Prior to the 80s, if you wanted to check the progress of a job you had to walk onto the pressroom floor and ask the press minder. MIS was the game changer in terms of enabling business owners to keep tabs on the ebb and flow of jobs going through their presses remotely. If you could access the internet through a laptop or desktop computer you could keep on top of your workflow. It’s taken almost 30 years but another game changer is about to make its mark on print.

Tablet computers, such as the iPad, and smartphone handsets, such as the iPhone, are set to change the way that printers do business. Print equipment manufacturers and software developers are currently working overtime to create clever applications that allow print company owners to monitor the progress of work going through their business, regardless of whether they’re sunning themselves on the beach, downing a pint in the local or eating dinner in their own home in front of the telly.

So how exactly will these handheld devices change the printing landscape and how long will it be before they become the norm, in terms of everyday workplace tools, rather then the exception?

There are a number of different ways in which these devices can aid the printing industry, according to Tobin Harris, managing director of iPhone and iPad apps developer Engine Room Apps, but some areas will benefit more from this technology than others

"For tracking and proofing it [the iPhone] is perfect for giving people 24/7 access," explains Harris. However, he adds the caveat that you need the correct IT infrastructure in place to enable the phone to connect to it.

"Many printing companies will clearly already have a workflow, but this will have to be adapted for it to be capable of connecting to a mobile platform accurately," says Harris.

New developments
Great strides forward have already been made on the connectivity front by print industry software developers. At Ipex, EFI showed iPad and iPhone apps for its MIS products. The app for the firm’s Fiery XF enables users to track the production status of prints and proofs and to tie into its global quality management tool Web Control Center – the app links directly into the MIS database ensuring an accurate realtime view.

Dalim Software has also launched Dialogue Touch, a mobile approval app that allows users to view and interact with project files remotely on their iPhone or iPad. The app allows registered users to navigate projects requiring their feedback, view documents in high resolution, zoom, annotate and measure densities for approval or rejection.

Another company active on this front is MIS supplier TimeHarvest. Users of the company’s MIS can simply download the FileMaker Go app from Apple’s App Store for around £24 and access job information on the go. So far the company hasn’t made a massive song and dance about this function, but TimeHarvest director Geoff Stephens says that it’s about to start ramping up awareness over the coming months.

"It’s all grist to the mill and adds to the general appeal of the product," explains Stephens, who sees two main areas of use for tablet devices like the iPad, both based around mobility.

"You can have the manager of a firm walking around the factory floor and updating things live. The minute he makes changes on his iPad it will be changed on the main system. Plus it’s quick, easy and discreet – loads of users want to access the system on a train or at home, but nobody wants to be working on a laptop at the dinner table."

Because the app used to access TimeHarvest’s MIS is owned by another company, Stephens doesn’t know how many customers are using FileMaker Go to access their MIS at the moment, although he suspects that it’s only a handful. His plan is to sit back and see how people use the device over the next few months – then take stock of the situation and use customer feedback to inform the company’s future strategy.

GMC Software is also assessing the lie of the land at the moment, according to managing director Rhys Morgan. He confirms that the business is investigating a number of opportunities around handheld devices, but there’s nothing concrete in the pipeline.

"We’re looking at how we can make best use of the technology. At the moment it’s very much a personal tool, but one of the key things will be getting this sort of thing accepted by businesses, which is when it will really take off," says Morgan.

Manroland subsidiary PPIMedia is doing its best to boost industry take-up through a number of different initiatives, ranging from a smartphone app called ppiTrack, which allows users of its workflow product to track the entire planning and production of a newspaper remotely, through to an exhibition app that it developed for the recent IFRA exhibition to raise awareness of the technology’s capabilities.

But Jan Kasten, PPI’s head of product management and product manager of its app development section, believes that handheld devices won’t just help the workflow department – he feels that a revolution in publishing will be driven by the tablet PC.

"If you watch what people do most in front of a tablet PC like the iPad, first they browse the internet, second they read the papers and third they read magazines and they do this wherever they want – they could be sat at home or even travelling," says Kasten. "Publishing houses have recognised that their print advertising revenues have decreased and they are looking for something to compensate for this decline – they know that they have to change and go off in another direction. There is a light on the horizon and people are waking up and thinking ‘there’s a momentum behind these devices, let’s try that’."

Of course the speed of this momentum will be dictated by take up of the devices themselves. Kasten feels that it will take five years before tablet computers truly take hold, but he wouldn’t be entirely surprised if it happens more quickly.

"Some organisations are forecasting that in 2011, 10m tablet PCs will be sold with 50% of those sold by Apple and the rest by other players so maybe it will ramp up sooner than I think," he adds.

Top-end users
While the rate of adoption, is unclear it’s likely that this technology will have a greater impact (and faster take-up) further up the food chain rather than filter all the way down to those working on the factory floor, according to Heidelberg UK Prinect and CTP business manager, Lance O’Connell.

"I think that it will be a tremendously useful tool for decision makers to have," says O’Connell. "When you’re sat with a printer their phone always goes off every 30 minutes or so and it’s almost always to discuss a job. There is a constant need for decision makers to be in contact with the factory and devices such as the iPad facilitate that conversation."

To address this need Heidelberg unveiled a demo version of Prinect Mobile at Ipex – the app allows printshop managers to monitor the performance of their presses or finishing equipment while they are on the move and will be commercially available around the end of the year. O’Connell says that the response to Prinect Mobile has been really positive and that from a usability point of view the app hits the spot for how people interact with devices such as the iPad.

"In terms of functionality it’s reasonably limited – you can’t drill down to the same level as you could if you were sitting at your desktop – but people don’t want that level of functionally on an iPhone anyhow."

Heidelberg is launching the application on Apple’s devices first thanks largely to the fact that the screen resolution is so good, but the ultimate aim is to launch Prinect Mobile across other platforms.

Apple’s iPad may have taken the lead in the field, but the market will be flooded with similar tablet machines over the next few years, which will bring down the price and make them more accessible to all businesses. In the meantime for print software and equipment vendors it’s about generating awareness to ease the transition.

"When the iPhone came on the market people didn’t really understand it but now every phone is starting to look like the iPhone," says TimeHarvest’s Geoff Stephens, who launches into an anecdote about a recent sales visit

"I was with a colleague at a customers the other day – I’m a dedicated Mac head and he’s a dedicated PC head. We were discussing the merits of the iPad with the customer and my colleague’s argument was ‘what use is it? It’s neither a phone nor a laptop. It’s also quite expensive so why bother?’ We turned to the customer and asked him what he thought and he looked us straight in the eye and said ‘I’m going to get one – it’s so sexy’. Now that was an emotional response and the iPad has got huge novelty appeal at the moment, but in all industries this type of device is here to stay."