m-Bossed

Open Source Alternatives for Small Printers

These applications will not replace their commercial equivalents, but they can work in a pinch. Better yet, they can cut down on the number of pricey, licensed seats needed in the office to save you money!

Note: If you are a printer and have not take advantage of Adobe's Partner Connection Print Service Provider program, do it now. (info at bottom of page)

Really, don't wait, do it now.

Adobe Illustrator	vs.	Inkscape Skencil
Adobe Photoshop	vs.	GIMP (make it more like Photoshop w/ Gimpshop Hack)
Microsoft Office	vs.	Open Office Google Docs
Vizio	vs.	Dia

First Mobile Print App

RR Donnelley announced the availability of an iPhone app for its Socrates line of products through a press release last week. The app which allows for mobile viewing, searching, and purchasing, of legal forms such as rental lease agreements and vehicle bill of sales. This is just the first in a series of iPhone related applications the company intends to release. By releasing the first app  on the consumer side of business, the app is effectively a beta test for the two yet-to-be-released which fall on the B2B side of the business. The next in the series will focus on RR Donnelley's CustomPoint and RightProspectus platforms. CustomPoint is a custom developed web-to-print based application, whereas, RightProspectus caters to financial service company's needs for regulatory printing. This release by an industry leader is a pivotal step in mobile development as other industry leaders and suppliers will now take notice.

Read these related articles:
Future of Print: Does your MIS have an App for that?

How big will the mobile Internet be?

photo belongs to RR Donnelley

Future of Print: Does your MIS have an App for that?

The Internet has gone mobile, self evident to any who have traveled lately. Notice the lack of conversation and the bowed heads praying to the luminous screen of an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android, after the plane has landed. Many of the tasks that only a few years ago would have required a laptop and WiFi are now a fingertip away.

The mobile revolution will change the way print is purchased. There is already a market for mobile e-commerce, mostly in the form of electronic media purchases (ringtones, music, etc.), which translated to roughly $27 billion dollars in 2008. As the mobile devices and consumer's purchasing options mature, the e-commerce categories will trickle down to other categories, including print. Sound like the land of dreams and lollipops? Consider you can already purchase plane tickets, movie tickets, pizza to name a few with your iPhone.

As of this writing, only two MIS systems for the print industry have smartphone capabilities: EFI's Pace and Hiflex. Although a great feature, both implementations appear to target people within the print shop. Sure, it is nice for your salesforce to order and track customer's jobs but it would be even better for the consumer to be able to customize and order directly from their mobile smartphone. Unfortunately, most vendors will probably be hesistant to cannibalize sales of their Web2Print software by offering this mobile functionality. Eventually, the same vendors will start to merge their Web2Print and MIS product lines after realizing that the traditional Web2Print model is just a stop gap on the way to mobile ordering. Keep an eye on the developments in this space, eventually "we have an app for that" will be a key selling point.

Get an overview of the current iPhone apps from EFI Pace (via GraphicArts Magazine) and Hiflex. Note: Hiflex requires Google's Chrome if using a PC or Safari on a Mac.

Future of Print: Cloud Computing

Wisps of white, then pink, then orange, floated across the sky as I watched the sun set yesterday. Being a technologist, this got me thinking about cloud computing and what it could and will mean to the printing industry.

What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is defined as "a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction." Simply put its like renting a movie from Netflix where you pay a flat rate to have a movie delivered to your home. When you order the movie you are not at all concerned, let alone interested, in the complex web servers, databases, or delivery route through USPS that is used. The same is true for cloud computing where you are renting time on another company's equipment and services to accomplish your computing needs without having to know the technical minutia of how it is done.

Five Characteristics of Cloud Computing

1. On-Demand, Self-service
2. Broad Network Access
3. Resource Pooling
4. Rapid Elasticity
5. Measured Service

Say again, what is it?
Chances are you have used at least one service, as most consumer based examples of cloud computing are masked as software as a service (SaaS). Perhaps you have used such as service to log into your company's corporate network through a VPN. Virtual Private Network service was one of the first forms of cloud computing but there are others. Salesforce.com, web based e-mail like gMail, Adobe's Photoshop express, are some other examples. Currently, the only real examples to be found within the printing industry are Web2Print applications that are not hosted by the print company, although most Web2Print vendors offer both varieties.

How does it work?
Web savvy companies such as Amazon already offer up their hardware for cloud computing, but new entrants like Rackspace are popping up to compete in this new market as well. You pay the provider a per hour charge for the usage, including the amount of data transfer, and receive a virtualized server with a fixed amount of memory and storage space. Again, it is similar to having your own server with the heavy lifting done by the provider. A 2GB memory server with 80GB stoarge from Rackspace is estimated at less than $100 per month with up to 10GB of upload and 45GB of download. The cheapest server currently offered by Dell is listed at $699 or $58.33 per month which does not include the price of hosting and administering the server. With wider adoption, the prices and performance of cloud computing will outpace the need for small businesses to purchases and maintain complex computing configurations. This technology is not yet ready for explosive growth and adoption because the uses for cloud computing are limited to what software and services can run within their infrastructure. After all, how many graphic arts vendors currently offer any software that their customer can easily deploy and run in a cloud?

