What does it do?
It’s a modular solution of a core MIS/ERP application set (called Pace) with a range of certified workflows including e-commerce, ganging, scheduling, data collection and shipping optimisation.
When was it announced?
The Midmarket Print Suite is the current name for an ongoing development of MIS modules that was started by EFI and continued when EFI’s production software operations were spun off last year as eProductivity Software. Its core is the Pace MIS, which uses some elements developed out of EFI’s many MIS developer acquisitions over the past two decades, and before that to the acquisitive PrintCafé that launched in 2000 and was itself acquired by EFI in 2003.
So it’s hard to put a precise date on it. According to Nick Benkovich, VP portfolio product management at ePS, “the Midmarket Suite has really been decades in the making given the history of many of the market-leading and award-winning components. However the Suite solution approach launched a little over eight years ago during our Connect user event in Las Vegas”.
What are the target markets?
Essentially mid-to-large sized commercial printers, as the name suggests.
ePS has two other general-purpose print MIS offerings: the Quick Print Suite, for smaller printers; and the Enterprise Suite for large multi-site, multi-national firms. There are also more specialised variants for publications and direct mail work. ePS also recently acquired UK MIS developer Tharstern.
The Midmarket Print Suite is targeted in between these, for commercial printers with up to about £15m turnover, although ePS emphasises it’s more about workflows than precise revenues.
“The workflows are many and varied and that is why we spend so much time on certification of workflows for offset, digital and wide-format printers,” says Benkovich. “Add to this the complexity of how they receive jobs via e-commerce, email, spreadsheet or even a phone call – it’s all about delivering a workflow that optimises data entry, reduces production costs, minimises employee fatigue and lets businesses get on with the profitable production of print and fulfilment jobs.”
How does it work?
The Midmarket Print Suite is based around ePS’ core Pace MIS with optional modules that include the MarketDirect storefront for e-commerce and cross-media, and online fulfilment; Pace scheduling or PrintFlow dynamic scheduling; Metrix for job ganging; Auto-Count real-time shop floor data collection; and Process Shipper for single source multi-carrier shipping integration.
The solutions can be run locally at the user’s site or hosted by ePS as a cloud service.
There are also some certified links to third party Rip-workflow production systems including EFI Fiery and HP Print OS for digital printing, EFI Fiery and Caldera for wide format presses and other prepress systems including Agfa Apogee, Heidelberg Prinect, Esko Automation Engine and Kodak Prinergy. Pace has integrated accounting, but customers can link to third party accounting systems.
Connectivity options to other systems can use JDF, ePS’s Integration Toolkit or a full SOAP or JSON based API.
What’s the USP?
According to Benkovich the Midmarket Print Suite is unique due to “the breadth of the ePS solution and the certified workflows, allowing a single-vendor approach and removing the need for the customer to be the integrator for their workflow”. He also claims it offers users “unlimited flexibility in their growth and scale, to add modules and workflows as their business grows and evolves”.
How easy is it to implement and use?
“Many of our consultants that implement the Midmarket Suite are former consultants on our legacy platforms, so they are adept at helping customers transition to the new solution,” says Benkovich.
What training and service support is offered?
ePS provides training for new installations and also for new recruits working with existing installations. There’s “extensive” documentation, online help and recordings of remote online training sessions made as part of the system commissioning – to help recruits learn the specifics of their own company’s configurations and operating procedures.
What does it cost?
As with any modular MIS, there’s no standard answer. It depends on the individual configuration. However, Benkovich says that costs are based on concurrent users, so “customers really only need to think about the maximum number of users that will ever be in the system simultaneously not the number of employees. If a user logs in, completes a task and logs out that user license is free for the next user, who may just need a minute or two to complete a simple task.”
SPECIFICATIONS
Modules Estimating, planning, purchasing, invoicing, inventory management, shop floor data collection, scheduling, and reporting engine
Contact ePS 07969 171675 (Dean Anderson, UK sales), www.epssw.com
ALTERNATIVES
Accura
UK-developed Accura360 offers a combination of MIS, web-to-print, integrated CRM and accounts functions. The MIS handles estimates (for up to five quantities) with templates; sales order and job ticket generation with just a few clicks, proof approvals management, production scheduling, remote data capture, purchasing, stock control, costing, invoicing, and other functions.
Contact Accura 02380 240470 www.accuramis.com
Imprint
UK-based Imprint offers modular configurations for specific industry sectors: flexo, digital, direct mail, foiling and blocking, carton, label, web-to-print, wide format and print management. All systems start with the Imprint desktop and can then be linked to modular functions including estimating, order processing, data reporting, production control, shop floor data collection and machine monitoring, stock control and warehousing.
Contact Imprint Business Systems 01245 231670 www.imprint-mis.co.uk
Optimus
Another UK-based developer. Its main product is Dash MIS, which can be configured to handle most print sectors. Modules cover sales and marketing, customer service, job tickets and job management, production control, remote data collection, live work status display, purchase order management, KPIs and more.
Contact Optimus 01483 740233 www.optimusmis.com
printIQ
An Australian company with a UK development team. It’s cloud-based, with a core set of eight modules for an end‑to‑end estimating, ordering and production. To this can be added Connect Module options, divided up into API, Automate, Pre-Press and VDP. Within these categories are 12 modules. It can be configured for digital, flexo, fulfilment, labels, offset, packaging, signage and wide format.
Contact printIQ www.printiq.com
PrintVis
Supplied in the UK by Kodak, PrintVis is based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 technology. It offers the usual set of capabilities: estimating, planning and scheduling, inventory and purchase, job tickets, job costing, JDF links to production, and a web-to-print module. It can also integrate with Esko and Agfa Apogee X workflows.
Contact Kodak www.kodak.com
USER REVIEW
“The Midmarket Print Suite has revolutionised our business by providing real live-time reports and a unique technology platform, enabling us to make better-informed decisions and respond quickly to our customers’ demands. We can now provide our clients with slick automated processes, delivering quotations instantly and getting print into their stores faster than ever before.” David Bullivant, managing director, Imprint Group, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
