Article courtesy of Africa Print.com 11 January 2012

 

 

The company will debut its new products at FESPA Barcelona from 21-24 February. Optimus Cloud is unique in being the complete solution for an integrated on-line trading experience; whilst harnessing the full power of Optimus dash and Optimus 2020.

Nicola Bisset, Group Managing Director, said, ‘Optimus Cloud was borne out of extensive research and demand from different Print Sectors worldwide. We are entering a new age, whereby a seamless and intuitive approach to simplifying and automating print purchasing and having instant access to information, is increasingly being considered by print buyers as mandatory. Equally, print providers continue to look at finding solutions to assist them in cutting unnecessary costs through automation, plus finding ways of keeping customer loyalty.’

The product has been designed to combat issues faced by Print Providers using traditional on-line ordering tools which are largely used in isolation. Although a good experience for the buyer, the Print Provider incurs enormous hidden costs in unnecessary administration and duplication which is error prone and costly. Optimus Cloud seamlessly integrates with Optimus dash and Optimus 2020, eradicating these issues.

The product takes a holistic approach to viewing stock availability and ordering stock items, the raising of fully specified production jobs, the automated production of fast quotations and the automatic receipt of orders. It also allows customers to view previous jobs and invoices, plus the status of active jobs. This all adds up to an automated system for the Print Provider with significantly less drain on staff resources; and for the printers’ customer, a completely transparent and fully functional system that covers every aspect of their dealings with their Print Provider.

 

Optimus Cloud is the next generation of complete on-line trading for Print Providers and their customers.

 

Optimus Cloud Suite of Modules includes:

Optimus Cloud Variable Data Orders powered by NxPublisher
Going far beyond business cards and stationery products, the product offers seamless integration with Adobe InDesign by using idml, the xml-format of Adobe Indesign. Ordered products can be downloaded as PDF’s or Adobe Indesign files, ensuring that the Print Provider can post-process with Adobe Indesign. The intelligent image server can handle most formats; gif, png, jpeg, bmp and even vector based eps.

Print Providers are able to import and export their customer specific Indesign templates into Optimus Cloud Variable Data Orders Module. The customer can access the templates and directly edit, save, delete and order their products. Copy, paste and undo/redo, make the editor suitable for complex designs with all changes being immediately visible in WYSIWYG.

Optimus Cloud Variable Data Orders editor’s possibilities are almost limitless and support editing of: text, polygons, transparency, alignment, rotation and a lot more.

 

After the customer has completed modifications of the template, they simply click the order button. The product is then ordered and moved to their shopping cart for final order submission. The order is then automatically converted within Optimus dash into a full production job. A print ready PDF file is also generated and is submitted to the Print Providers pre-press system or digital press; the customer then receives notification that the order has been received. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud Fast Orders

To unify and give customers complete control of their branding, the product allows Print Provider to ‘post’ thumbnails of standard static products. The customer can search and identify the products they wish to order, complete the number required and click to order, these items will then appear in their shopping cart for final order submission. Once submitted, the order is then automatically converted within Optimus dash into a full production job. The customer then receives notification that the order has been received. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud Stock Orders

This has been specifically designed to enable Print Providers to offer finished goods available to order on-line. The customer is able to view stock levels to ensure there are sufficient finished goods available for their order, if not; the customer can simply re-order the items required. Again, the items will appear in the customer's shopping cart for final order submission. Once ordered, the requirement will appear within Optimus dash or Optimus 2020 with an order confirmation going back to the customer. A sales order will then automatically be raised within the Optimus systems ready for fulfillment. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider!

The award winning attributes of Optimus dash have been incorporated into the user experience for the Print Buyer. Harnessing the power and unrivalled flexibility of the dash Sales Enquiry System, Fast Quotes provides instant, accurate and consistent quotations of products specified within Optimus dash, to the Print Buyer.

It provides the Print Buyer with a price on screen; the Print Buyer can request a hard copy or place the order with a simple click. The order will then appear in the customer shopping cart for final submission. Once submitted, the order will automatically appear in Optimus dash as either a full production job or can be held in an order queue for a final check. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud Customer View

This provides simple and easy access for the Print Buyer to view anything that has happened, is happening, or is planned. A full and comprehensive view of sales, financial or production information including: invoices, jobs in production, jobs finished and delivered, quotations, stock levels and job history is available; with the ability to re-order against a historical job.

All information available to the customer is a filtered and controlled view of the information which resides within Optimus dash or Optimus 2020.  All customer views and access are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud has been built as a modular system, in keeping with the Optimus ethos that one size does not fit all. However Optimus has ensured that in designing the system, the end user experience is completely seamless. This means the Print Buyer is able to complete multiple tasks and order multiple products from each part of the system easily and intuitively, all within one order.

 

To read this article and more from Africaprint.com click here