The INKSPIRE Podcast

In this episode of The INKspire Podcast, we’re joined by George Rumball , Owner and Manager of the Kall Kwik City branch. He chats to Ross about his journey into the print industry and how he climbed the ladder to owning his own business. They also talk openly about the challenges of leadership and working with a mentor to help shape the way to approach both your role and running your business. Ro...

The way print businesses are estimating is changing. Developing technology means you’re more able to adapt your business and improve internal processes, like estimating. But how far can we take this? Matt Cummins (Operations Director at Elle Media Group) and Chris Smyth (Strategic Performance Director at BCQ) chat to Ross and Andy Strand about the people in their businesses who are estimating, the...

Every piece of technology in the print industry needs to be interoperable, speaking the same language for better connectivity, Karl Ciz, Partner Success at Zaikio explains. Karl explains to Ross the work that Zaikio are driving and why print technology needs a base layer that allows everyone to communicate in the same language to make the process of connectivity much faster. They discuss developin...

Del Simmons, Managing Director at Dayfold joins us for an episode of The INKspire Podcast to talk about their work to improve print training in university graphic arts courses across the country. He chats to Ross about what inspired this initiative, why there’s a need to address the issue of a lack of print education and the interesting work the group have been doing so far. The initiative is bein...

Brendan Perring, General Manager at IPIA joins us for an episode to explore why a strong sense of community and networking is still so important in the print, packaging & converting industries today. Ross asked Brendan about his experience of building meaningful connections and leveraging community to help drive success while in the middle of a digital bubble. He shares with us about the work...

System reviews often get overlooked once the software is implemented and workflow is set up. But this is where issues can occur, and opportunities for positive change can get overlooked! Laura Woodward and Andy Strand (Tharstern experts) chat to Ross about why it’s so important for printers and converters to regularly review their systems, and not just your MIS, but the whole workflow. They also d...

In this special episode, Andy Strand takes over as host and chats to Ross about 4 of the standout episodes from The INKspire Podcast this year. Listen to find out what lessons businesses can take into the New Year and which episode still gives Ross goosebumps when he talks about it. See you all in 2023! Find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & TikTok using @tharstern!

Capitalize the data in your print MIS with Business Intelligence (BI) tools. There are still huge competitive advantages to using BI dashboards to measure & analyze your data, which Dan McLaughlin and Andy Strand explain in this podcast episode. They chat to Ross about the value of visual data provided by these tools and how it can take your data analysis to the next level. Read the blog artic...

Integrating your MIS software with other best-in-class applications is key for upping your CX game. Anthony Pietrocini, Director of Technology at Bennett Graphics, joins this episode to chat with Ross and our Solution Specialist, Mark Jameson , about the value of integration for print businesses, and the cool things that can be achieved. Anthony recalls his journey from working in bindery to runni...

In this episode, we get insight from three under-30s on an important question – how do we encourage more young people into the print industry? Tayler Regan (Paragon Customer Communications), Victoria Blackwell (Page Bros) and Elsie Hargate (Bluetree Group) share their experiences with Ross about joining the industry at a young age, what made them want to work in print and what businesses need to d...

In this episode, Ross is joined by Tharstern’s own John Murphy (Workflow Specialist) and Dan McLaughlin (Integration Specialist) to chat about the what, why and how of print integration. They explain what integration is, how it differs from automation, and the best way to get started with an integration project. People play such an important role in your project, and the team chat about why this i...

Most businesses have a diversity imbalance, especially in leadership roles, and this is something that largely impacts the print and packaging industries and must be addressed. Ross is joined by three inspirational women in our industry - Jo Stephenson, MD of PHD Marketing, Karis Copp, Head of Content at FuturePrint, and Amanda Newman, Head of Marketing at Tharstern. As a group, they open up the c...

