Clinical control

A tailored jacket, an altered dress. Sometimes there is nothing like a product designed just for you. Bespoke. Personalised. These are terms we are used to seeing in the sign and wide-format print market. Our clients are increasingly demanding a tailor-made service, so why should we within the sector settle for less from our own suppliers?

There are many management information systems that will claim to streamline your workflow, clear your bottlenecks, and automate more of your everyday processes. Yet not all MIS are created equal. While plenty might work just fine, there are some designed with you, the sign-maker, specifically in mind.

The personal touch

One such option is Clarity Pro. With high-profile sign industry clients such as Hollywood Monster and Signbox, Clarity Software claims this system is perfect for the sign-maker, as marketing manager Elizabeth Jones explains: “Clarity Pro is a ridiculously clever end-to-end business management system designed specifically for the sign and large-format print industry.

“It offers highly accurate estimating, customer relationship management (CRM), production and delivery scheduling, invoicing, purchase orders, and stock management—all rolled into one intuitive, easy-to-use system.”

Accurate estimating has to be the cornerstone of any MIS. Knowing how much a job will cost you is essential, not only to ensure you are charging enough to make a profit, but to allow you to offer competitive quotes likely to win business.



Jones continues: “With Clarity, anyone can create highly accurate estimates in seconds, no matter how complex or bespoke the job. These estimates can even take any wastage into account, crucially, at the point of quoting.

“As well as significantly improving the speed, accuracy, and consistency of your quotes, Clarity gives you full visibility of your true costs and profit in real time—a godsend if you’re looking to improve revenue or grow your business. And that’s just the start. Many of our customers admit that they simply wouldn’t be able to operate without Clarity.”

Indeed, when purchasing an MIS, the functions you initially require often are ‘just the start’, as Jones explains: “As MIS systems evolve, they are able to manage more and more elements of your business—like an octopus that keeps growing new legs. Integrations are a particularly hot topic at the moment too—so if there’s anything an MIS can’t do, it’ll more than likely integrate with another piece of software or company that does. The latest additions to Clarity for example include integration with UPS (for a more streamlined delivery process).”


Jones concludes: “Automation is on the cards for most industries and wide-format printers and sign-making are certainly no exceptions. We’re looking into four key stages of automation which, when used together, will completely change the way we all work. These are: greater automation from confirmed orders through to manufactured products, linking design software to quotation software, augmented and virtual reality selling, and advanced, automated data collection.

“Link together all four stages and you’ve got a highly efficient, sale > design > production > analysis process. It might all sound ridiculously futuristic, but it’s within our grasp and we can’t wait to grab it.”

Pick and choose

MIS systems, then, can utilise a modular structure in order to offer enhanced flexibility to their clients, enabling them to make use of the parts of the system that suit their business needs best. Tharstern is a software firm purely dedicated to the print, packaging, and graphic arts industry. Although many of its clients will be commercial printers, business development manager Ross Edwards assures us the system is flexible enough that it does not matter which sector you are in: “I think there is sometimes still a perception that Tharstern is just for commercial printers, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Whilst our origins from over 30 years ago was supporting commercial printers, over the years we’ve worked closely with customers and vendors from both the signage and large-format sector to enhance our support.



“I think it’s telling in itself that now a significant portion of our 7,000 plus users are from this sector, or at least offer this service, in addition to what they already do. We are proud to support a number the leading businesses, as well as small to medium operations, in the large-format and signage sector, such as TPI and SMP Group.”

Edwards continues: “We offer one MIS with the same engine underneath to support all the sectors. For example, our estimating engine can support the requirements of all the sectors: it’s just down to which elements you choose to use. This means if you’re a sign-maker that also offers small-format digital then you’ll be supported. Or if you’re a commercial printer that decides to offer signage or large-format then you’ll be supported without the need for a different system or modules.”

That said, there are some modules that Edwards notes are often more beneficial to sign-makers, such the Advanced Imposition solution (useful for dealing with non-rectangular shapes) and Job Tracking (particularly important for jobs requiring surveys and installations).

Equally, there are elements of the MIS more commonly used in other print sectors that sign companies might want to take advantage of.

Edwards continues: “Any business, whether you are sign-maker, large format, commercial print, packaging or labels are all faced with many common challenges. Ultimately, all businesses want the same thing—to improve profit. How we go about improving that profit takes different guises. It could be that we want to improve customer experience which then, in turn, retains customers and helps to grow that customer base and maximise revenue from your customers. It could be that you want to increase your sales, be more accurate and consistent with your estimates, respond to price enquiries quicker, streamline administration or automate production workflows. It’s all about business improvement to help increase margins, decrease costs, do more with the same or even less.

