Optimus Group managing director Nicola Bisset
A bi-directional integration between Vpress web to print and Optimus dash MIS has been completed, delivering a number of efficiency benefits for users of the two systems.
It was at London Calling that a joint announcement was made by MIS vendor Optimus and the web to print vendor Vpress, detailing a partnership between the two companies that already has spawned a deeper than usual integration between their respective software systems.
Deeper than usual, you may ask? This ‘industry first’ integration comprises of a multitude of touch points, and enables fast and accurate bi-directional exchange of information between the two systems. Vpress’s Coreprint not only sends order messages to the MIS (Optimus dash), but also receives back communication from the MIS in respect of things such as order statuses, live stock levels and real-time pricing information. This integration was not just announced but shown at London Calling.
‘We are very pleased with the integration, not only because we are once again delivering an industry first, but also because of how well our two companies have worked together to provide this seamless integration to our clients,’ said Tim Cox, Vpress managing director.
‘Now the integration is complete, clients can be assured of a rapid, effective integration between the two systems, allowing for a reduction in time and costs for customers. Added to which, the smooth workflow experience and little administration involved ensures there will be no headaches when commissioning the integration.’
‘Historically, Optimus has had to provide many types of integration to different web to print systems in the UK and overseas,’ said Steve Richardson, sales director at Optimus, ‘but in our opinion many do not offer the right level of flexibility and control that modern day customers expect. Vpress, however, has demonstrated a first class pedigree in the field of web to print for several years, and have a proven track record which we are delighted to be associated with.’
While this integration is between Vpress and Optimus, there are many customers that currently only use one of these systems, and are therefore, it would seem, unable to benefit from this development work. However, according to Optimus Group managing director Nicola Bisset this puts the company a step or two ahead when it comes to further integration projects with web to print systems.
‘We have developed a complete web services infrastructure, and by doing so we have also future proofed the development around the link. There are lots of people with their own websites so they have got capabilities to link to Optimus dash. This has taken a number of months but we took the time to make sure the infrastructure is in place, so that future integration projects will be quicker. We have got the back end now, and hopefully it will be just a case of writing a plug-in.’
For Vpress, linking with different MIS suppliers always requires a fair degree of leg work, said Tim Cox. ‘Every MIS provider operates differently. They all offer the same levels of functionality but the configurations and engines all tick differently. We built this integration with them – it was created with their developers, rather than us being given an API. It was a collaborative integration and the teams worked incredibly well together.’
At London Calling, Vpress had a number of products on Coreprint – a beer label, a business card and a booklet. Coreprint took the order, which backed onto a screen on the Optimus stand immediately. The job was created with all the tasks that have to be completed included, and appeared as a job in production, as soon as ordered on Vpress. No rekeying was required, which helps to safeguard the profitability in every transaction.
‘It looked simple but it’s a very powerful thing to have your customers ordering on site and with just one click you are ready to print it,’ said Ms Bisset. ‘Frankly, this integration is what our customers are asking for.’
‘It means that they are not maintaining two different price matrices; instead it’s all coming from the MIS. This takes out all the processes of rekeying and manual intervention, but also a lot of the maintenance, so the efficiencies that can be gained are huge. There are people getting orders from web to print and then inputting them manually. With this, it’s already in the job sheet in Optimus, all ready to go.’
