Now that SmartStream Director is commercially available (as of May 1, 2009), WhatTheyThink recently had the opportunity to speak with Drew Swankie of Scottsdale’s R and R Images, the first North American user of the system, to find out how this expanded solution has benefited the company. 

WTT:  Drew, I understand that R and R Images probably has more experience with SmartStream Director than anyone else in the country. What drove you to test this solution?

DS:  As you know, R and R Images has been involved in digital printing for a long time, and we are always looking for ways to make our operation more efficient as well as to expand the range of customers and applications we can address.  A focus on the digital print engines misses the boat; it is more important to focus on the entire workflow, from customer identification through the end of the customer lifecycle.  Our CEO, Rod Key, was passionate about getting into Web-to-print storefronts because he understood that they would drive cost savings and efficiency, especially for digital work. With that in mind, we were an early adopter of Press-sense iWay, which we have been using for about five years now.  We were very interested in the HP/Press-sense effort and raised our hand to be a beta site for SmartStream Director.