4Cplus & Dot1 to come up with robotic process automation systems

4Cplus & Dot1 at Wan-Ifra 2019

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Dot1
Sanjay Hiranandani, managing partner and chief executive officer of Dot1 Solutions. Photo IPP

On 12 April 2019, in a simultaneous announcement at Mumbai and New Delhi, 4Cplus (Internet) Company Limited and Dot1 Solutions Private Limited stated that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement.

4Cplus over the year has established itself as a software solutions provider to news publishers, digital media companies and roadcasters. 4Cplus has domain expertise in enterprise solutions (ERP), internet applications, technology solutions, and newsroom automation. On the other hand, Dot1 which was incorporated in 2014, delivers more than 50 services and products in management consulting, technology and business transformation outsourcing.

“We’ve also merged with 4Cplus, which is a technology service and management consulting space with a focus on the media industry. So, Dot1’s services and 4Cplus’s products will give us a cutting-edge in a market that really requires innovation all the time and you don’t
necessarily need to be tied-down to players who aren’t flexible. All the solutions and software providers need to understand the flexibility that the media industry requires at
this point,” says Sanjay Hiranandani, managing partner, and chief executive officer of Dot1 Solutions.

4Cplus and Dot1 offer advertising solutions, editorial solutions, including solutions for circulation and subscription. Post-merger, the companies have laid special emphasis on certain mobile-based applications to facilitate sales analysis on-themove, collections on-the-move, and editorial content. “So, it’s not all about enterprise-in solutions
or enterprise-wide solutions but solutions that allow you to extend your enterprise as well. Talking about mainstream print media, I’d say, nothing dies as such. As newer media comes in and as you get information on your fingertips, newspaper organizations from being in their business of providing news, they’re in the business on providing news
on news. Hence, the content has to be extremely important and once everybody understands that and starts focussing on content, you will find that print will have its avenues and ensure that business continues the way it should,” adds Hiranandani.

At Wan-Ifra, 4Cplus and Dot1 focussed on showing its presence to the Indian media community and the Indian market. “I’ve attended a few sessions and they’ve all been
enriching. A major takeaway from this year’s edition is that print media isn’t dying after all. I’ve been attending this event for two decades and its nice to see the same set of people coming year-after-year to discuss the pain points of the industry,” says Hiranandani.

“We will make certain announcements very soon extending our portfolio. Robotic process
automation is in our minds that we will focus on majorly to ensure we provide automation solutions to the industry. We will soon be announcing some news on that front. Post-merger, things have been outstanding. Frankly, it couldn’t have happened at a better time. There is a constant need for innovations and solutions but those have to come at a
palatable price-point. Not everybody who comes from across the globe understands that. It’s extremely important for us to understand that there have to be innovations and solutions that come at a price point and we do believe that we can provide them,” Hiranandani concludes.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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