Aproove, which had its worldwide launch at Drupa, creates high resolution file previews and allows agencies to share them with large numbers of named users or to invite guest users to a custom email or Annotation Flow Management tool (AFM).
The system, which is optimised for desktop and mobile devices, is an online approval system that allows users to switch between text, image and layout modes with one simple tool instead of having to use multiple menus. Before and after displays can be compared on the same screen and edits are automatically pushed to users via the AFM.
Around 100 clients worldwide have installed the Belgian-developed software since its May launch and vice president of sales and marketing Serge Lo Grasso said he was expecting sales of the product to snowball. "I believe the competition is dead," he added.
"There is no point in buying a product for your own purposes, you need to think about the end user and their needs. That is what will get you customers, and that is what will help you keep them," he said.
Brightsource is the fifth UK firm to acquire the system, which is distributed in this country by Opal CS. Managing director of Brightsource, Peter Frings said the company had been looking for a user-friendly approval system since Drupa 2008 and had been considering developing its own system until it discovered Aproove.
He added: "The difference with this compared to all the others we have looked at is its complete ease of use. Too many systems are sold on features but they are simply not adopted because their complexity is just a burden to your client. We want to make our clients' lives easier, not harder."
Frings said a major benefit was Aproove’s ability to include so many users.
He added: "Many systems out there are designed to facilitate between one or two stakeholders such as the publisher and the print but if you work more in agency or print management where you might have 60 or 70 users that you want to have access then you need to have a user-friendly package and this is it."
Brightsource initially plans to use Aproove, which costs from €9,000 to install, with its US client IFAW and Frings said it would gradually roll out the system out to a broader range of clients.
