In this episode of the FuturePrint podcast, Alon Bar-Shany shares his thoughts on what it takes to create a business with innovative products and why people coupled with an authentic culture are integral to success. He also talks of megatrends and whether we should be concerned about the future or optimistic that despite the challenges, there remains a bright future for print technology & production.

The journey to digital printing

Born in Israel, Alon has spent 25 years in printing and graphic arts. Throughout his time in print, he has witnessed a wealth of  growth and innovation, explaining that “It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you’re always impacted by print and packaging.” Alon highlight’s Israel’s culture of innovation - within a small and diverse nation, businesses have to innovate to survive.

How to approach crises such as Covid

Alon knows that in every crisis, there is an opportunity. Printing was an essential industry in Israel and he approached the Covid crisis optimistically from the beginning. 

Human nature he explains, is evolving, and he believes that innovation works best in real life, face to face, not through Zoom, explaining: “Understanding customer needs, culture and trust does not thrive through Zoom.” It’s not the first crisis he’s seen and it likely won't be the last, so he recognises the need to look after customers and those around us, not just ourselves, when circumstances are difficult.

Do people drive tech innovation or does tech innovation drive people?

Alon is in awe of the innovative spirit within the industry. He discusses the immense innovation from customers, individuals and small companies, and believes that the amount of innovation that comes from big corporations is very small. When a community is sharing and willing to take risks, that's when fresh, creative and inventive stories are born. 

Failure is an important part of innovation

All the best people fail - Alon explains the importance of learning from those failures.“You need to spark out of the box thinking. Even Nadal loses a few games but you have to be willing to try and pick yourself up every once in a while.” 

Trends the print industry should be investing in

Alon strongly believes that sustainability and environment is at the forefront of minds in the print industry, and should be in all industries. He sees a change; people are embracing it far more in Europe, particularly from the bottom up. Alon believes there is much more action around sustainability and understanding around greenwashing now than there ever has been across the industry.

How to build trust

Iin the end, people are smart and you can't fool anyone for a long period of time. “It's not about what you say, it's what you do”, Alon explains. He shares his belief that the role of the company is not just to make money for the shareholders. “Someone told me that culture is the stories that people tell about the leaders and management in general. That's very true! Funny stories, good stories[...]. You can get a clear sense of what companies are all about once you’ve spent some time at the place, see how employees react to the owner. That goes back to why face to face is important.”

You can listen to this podcast now and find all previous episodes here. 

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