The new year comes full of opportunity―366 blank pages (it’s a leap year). By watching the hottest trends, you can make smart choices that move you ahead of slower-moving competitors.

　　A trend is a statistically significant change in performance of measured data which is not likely to be due to a random variation in the process.

　　A trend is a manifestation of something that has unlocked or newly serviced an existing (and hardly ever changing) consumer need, desire, want, or value. The 'unlockers' can be anything from changes in societal norms and values, breakthroughs in technology, or rises in prosperity.

　　Change can be categorized as evolutionary or revolutionary. Evidence of evolutionary change is made with incremental changes in systems over time. Revolutionary change refers to a sudden change of state and is radical in nature.

　　The printing industry continues to change and some printers capitalize on it and some do not.

　　What can we expect in 2008:

　　LAST OF THE CTP HOLDOUTS
　　2008 will see the last of the few remaining film users convert to CTP.

　　REPLACEMENT OF MANY OFFSET PRESSES
　　New efficiencies will push many printers to replace two or more older presses with one high-productive new offset press.

　　JDF BECOMES A NON ISSUE
　　As we said in the midst of all the hype, JDF is like air―it is just there. And no on should pay more for it.

　　DIGITAL GOES MAINSTREAM
　　Nothing like an inkjet versus toner confrontation to bring digital printing to the forefront. Digital printing is moving into the mainstream of print production and now the decision will not be "whether or not" but rather "which one."

　　PRINTERS FINALLY GET IT
　　Internet penetration has now reached 73 percent for all American adults. This means that PURLs and web-to-print and other approaches that integrate the Internet and print will become important.

　　WE WILL Hire smart
　　It takes a lot of people from a lot of different disciplines to build a successful printing company. Surrounding yourself with the best people is the key. This goes for everyone―from your first employee to your partners and consultants.

　　ULTRA MOBILE PCs
　　Various devices have tried to fill the role between a PDA and a full-blown laptop, but none have taken off. Look for them in 2008 with Flash memory replacing disk drives.

　　INTERNET TV
　　Internet TV has been hampered in the past because broadband speeds were not fast enough to deliver a reliable service. In 2008, ADSL2+ comes online promising broadband speeds of up to 24 Mbps. Bye bye Blockbuster stores.

　　WIRELESS
　　Wimax is a wireless technology that delivers high-speed broadband over long distances. We will all be connected everywhere, all the time.

　　MOBILE VOIP
　　VoIP is a technology that allows users to make cheap phone calls over the Internet. Handset-maker Nokia offers four phones with the ability to use the technology. The convergence of the phone and the PDA began with the Blackberry and the iPhone.

　　Alternative media
　　Advertising in newspapers and magazines, and on radio and TV will continue to be marketing staples, but spending in new media will show the biggest growth as advertisers move money into online, mobile, and alternative out-of-home advertising. Marketers think alternative media is the best way to yield a measurable ROI.

　　Interactive marketing
　　Interactive encompasses new marketing channels such as e-mail and search marketing, online video ads, and social media. Mobile marketing, also a form of interactive media, is getting hotter as consumers become increasingly comfortable using personal computing handsets.

　　The sound of products
　　Snap Crackle & Pop demonstrated the influence and association that sound can have on consumers. Greeting cards have moved consumers into a new level of auditory association. Products will look for new ways to integrate digital media in to packaging and point-of-purchase.

　　Organizations start going green
　　If you as a printer don’t care, you will find that your customers do care and that means you will have to care.

　　Process improvement will be job No. 1
　　Workflow is everything and maybe in 2008 we will find ways to compare competitive workflows.

　　Online education
　　Students use the Internet to do research, homework, contact schools and teachers, and also sometimes to cheat. Distance education will explode.

　　These are some of the trends you will see and experience in 2008.