This article is sponsored by Infigo as part of WhatTheyThink's Print Software Product Spotlight series. In preparing this article, the WhatTheyThink Print Software Section editors conducted original, in-depth research on Infigo’s product suite. This Product Spotlight describes what the editors feel are the product suite’s strengths in the marketplace. Infigo reviewed the final article for accuracy but had no editorial control over the content.

Diversification is a common theme in our industry, as communication preferences move from physical to digital, most printers are actively expanding their product mix in order to maintain growth and profitability.

Every single move you make in business today involves technology in some way, whether you want to better manage your sales staff (CRM), improve your labor cost tracking (Print MIS), use technology to reach new customers (web-to-print), or use technology to offer new products (photo gifts). The most dynamic part of the print business is the technology we utilize to connect with our customers in order to offer them new products and services. Mass personalization of print would not be possible without the variable data software that enables it. The whole photo gift space is powered by personalization software that has been specifically tailored around our digital image assets.

Technology decisions can be costly, not just in licensing/subscription fees but in the time and effort it takes your team to implement, learn, and launch technologies to your customers. One of the aspects of the Infigo product suite is the ability to add modules as you continue to diversify. Infigo starts with the Catfish web-to-print platform, on top of that you can add MegaEdit PRO for personalization, MegaEdit PHOTO for photo products, Catfish Hybrid Mail, and Symphony for marketing automation/cross media campaigns. On a single platform you can diversify one module at a time, at a pace that works for your business plan, without the pain and overhead of implementing and supporting multiple platforms.

Your customers might be traditional web-to-print/brand management clients nine months out of the year, then want a holiday program for photo products for three months out of the year. Your customer’s needs can evolve over time or be seasonal in nature. Your investment in Infigo will allow you to flex your offering to meet the changing needs of your customers.

All web technologies have to prioritize mobile. Too many legacy solutions lack the infrastructure to support responsive design and modern programming languages. I hope that in another year or two we are not identifying “responsive design” as a strength of any platform because it is really an absolute requirement. Infigo prioritizes around the user experience and the user interface because that’s the whole product to the printer’s customers. The Infigo approach is not just about being responsive/mobile friendly, it’s about enabling the printer to create a user interface that sells the program rather than making adoption of the web-to-print program a struggle. User adoption is greatly impacted by usability and design. The way users feel about the interface impacts their willingness to use it.

The third strength I noticed during my research of the Infigo company and product line has nothing to do with their product but might be one of their biggest strengths. Let’s simply call this attribute a “proactive approach” to just about everything. Technology is important but you don’t partner with technologies, you partner with the people running the technology company. Printers need technology partners more than ever today, because you simply can’t learn it all, know it all, keep up with it all. You need to buy your way onto your partner’s team of experts so as they move their technology forward, your company benefits from that progress.

One of the most important areas where you want a proactive partner is with integrations. No printer should buy “point solutions” anymore, those are the solutions that create dead end workflows, or as my colleague calls them “web-to-nowhere” or web-to-duplicate order entry.” Infigo is out proactively integrating with Print MIS solutions, HP’s new PrintOS, and fulfillment solutions. You want a partner that has the right technology stack and just as important the right attitude towards integration up and down stream of their solution.

Because our industry experienced a couple decades of consistent growth and dominance, our hunger for innovation waned. Infigo brings a much needed drive to innovate into the industry. This innovation focus has the proper balance between what the printer wants and what will make the printer successful with their customer. The only thing the customer sees is the user interface, they don’t care about your automated workflows or your imposition tools – they want a solution that gets adopted so they can see the ROI of working with you. Infigo is focused there because they know that’s what makes printers ultimately successful with web-to-print solutions – driving adoption and engagement with the customer and enabling a constant expansion of products that can be offered through the same platform.