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We speak to Ed Carney, Sales and Marketing Manager at Optimus, about the benefits that printers can gain from employing a management information system and XMPie software.

What do wide format printers in an e-commerce world want from an MIS today?

Wide format printers increasingly operate in a fast-paced, high-expectation e-commerce environment. They need an MIS that delivers real-time visibility, automation, and seamless integration from online order capture through to production and delivery. Crucially, they expect flexibility: the ability to quote complex products instantly, manage high volumes efficiently, and offer customers live updates and self-service portals. In short, wide format printers want an MIS that is agile, scalable and purpose-built for the realities of digital commerce.

How have MIS changed in the past few years and what is now possible?

MIS technology has undergone a major transformation, shifting from static, admin-heavy systems to dynamic, data-driven platforms. Modern MIS solutions like Optimus are API ready, and integrate bi-directionally with web-to-print, workflow, and third-party applications. Automation is now a baseline expectation, and tasks like estimating, scheduling, job costing and pricing are instant and accurate, and require minimal human input.

Today’s MIS should provide a business-defined estimating tool, integrated customer portals, cross communication between third-party systems and even automate predictive analytics – capabilities that were barely known a decade ago.

What are ‘predictive analytics’?

Predictive analytics are reports that you can use to shape what you do next. Many reports show how well a business has performed to date, but we also build into our reports the potential for the future. We have the main report that can be exported to Excel, but we also have a smaller real-time pop-up summary that is predictive of how current performance compares to last year and what a business can expect to achieve going forward.

Is there a minimum level of technology within a business that is needed to make the most of an MIS?

No. We have customers who are specialist printers and their machinery can be very traditional and button driven, rather than having a digital screen. At Optimus, we can take a mechanical machine and effectively make it ‘smart’ by using our Connect module, which reads a pulse. As long as something passes by the Connect sensor, we can digitise that into a speed, number of sheets, good or bad impressions, etc. So you can get some of the functionality that digital…

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