Duarte Goncalves, managing director DXG Media
Print management companies often just play printers off against each other, they make it clear that the cheapest bid will get the job. We work with two print management companies at the moment, they provide us with around 10% of our turnover each. But I have always said that I don’t want to deal with more than two. I don’t want to be reliant on work from print management companies, it’s too dangerous, they are more focused on price because they need to hit their bottom line. I worry if I see a company whose core customer base is print management companies.

Simon Biltcliffe, managing director, Webmart
Print management is like a rope. It can be used to pull people to safety and save them from drowning or it can be used to hang people. So I don’t think the tool is necessarily right or wrong, it’s the way you use it. Print management can be incredibly disruptive, as we’ve seen in far too many cases, or it can be incredibly useful and just when you need it – it can make a world of difference. We genuinely feel that we are a freelance sales team for our suppliers and we do believe that we are partners. I would certainly never ever try to do anything that was to the detriment of printers.

Roger Severn, managing director, Aquatint
Everybody is under price pressure at the moment, it is a reality of the world that everybody wants a cheaper deal. I think it is a little too easy to blame print management companies. At least with print management companies, you have someone that you have a common understanding with, they are approachable enough for you to go to. A lot of our clients are using cost reduction consultants and they will literally come in and say we want 15% off of everything – they have no idea. We deal with print management companies at arms length, we can turn them on and off as we need them. I definitely wouldn’t want to become over reliant on them though.

Jason Langford-Brown, managing director, Lucid (Clearer Communicating)
I’m always loath to blame the print management companies as, over a long period of time, printers have allowed print management firms to take the added value out of the mix. Print has been busy being commoditised while printers have allowed themselves to become further removed from the clients. On the other hand, print management companies have been busy doing the opposite. That’s not to say that all print management companies are good, though, but the ones that are doing things right, are the ones that are out there adding value.