integrations pragmatic – an ERP that talks to your CRM and your partner’s portal is more valuable than an allinone monolith. Budget for regular maintenance, not just the initial purchase, and designate a systems owner responsible for updates and vendor relationships. Trained & Engaged Employees Transformation succeeds or fails on adoption. Invest in short, rolespecific training that shows staff how new tools make their day easier. Use handson sessions, short video walkthroughs and quick reference cards for common tasks like uploading art files, checking proofs or escalating customer issues. Create a feedback loop where employees can report workflow pain points and wins. Reward suggestions that lead to measurable improvements. Appoint internal champions or subject matter experts for each function – sales, operations, design – to accelerate adoption and keep standards consistent. And remember, a modern company doesn’t rely on any one or two indispensable people. Crosstrain staff on digital skills so small teams can cover issues without bottlenecks. Practical AI Usage Apply AI where it reduces repetitive work and speeds decisions while keeping humans in control. Start with the lowrisk, highvalue implementations. You can automate response drafting for common customer questions or character recognition for extracting order details from faxed or scanned forms. Another common, practical use is simple demand forecasting for highvolume SKUs. Always require human review for customer facing outputs such as quotes, proofs and fulfillment exceptions. Track performance metrics like time saved, errors reduced and customer satisfaction with the end product to justify scaling. When evaluating vendors, ask how models are trained, whether training data is retained and whether there are controls for biased or incorrect outputs. Preparing For The Future What qualifies as digital transformation continues to change, and so must you be. Imagine you’ve been in business a good while and never adapted with technology. That dialup connection probably isn’t serving you well anymore, right? Be prepared for what’s next. Build transformation plans that are adaptable, not prescriptive. Maintain a rolling 12-to-24-month roadmap focused on incremental gains: Digitize proofs, standardize SKUs across catalogs, introduce esignatures and expand analytics for supplier performance. Invest in flexible APIs and modular tooling so you can swap components as needs evolve. There are opportunities to enhance industry collaboration by sharing anonymized supply chain performance data and common integration standards. Jointly developed APIs or shared artwork validation tools reduce friction for everyone and elevate the industry’s service level. Digital transformation for our industry is not a single project but the continuous upgrade of tools, habits and partnerships. Focus on secure, practical changes that deliver measurable gains today while creating resiliency and flexibility for tomorrow. When companies move together – modernizing systems, training people, using AI responsibly and sharing standards – the entire industry becomes faster, safer and more profitable. In short, it transforms. Reed is the director of IT at supplier Showdown Displays and a member of the PPAI Technology Committee. Realistic Next Steps: Act Today 1 Inventory your digital footprint: List software, data flows and thirdparty logins. 2Patch critical systems and enable multi-factor authentication immediately. 3Pilot one workflow modernization project with clear KPIs, such as order turnaround or proof errors. 4Run a two-hour training sprint for staff covering the new workflow and AI prompt hygiene – how to write prompts to improve AI output, protect data and prevent manipulation. 5Add a simple clause to vendor contracts that requires basic security and data handling disclosures. PPAI • JANUARY 2026 • 29 Innovation | Voices
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