Why will it be important?
Software vendors who supply the industry with solutions from MIS to shipping software will start to utilize this technology where appropriate. By effectively outsourcing the technical overhead, the solutions could offer many tremendous benefits for both the vendor and the printer.

• Cost of ownership will be contractual based upon usage instead of high upfront capital expenditures. Imagine being able to utilize a prepress production system via the web instead of hosting it on servers within the print shop.
• Updates will be done in the cloud, reducing the amount of expertise and administrative IT tasks done by the print shop.
• SaaS applications create and empower a more dynamic workforce that can be geograhpically dispersed. Employees can work when they want and where they want while still providing value, not to mention higher retention rates for the company.

photo by: k4dordy

Are you getting the best results possible from your software?

Sometimes our best intentions are simply not enough when faced with the burden of reality. This was my thought as I read the interview of Bob Gay of Mallard Press by Cary Sherburne. After considerable effort to exhaust any available options and much personal anguish, Bob closed the doors to a printing company that had called the Chicago area home for more than thirty years. The path of Mallard Press serves as a cautionary tale for any printing company trying to weather the current downturn while also trying to provide relevance to new markets beyond the conventional printer's model.

Debt load on outstanding capital purchases appears to have been the catalyst that lead to the closure. Their customer orders decreased by at least 15% for a 9 month period making it impossible to keep up with payments. Mallard is not unique, the current economic environment has reminded many businesses about the importance of cash flow and retained earnings. Aside from the financial decisions of the company, there was another equally valuable lesson from the interview - know what you have and how to use it.

Mallard Press had an MIS system in place for many years but migrated to ePace (now owned by EFI) in 2006. During this transition, many manual data collection points were not reconnected to feed accurate costing information back into the system. As a result, the company could not accurately capture all of the true costs associated with any single job.

We basically lost control of what our true costs were.  That was a deadly mistake. - Bob Gay of Mallard Press

I doubt Mallard Press is alone in this regard as most businesses utilize a fraction of an entire system's capabilities. Many factors can lead to an under utilized system whether web to print, MIS, or prepress. The difficulty is further compounded if you are transitioning your business in a new direction or implementing process automation. Here are a few areas to look for improvement.

• Expectations versus Reality
  Complex software installations are never easy and always time consuming. Treat them as projects with a project leader who coordinates targeted dates and action items with the vendors. During the pre-installation phase this will ensure that the right expectations so that the results are realized.
• Training
  Consider and exhaust all available training options. A structured, off-site facility offers the best learning environment away for the day-to-day demands of the business. Web based tutorials offer the most flexibility and can be used for quick reviews. On-site training is always necessary for customization and hands-on learning. The best training plans include a mix of all.
• Employee Turnover
  Employees come and go but business and the software that supports the business do not. It is unrealistic to assume departing employees will fully train new employees. The transfer of information is filtered from the original source which means both good and bad habits are transferred. When possible, send new hires to vendor training which may be offered at a discounted rate for additional employees.
• Performance Reviews
  Not for employees but for the systems. Although not as obvious as preventative maintenance for equipment, computers and software need maintenance too. Set a schedule to optimize the workflow which is also a good opportunity to evaluate the system for maximum productivity. Request an official process review from either the vendor or a knowledgeable consultant who can make efficiency recommendations.

On a final note, I hope that Bob and all others associated with Mallard Press will find success going forward.

Printers on shoestring budgets. A penny wise and pound foolish?

photo by Always Changing Clothing

Tough economic times exacerbate once seemingly insignificant problems. As printers struggle to balance the books, the decision makers often focus on absolute cost cutting measures with reckless abandon while ignoring the bigger picture. You have to mind the cash flow of the business, but companies who can still able plan ahead for post recessionary times will have a competitive advantage over those who do not. Two areas quickly cut from budgets that can have a profound negative impact are preventative maintenance and service/software contracts.

Preventative Maintenance

Machines are expensive. A car that has its oil changed every 3,000 miles is a lot more likely to get you were you want to go reliably than a car that does not have its oil changed at all. The $20 spent at the auto shop protects thousands of dollars in car value. Such is the case with presses, cutters, folders, stitchers, die cutters, booklet makers, and the various other pieces of equipment used during print production. Keeping up with the manufacturer's preventative maintenance schedule will pay larger dividends in productivity and repair costs, than simply hoping the equipment will take care of itself.

Service and Software Contracts

Whether you purchased a new diecutter or the latest prepress production software, the vendor probably offers a service or software contract. In either case the contract is little more than an insurance policy against failure or technological obsolescence. If you have enough working capital to cover the replacement costs of the equipment or the continual software updates, the contracts may still provide some value. Service contracts sometimes include value added services like unlimited telephone or remote support that go beyond the standard repair work.

Software contracts can provide even more value since print technology (like any other technology) is constantly changing. The price of an annual contract can even be less than a single one time update. A perfect example of the changing technology is the Adobe PDF Print Engine. Announced in 2006, the PDF Print Engine allowed prepress workflows to natively render PDF content for output without having to convert the file back to Postscript. The hair pulling, swearing sessions in prepress caused from files that did not RIP correctly because of complex transparencies become a thing of the past. Even three years after release, I still talk to print shops that haven't heard of or haven't upgraded to this technology. The bottom line is that a simple upgrade could save much more time in labor hours than the initial cost of the software.

