Customer Service at the Core

The London School of Economics (LSE) Middle East Centre provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the Middle East and North Africa carried out at LSE. They regularly produce papers on the research carried out there. We spoke to Jack, Communications Manager for the department, about his experience of working with CSP and discussed in particular his long-term business relationship with CSP’s Business Development Manager, Matt Druzkowski, and how that plays a pivotal role in the work we do for them.

He opened the conversation by mentioning that the department had scaled down its print requirements over the pandemic but noted that:

“Digital is fickle, and as we transition into a post-pandemic world it’s become clear that there is a need for tangible, physical papers, particularly at in-person events.” 

The department produces a monthly paper series, publishing the work of the academics as an A4, digitally printed and matt laminated brochure.  The process to produce each report takes about 6 months but it’s at the end of the process where CSP comes into play, when a finished paper needs to be printed in a short time frame, ready to present at a specific occasion.

Jack has worked with Matt for several years and it’s that relationship that brought him to CSP just under a year ago when Matt joined the business. Transitioning print providers can sometimes be tricky but Jack’s faith in Matt and Matt’s understanding of the account has meant the journey has been smooth sailing.  Jack reported that the experience of moving to CSP as a print provider has been good, he said: 

“We’ve had more jobs to put through than ever before, and the output has been what we’re used to, so it’s been an easy transition. There are a few processes that have changed slightly where we’ve had new staff and you’re a new provider, but we’ve been able to work through them with ease.  We always get a complete printed proof so we can check there have been no mistakes, mostly from our end.  This is especially true when we must print in different languages, as sometimes we need to reverse the page order, so it’s good to be able to double-check that we’ve got that correct.”

Commenting on the thing he likes best about working with CSP he said: 

“The single biggest factor is the relationship with Matt. He responds so fast, he’s just on it, and because of the timescales we are working to we need that speedy response.  I’ve also been impressed with the price, quality, and delivery times from CSP, which is obviously the responsibility of the wider team too.”

In summary, it’s clear that it’s important to firstly have a good working relationship with your print provider so that work flows smoothly for all involved, and secondly, that print is beginning to return to the forefront, offering a tangible addition to digital formats that have become increasingly popular over the last few years but perhaps not as useful as first anticipated in isolation.