In this episode, our host Ross Edwards and Tharstern CEO, Keith McMurtrie chat to Marcus Timson and Karis Copp from FuturePrint about their new vision report. The report explores The Great Acceleration and how this acted as a catalyst for change, the digitization of business and the importance of acknowledging the cyber security risks that come with it, diversification, culture and more. Find Marc...

Roger tells us about H&H's decision to streamline their finances and the benefits they've seen from this, and Anthony reflects on how using this new integration has helped lead to improved processes and more strategic business decisions.  Diogo chats to the group about the integration with Tharstern, what it does, and why other businesses should be using this technology to automate these...

Ross is joined by Dominic Harris , Co-Founder of CarbonQuota in this sustainability special. They chat about the importance of sustainability and how businesses should be creating a 10-year plan for reducing their carbon footprint. They also touch on the integration between Tharstern and CarbonQuota, and how the data it produces can help you stand out within the market.  If you'd like to cont...

Jason Rainbird from Flowbird joins Ross to discuss the importance of a CRM in a print business and how you can start with the basics – even just an Excel sheet! They discuss how CRM systems can offer a level of personalization to your customers and how they can help your sales and marketing teams offer the best customer service. Jason finishes with a great piece of advice for everyone – you'll hav...

Anthony Thirlby of Venn Holdings joins Ross for this episode. They discuss all the topics that the INKspire podcast centres around – people, process and technology. Anthony goes into detail about his experience of systemization, his strategy for attracting young talent into the industry and the importance of clarity for your employees. Ross also asks him what his advice to his 18 year old self wou...

Marcus Timson from Futureprint joins Ross for this episode where they discuss adaptability and how businesses have needed this skill over the past two years to make sure they swim instead of sink. They also explain why you should try one of Trump's strategies when it comes to business storytelling... seriously! Find the links below to the books mentioned in this episode: Carmine Gallo - Storytelle...

Ross is joined by Amanda Newman, Tharstern's Head of Marketing to discuss bionic businesses and how investing equally in both people and technology can lead your company to success. But where does pasta come into it? Read the blog articles discussed in this episode: ✅ Why you should treat your technology like an employee ✅ Don't fear intelligent machines, work with them ✅ Questions to ask for p...

In this episode Ross is joined by Imogen Rutherford and Karynne Townsend from Colateral to discuss all things retail campaign management. Find out how printers have had to diversify their product range to suit their customers through COVID, how the physical shop experience affects online purchasing and how Colateral can help retailers and print companies work collaboratively to see how their campa...

In this episode, Ross is joined by the team at SpeedPro, a Canada and US company who have over 150 franchise sites. They discuss why systemizing your business is so important and how working on your business instead of in your business is the best approach to take as a business owner. After a year of working from home, SpeedPro tell us how they have had an increased interest in office branding to...

For this episode, Ross is joined by Graham Lind at CNC, Computer and Network Consultants. They discuss the real meaning of ‘The Cloud’, the reality of being completely cloud-based and the costs associated with cloud solutions. Graham also tells us about the companies he has worked with adapting to the new home-working way of life and some tips on how to get that balance between working from home a...

Ross and Keith McMurtrie, Tharstern CEO are joined by Vpress Sales Director, Kelvin Bell to discuss Industry 4.0. They touch on the benefits of automation in print, the scary thought of ‘where would we be without tech?’ and why analyzing user experience data is so important for continuous improvement. This episode was taken from one of our TharsternTV episodes, so if you’d like to watch the whole...

Aaron Hartley from Delt Shared Services joins Ross to discuss print plants in the public sector, the importance of personalization in customer service and how print businesses can attract more young talent on to their team. Aswell as being part of the team at Delt, we think Aaron might be a part of the tourist board at Plymouth Council too. To connect with Aaron and read his articles mentioned in...

Web-to-print platforms are becoming more and more popular and the need for e-commerce has increased since the beginning of COVID.  David Whiteley, MD at Flex4 joins Ross to discuss all things web-to-print and why does it involve the famous line from a famous Kevin Costner film? Find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & TikTok using @tharstern! Get in touch to ask questions, or l...