Prepress
EFI Previews Enhanced Version of PrintSmith Site Job Submission and E-Commerce Module
Wednesday 01. April 2009 - User-Directed Enhancements Among New Features Available Soon
EFI (Nasdaq: EFII), the world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, is debuting a major upgrade to its popular EFI PrintSmith Site, the job submission and e-commerce add-on module to EFI PrintSmith, at ON DEMAND Conference & Exposition booth 1943 (through April 2 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center). PrintSmith is a comprehensive, flexible and feature-rich print management information system and the market-leading solution for print and copy shops with integration to EFI’s Fiery workflow as well as VUTEk and Rastek inkjet printers. PrintSmith Site enables printers to offer online products and services with complete integration into the PrintSmith system for faster job turn-around and a more streamlined workflow, from the ordering user’s desktop through to production.
Expected to be available in May, EFI PrintSmith Site 3.0 will have key enhancements that are a direct result of customer feedback from the community of more than 300 sites. “The PrintSmith user group at Connect 2008 provided some great input for this release, demonstrating the level at which our clients are using PrintSmith Site to enhance their businesses,” said Ron Teller, EFI PrintSmith product manager. “In beta release now, the new site has an improved look-and-feel, it’s faster, it’s more integrated, and it has more process- and profit-focused features.”
PrintSmith Site complements EFI Digital StoreFront as the entry-level web to print offering for PrintSmith users. “It provides a way for our PrintSmith clients to add a web presence in a very cost effective way, then they can move to Digital StoreFront later on when they are ready to expand their web capabilities,” added Teller.
“In today’s market, PrintSmith Site is an essential tool in making our business profitable. Time equals money, and the time we save because of the integration into PrintSmith makes a difference to our bottom line,” said Shelia Morgan, owner of Lipps Printing. “The most important value of PrintSmith Site is not how much money it makes for us, but how much money it saves us. The savings come from time NOT spent entering the order, typesetting, proofing, communicating back-and-forth with the customer, and then reprinting jobs that are incorrect.”
Key upgrades and new features in version 3.0 will include:
A new “CSR mode” that enables PrintSmith Site job entry by employees. This allows salespeople or CSRs to work with clients over the phone or at the counter utilizing the same input screens the client would see if they were online.
Automated status updates to provide the print buyer with instantaneous and after-hour visibility into the current status of job production.
Support of multiple shipping locations on each job, and walk-in accounts.
Support of online payments, including popular gateways like PayPal and PayFlow.
Ability to add instructive type, providing on-line help for custom PrintSmith Site customers.
Ability to send PrintSmith history to PrintSmith Site, providing a complete job history to PrintSmith Site users, regardless of where the job was initiated.
Enhanced XMPie personalization (VDP) capabilities.