For many printers, the lure for exhibitions such as Ipex is the chance to see big presses and finishing lines in action. However, it is increasingly the case that visitors attend to see the latest developments in software. These days, software tools such as workflow and MIS are as important to a print business as the presses themselves – investing in the right tools can make a huge difference to how efficiently you can operate your business.

While for many years the word workflow has been synonymous with pre-press, which was the first part of the printing process to be heavily digitised, at this year’s show it is elsewhere in the print process where the most innovation is happening. Fujifilm and EskoArtwork are the only pre-press vendors to have announced any significant upgrades to their product ranges – Fuji with the launch of its XMF 3.0 and EskoArtwork with Suite 10.

However, the show should bring news of progress in the development of PDF/VT, the new version of the file that puts personalisation functionality into the file for the first time.

Simplification tools
For static PDFs, Enfocus is showing PitStop Connect, which is designed to simplify file creation and eliminate common mistakes made by designers by allowing printers to ensure customers use the correct settings. The firm claims that, despite more than a decade’s evolution of PDF for print, there are still a huge number of files that enter the workflow with the incorrect specification, leading to costly and time-consuming additional pre-press tasks.

One area where there will be lots to see is the burgeoning business intelligence market.

"Workflow integration is paving the way for more comprehensive productivity benchmarking and business development information," says Heidelberg UK pre-press and workflow marketing manager Lance O’Connell. Heidelberg isn’t the only vendor offering the tools, although with Prepress Manager, Pressroom Manager and Postpress Manager it can claim to have the widest range of products to cover the entire production workflow.

Other equipment firms are also getting into the act, with HP launching SmartStream Analyzer, which can provide comprehensive data on the performance of its machines. It’s limited at the moment to Indigo presses only.

New developments
But it’s not just the equipment vendors who are looking at the business intelligence space. The MIS firms have also invested heavily and often measure a wider range of indicators that better reflect the whole of a business, rather than just one part of production. Optimus and Tharstern will be highlighting their capabilities in this area at the show and both firms introduced dashboards that provided the data recommended in the VIP MIS best practice report.

"Our customers have really latched onto this and have also been asking us to develop their own bespoke dashboards to help manage their business," says Tharstern sales and marketing co-ordinator Ross Edwards.

While web-to-print has been around for over a decade it has, so far, failed to reach the big time and the majority of firms still don’t have a system. Maybe Ipex 2010 will be dubbed the web-to-print Ipex.

"We see web-to-print as a benefit to both digital and offset printing," says Fujifilm European workflow software business manager John Davies. "In the early days of web-to-print, the application was closely linked with template printing for things such as business cards. Today, these systems still offer this type of print procurement, but they are now also used for reordering print work and as a way for accepting ad-hoc jobs with print buyers uploading PDF files. This means that most work could be printed digital or offset, so we see having a web-to-print solution such as EFI DSF combined with our hybrid XMF workflow as being a flexible solution for commercial printer who offer both services.

"The decision to choose EFI as the preferred solution is based on the merits of the system, as well as the fact it is available to purchase as an Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription model, or as an outright server purchase," adds Davies. "In our discussions with customers, we have received requests for both."

Alternative model
Fuji is not alone in seeing the importance of offering web-to-print on a SaaS basis. UK firm RedTie, which is making its first appearance at Ipex, has always run on that basis and remains convinced of the model. Another vendor launching its web-to-print product at the show is Ricoh and it is also offering its package ‘NowPrint’ as SaaS.

"It means it’s not necessary to invest, it lowers the cost of entry," says Ricoh European director of production printing Graham Moore. Ricoh is going even further than other vendors by offering to existing customers using its Ricoh Business Driver Programme the chance to have a six-month free trial of the basic version, ASAP.

While web-to-print is the most obvious e-commerce application for print, it’s not the only one and there is a raft of developments being unveiled at Ipex in the estimating realm.

"Web-to-print is OK up to a point, but for higher value and more complicated jobs, buyers want to be able to search across different companies to find the best price," says John Roche, managing director of Haybrooke Associates, who will be showing its solution to these problems – PDQ – which is what it terms a route-based estimating system in conjunction with Tharstern.

Tougher market
As run lengths and job values fall, printers need to find a way of taking on more jobs just to stand still. This doesn’t just put pressure on the minders having to complete more make-readies, it also impacts the whole business, right from the estimating and quoting stage.
If you’re reliant on manually estimating, then to produce more estimates you need to employ more estimators, which increases costs. If the run length and the value of the job are smaller, then you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place as the estimating cost becomes a higher proportion of the job, putting pressure on your margins.

 "As run lengths shorten and order frequencies increase, an imbalance quickly arises whereby some jobs can cost more to administer that they do to print," says TimeHarvest managing director Geoff Stephens.

Another issue is that, as turnaround times decrease, you also need to turn around estimates more quickly to be on with a chance of getting the work. MIS vendors are addressing this with new tools that make it quicker and easier to create an estimate.

"One of our customers told us that they envisaged the Estimating Wizard would reduce their estimating time by up to 75%," says Shuttleworth joint managing director Paul Deane.

If you’re still in two minds about whether or not to go to Ipex, then perhaps a look at MIS and workflow can tip you in favour. This is especially true if you’re not, despite the nascent recovery, convinced now is the time to be making big capital investments.  The benefits of MIS and workflow investments are that they tend to be much less costly than buying in new equipment and also boast the benefit of  delivering a rapid return on investment.