The bottom line is that a simple upgrade could save much more time in labor hours than the initial cost of the software.

A software contract solves this problem by always having the latest technology while putting it on auto pilot.

Evaluate the options available and note any value added services that are included in the contracts. Remember to also consider more than just the price tag when evaluating the cost to benefit gained by stepping back to look at the big picture.

What do NYC window displays teach Printing Storefronts?

Photo by:Powellizer

• Make it transparent, yet eye catching.
• Break through the language barriers.

The Aesthetics

A snaking line wraps around the entire city block of the Macy's flagship store in New York City for the majority of the holiday season. Both tourists and locals alike gather to see the storyboard scenes that unfold from each picture window. The attraction is the holiday decor although the stores do increase buyer traffic. The retailers of New York try to trump the next for the bigger, brighter, or more realistic display in lure of these shoppers. Simply put, the displays are stimuli for the eye that connect with each onlooker at an individual level. Joy, suspense, happiness, and awe, are just a few of the emotions that are seen in the window reflections. Online storefronts, where print buyers go to place orders, have to adhere to the same design aesthetics to attract and retain customers. If the website is confusing, cluttered, or simply ugly, the online print buyer can simply type in the next printer's URL. Customer loyalty or geographic restrictions are less of an issue for the online print buyer, so the print shop's online storefront must be designed for the greatest appeal or at least to not repel prospective business. The technology behind the user experience must be as transparent as the picture window glass is for the holiday shoppers. Whether ordering template based catalog work or a complex ode to Shakespeare, the storefront should automate every possible aspect of the purchasing experience. iTunes can be viewed as the creme de la creme of online shopping for its ease of use because the technology supports the user experience. Anyone can purchase a song within 4 clicks of a mouse. A feat most printing storefront solutions cannot match.

Speaking the Languages

New York City is a veritable melting pot of cultures. The lines wrapped around the window displays are filled with a rainbow of nationalities. Russian, French, German, Italian, or Farsi, are just a few of the languages that can be heard. Yet the central message in the display transcends any of the language barriers. Everyone gets the message. A print shop's online storefront must similarly be able to speak different languages - the languages of e-commerce. There are many dialects to e-commerce but each speaks to a specific function or purpose. SQL speaks the language of databases. CSS, or cascading style sheets, allow for visual customization of the webpages.  XML is a data format for information exchange. JDF, a specific structure of XML, ties together the production processes of the print shop from management through shipping. VDX is for composing variable data print. The list goes on. Each language is needed based upon the specific uses of the storefront. Not all storefront solutions speak every language, so a careful needs analysis is required. The needs of the customer will ultimately dictate the e-commerce architecture needed. Yet the biggest challenge is to let the architecture support the storefront without overwhelming the experience. After all, lines would not queue up at Macy's every year if the windows were painted white.  

Got software bugs? Outsource the exterminator!

Several years back I installed two different pieces of software on my mother's desktop PC that have served me well -- Hamachi and RealVNC. My mother, like so many others, is not a computer newbie nor is she a technophile. This usually translates into phone calls asking if she should click on this, click on that, or allow this update to continue. Since I live several hundred miles away each  "problem" would usually consist of a not so pleasant back and forth about what was on the screen, what was the error message, or is there simply an OK button. That all changed of course after Hamachi/RealVNC. Hamachi (now called LogMeIn) allows any user or group of users to effortlessly create a Virtual Private Network (VPN). By having a VPN connection established over the Internet, my mother's computer could "see" via IP address my laptop and vice versa. Once this virtual connection was established, I could then type in the IP address of my mom's computer to actually see and control her computer. This has saved me hours of unpleasant phone conversations.

Online services such as WebEx, Adobe Connect, and LogMeIn, now offer more sophisticated solutions for remotely connecting, viewing, and controlling another computer. These services are easy to setup, offer secure connections, and are often free depending on the level of service required.

What if you do not have a techie nephew or business associate to cure all of your computing ills? Sure you could call your local IT specialist, the often under trained staff of Best Buy's Geek Squad, or you could check out a new service called CrossLoop. Crossloop marries the technical remote computer connection of WebEx with the online community of Facebook. If your favorite nephew cannot resolve your problem, then type in a few keywords into CrossLoop and a list of able bodied technicians fill the screen. Instantly you can review the stats (how many completed help sessions, how many customers served) of the technician and user feedback similar to eBay's rating system. Knowing this information should minimize the possibility of requesting and then receiving lackluster service. As an added benefit, CrossLoop does also offer a 48 hour money back guarantee.

The concept of outsourcing work is nothing new to a print shop. Many shops already outsource the production of print jobs to a trade printer, creation of a die to a die maker, and fulfillment of other services to third party suppliers. Why not outsource some of your IT needs?

The next time the desktop in Prepress goes on the fritz, why not give CrossLoop a shot at fixing the problem at far less of an expense than your local computer gurus?