“Yes, each sector and even each individual customer have their own specific problems they are trying to solve, but we believe the value we bring is helping customers to identify these and guide them to resolve and improve.”

An informed decision

Another company offering an MIS system tailored for sign-makers is Planability. This firm provides PC-based management information systems designed for a specific business type or sector, and ranging from simple databases to integrated systems.

The firm states: “Most business systems start with order entry, but bespoke manufacturers need to monitor everything from enquiry to invoice (ETI). Planability ETI takes control right from the first enquiry, coordinating and managing all activities right through to the final invoice.

“Whether it is a simple one off interior sign or a complex national rebrand for a major retail chain then Planability ETI has the power to make sure sign manufacturers can estimate, plan, and deliver their jobs profitably.”

US-based Cyrious Software also provides an MIS system specific to our industry. Cyrious Control is a complete estimating and business management system for sign, graphics, and print companies. The firm claims that “companies large and small have come to depend on Cyrious Control to sell more, do more, and make more”.



Its statement continues: “With by far the broadest range of pricing screens (68 at last count) including wide-format, wraps and vehicle graphics, cut vinyl, screen printing, dye-sublimation, embroidery, offset and digital press, architectural and ADA, and electric signs, Control makes it fast and easy to price jobs profitably. You can manage production, track jobs, invoice, and so much more.”

Many might be concerned operating an American-based MIS system from Britain, but Cyrious assures us this is not an issue: “With customers in six out of seven continents, Cyrious has experience providing estimating and business management systems to sign and graphics companies in many different countries. We’ve tailored Cyrious Control to be able to handle the unique requirements of many different countries for: currency, date formats, units, and taxes.”

What, then, should sign-makers be wary of when choosing an MIS system? Jones from Clarity suggests that, as well as assessing the obvious needs such as ease of use, ease of implementation, and quality of support, with such bespoke products as signs, sign-makers need to make sure that the system they choose can cope with complex calculations for all of your sign making processes: “We’d recommend having demos for a couple of systems to see which would suit you best. But beware! Never accept ‘yeah, yeah, it does that’ from the sales guy.

Actually ask to see specific functions in action—especially when it comes to complex calculations. It’s a good idea to make sure the system is flexible enough to suit your existing processes too. You don’t want to be changing the way you work because of your MIS, it should be customisable and optimise what you’re already doing.”

Edwards from Tharstern agrees that it is crucial to make sure you are adopting the right MIS for your business:
 
“Don’t sign up to an MIS without doing your research. Try to focus on what your current system can and can’t do to make sure it can support as many of these aspects as possible. Also, try to think what you might need in the future. The system you are considering might be a solution for your needs right now, but what about in twelve months’ time or five years on? Changing MIS can be quite a task, so try and make sure it’s a system you can use well into the future.”



He continues: “It’s also important to make sure you put the right implementation team in place for the MIS. Create a working group of competent key staff from each of your departments who are enthusiastic about the new MIS. You also need to educate your staff about the new MIS and why it’s being employed, otherwise they may not get on board with it and could cause problems in the future.

“Different MIS providers provide different quotes for project implementation days, but it’s important not to underestimate the training and consultancy required to install an MIS. It can make the difference between a successful system and bad investment. The devil is in the detail and the more time put in during the implementation the more you’ll get from your system. We always gear our projects up for success and make sure the resources are available to support customers.”

O Factoid: The first manifestations of computer-based MIS came from IBM and their mainframe computers, which would often take up whole rooms and require teams to run them. O

Edwards also warns against opting for a company if their instalment time seems too good to be true: “Printers might sometimes say that they haven’t got time to implement a new MIS, and yes, it does take time, but the benefit in the long-run is worth it. If an MIS provider is telling you they can install a full system in just a few days that would get alarm bells ringing for me. How tailored to your business can it be? Ask why, find out what’s included in the training and set-up and whose responsibility it is. What is the ongoing support like once you’ve finished the training? What are the people like? Can you see yourself working with them on a day to day basis? As they are going to become a big part of your team.”

Investing in an MIS system, then, is not a decision to be taken lightly. However, with many options designed specifically for the sign and large-format print market, you are sure to find one that matches your own unique needs.


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