Prepress
RICOH ProcessDirector users and Ricoh specialists discuss operational transparency at Interact Europe
Wednesday 17. March 2021 - The annual event for RICOH ProcessDirector users invites them to share their insight, experience and operational creativity. Also present are Ricoh specialists who provide updates on new functionality and best practice. This collaborative approach enables users to maximise the capabilities of the workflow management solution.
By Clive Stringer, Director Continuous Feed and High End Software Sales, Commercial and Industrial Printing Group, Ricoh Europe
A greater emphasis on operational transparency through detailed business intelligence was one of the topics featured at Interact Europe.
Users can also work with developers to improve their understanding and offer detailed feedback to help shape its next release. These suggestions are combined with helpful observations invited all year round using the ideas portal built into the solution itself.
Working together enables updates to be made that deliver impactful results. During this past year previous suggestions have been very valuable. For example, features that enhanced security and streamlined ways to feed data into environments were quickly adopted by operations that suddenly found themselves requiring greater remote access as a result of the pandemic.
Further future enhancements and upgrades users would like to see were explored at the latest Interact Europe. Ideas shared and plans made for the scalable solution included:
1 Data integration
With a greater emphasis on operational transparency ProcessDirector users will benefit from integration with business intelligence solution Ricoh Supervisor. Part of a hosted subscription service, Ricoh Supervisor can feedback detailed data, at job level, on the number of sheets and pages created, time taken to print, ink usage for colour and mono, and the number of documents in each job. This more detailed analysis from Ricoh Supervisor helps clients drill down into the finer costs and timings to support more effective planning and budgeting.
2 Enhanced Performance
Business communications are increasing in complexity with added colour and content. Clients are producing higher value, higher quality work at volume. This places stresses on the systems in operation, creating potential performance bottlenecks. We have been working with users to identify where those pressure points are building and how to address them.
3 Supporting the evolving shift
Whether it is a move from analogue to digital, or transactional print to book and magazine production, many operations are making evolutionary shifts in their working practice. ProcessDirector is continuing to move with them to manage the changes in workflow and automation requirements.
These were among the many topics discussed at Interact Europe, influenced by user experience and expert input. Some were in response to current operational needs. Others were pre-emptive with a forward looking view to planned upgrades. All will be carefully assessed as the next version of ProcessDirector is developed and I look forward to being able to share these and other developments and thoughts with you during the course of the year.