Announcing Going Visual - The First Book To Describe The Powerful Impact Of Digital Photography On Business Productivity, Decision-Making And Competitive Edge

Harness The Power Of Digital Cameras, Camera-Phones And Video Cameras To Drastically Improve Your Company’s Performance

Orlando, Fla. – February 17, 2005:  A new book introduced today at the Digital Imaging and Photo Marketing Associations’ annual international conferences offers a fresh look at maximizing business performance through innovative everyday uses of mainstream imaging technology. Going Visual, Using Images to Enhance Productivity, Decision Making, and Profits, by Alexis Gerard and Bob Goldstein, published by John Wiley & Sons, reveals the dramatic bottom line results obtained when businesspeople make common use of imaging devices -such as digital cameras and camera-phones- to enhance their interpersonal communications. Business case research demonstrated these profound process improvements benefited companies of any size and industry.

Industry experts and business consultants have hailed the book as the new ‘best practices’ manual for companies of all sizes to drastically improve project team efficiency, decision making, and customer, partner and supplier interactions. Guy Kawasaki, the noted business book author and founder and managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, provided a unique preface for Going Visual in a visual format to demonstrate the power of using the practice in his own business. He commented: “I predict Going Visual will do for businesspeople everywhere what it did for me: Deliver tactical, actionable ideas about using digital photography to improve the way I run my business.”

“We have always known on a personal level that images have a unique power to effectively convey information and to build unity. In a business setting, images have the power to quickly create consensus around information and promote action,” explained Bernard Masson, president, Digital & Film Imaging Systems, Eastman Kodak Company.  “Digital technology enables us to capture and share important moments as they unfold, and access those images anytime, anywhere. Companies that implement visual communication strategies now will reap even greater benefits as technology developments accelerate.”

Going Visual profiles a range of businesses, from the smallest home office to a large Fortune 500 company –thought-leaders who have migrated from using primarily text-based communication to image-rich methods resulting in new revenues, and countless person-hours and dollars saved. 

“Recent technology developments including digital cameras, camera-phones and the infrastructures that support them have brought about a watershed change in how effectively people can convey information” explained Alexis Gerard, co-author of Going Visual and president of the think-tank Future Image, Inc.  Added co-author and digital imaging pundit Bob Goldstein, “When companies use a visual communication strategy, they significantly sharpen the communication processes used in every facet of their operations and that ultimately improves the bottom line.”

Through real world success stories, the book outlines a five-step plan for developing a visual communication strategy that enhances customer and employee interaction, sharpens the organization's competitive edge and improves its bottom line, using broadly available, inexpensive imaging devices and supporting technologies. The authors also describe future directions for imaging technology based on their in-depth research at the world’s leading corporate and academic R&D labs.

"Images are going to be as commonplace in our professional lives as e-mail has become today, adding a richness to business communication that goes beyond what the written word can do," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard. "The recent advances in digital imaging technology and solutions have raised the bar such that soon we will come to expect a multi-media world and single-media will be a thing of the past."

Any business or industry in which professionals spend time describing an object, condition or process - whether its a trade show, sales call, factory or customer visit and much more - can benefit from the advice of Going Visual. This includes, but is not limited to: Multinational enterprises and companies who do business internationally, the more than 7.8 million business managers whose jobs are measured by the bottom line, small businesses which, in the U.S. alone, number 25 million and employ roughly half the country’s work force and the 28 million telecommuters and mobile professionals who need to communicate effectively with their distant colleagues.

“Throughout history, it has been the image, not the word, that people gravitate to first,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Imaging and Digital Video at Adobe Systems.  “The rapid proliferation of digital cameras and camera phones demonstrates how freedom to shoot, edit and share images has become a part of our every day experience. Today, photography isn’t about just capturing memories, it’s about collecting and sharing images that reflect our lifestyles – our work, our play, our families and our passions.”

Adds Bill Giordano, general marketing manger of Consumer Digital Products, Nikon USA,  "Its probably not automatic yet to think of taking your digital camera to work with you and then using it for every-day business communications, but as Going Visual shows the trend is coming, and the technologies are actually already able to support adopting digital imaging into business communication workflow. It’s easy to the see the return on investment for any business.” 

Going Visual provides the basis for a new and rich partnership between the imaging industry – manufacturers and resellers alike – and the business community at large, by demonstrating the enormous value that can be realized through the mainstream, everyday use of imaging products and services in the workplace.

About Going Visual:
Going Visual, Using Images to Enhance Productivity, Decision Making, and Profits, by Alexis Gerard and Bob Goldstein, published by John Wiley & Sons, is the first book to clearly show how the use of imaging devices such as digital cameras or camera-phones in everyday business communications improves any company’s productivity, decision-making, profitability and competitive edge. Through real-world success stories, the authors outline a five-step plan for developing a Visual Communications Strategy that will sharpen every organization’s competitive edge and improve its bottom line. Going Visual puts the adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" to work, with startlingly effective results. The book will be available in bookstores nationwide starting March 4, and is available immediately from the PMA bookstore, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and goingvisual.com.

In addition, goingvisual.com – will be cooperatively developed with technology providers, business leaders and vertical industry experts to provide an online information exchange and marketplace for businesspeople interested in exploring and sharing visual communication strategies, tactics and resources.  For more information visit www.goingvisual.com

About John Wiley & Sons:
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., provides must-have content and services to customers worldwide. Its core businesses include scientific, technical, and medical journals, encyclopedias, books, and online products and services; professional and consumer books and subscription services; and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley has publishing, marketing, and distribution centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb. Wiley's Internet site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.

About Future Image, Inc.
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in San Mateo (CA), Future Image Inc. (www.futureimage.com) is the leading independent center of expertise on the convergence of imaging, technology, and business, with primary emphasis on Mobile Imaging. It publishes research studies on the impact of imaging-focused technologies or business trends in three categories: Infrastructure, Appliances, and Services. Recent topics include: Print capabilities of Camera-Phones, Adoption of Consumer Kiosks and Print Services, and the Convergence of Still and Video Capture Devices. Future Image‘s MIR (Mobile Imaging Report) continuous information service provides a weekly collection of news stories and analysis, a database of over 4,100 archived stories, six in-depth reports each year on key issues in the industry, and private consultation with MIR's editors and analysts.  For more information www.mobileimagingreport.com. Future Image also hosts the Mobile Imaging Summit, a series of by-invitation, limited attendance, interactive events carefully designed across content, venue and amenities to maximize opportunities for participants to identify areas of mutual business advantage, and to make high-level contacts. Events are held in Amsterdam, Monterey (Ca) and Hong Kong. For more information visit  www.mobileimagingsummit.com.

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