at first glance contradictory, challenges. Thefirst to boost sales and the second to save the client money. The team has an audit process that uncovers simpler and effective options for customers’ requirements, eg web-to-print solutions or warehousing and logistics.
There are three central strategies used by Prografica to ensure its staff has the skills and capability to deliver its brand management services; firstly hiring people with the appropriate core technical skills; secondly complementing these skills with a work-based exposure and skilling program for the cross functional requirements; and finally purchasing training in specific areas.
The Prografica sales process is based on sales psychology requiring high level client service and business sales competence. Prografica’s experience is that the best result for the business and individuals is learning is to gain skills through learning that is customised to Prografica’s business context. When Kerim EI Gabaili, Prografica’s CEO, was asked what was needed for the business to use nationally recognised training, his response was specific, contextualised skilling appropriate for small-medium enterprises, processes using sales psychology and applied workplace learning in the context of the new printing and communications industry.
Kerim EI Gabaili firmly believes the printing industry must be innovative and use its shared voice in the new world of communication services. ‘There is a real opportunity for industry leadeFS to speak abqut the printing and communications industry of the future to governments, businesses and the media.’ He suggests ‘a road map for the future industry would highlight opportunities particularly for the numerous smaller businesses. The road map would feature the industry rebranding to visual communications and showcasing the industry’s achievements in sustainable production and business practices.’