Every business has a technology stack; this is simply the set of technologies you use to run your business. The use of the word “stack” is to invoke the impression of technologies sitting on top of each other or the idea of a foundation and then add-ons. Small print businesses have technology stacks that might include QuickBooks and a cloud-based web-to-print solution. Larger print businesses might have millions of dollars invested in a Print MIS, prepress automation software, web-to-print, fulfillment/inventory, etc. Your technology stack generally reflects both the unique needs of your business and the size of your operations.

I believe “print software fit to your technology stack” is an overlooked and often underappreciated part of print software procurement. I don’t sell software, so when a printer contacts me looking for advice, the first set of questions I ask is about their current technology stack. I will not give any advice about software unless I know what the current environment is. Many times the problem the printer is trying to solve can be solved by technologies they already own! Your new print software purchases are going to join the print software you already have operating in your business. It is important to consider if those elements are going to “play nice together” and if you’ll be forced into deciding which solutions you’ll use for different challenges as many software products overlap in their features and functions.

For example, I’ve seen printers where the imposition task is done across three or four technologies. Sometimes the staff configures the composition engine (e.g. XMPie) to perform imposition, other times they do imposition in the prepress solution (e.g. Esko, Prinergy), and yet other times they do imposition on the RIP. As technologies mature, it is common for them to add more features; as all the print software solutions in our market do this, it is inevitable that solutions will overlap. Sometimes it makes sense; other times it only causes confusion.