ENGLEWOOD, Colo., December 20, 2004 – Cenveo, a leading provider of visual communications, today announced the launch of eCENergy, a web portal providing access to a suite of eSolutions designed to automate and streamline transactions with customers. Cenveo customers can securely log in to their custom branded web portals, then choose from a menu of time- and cost-saving applications that currently includes an online print ordering and fulfillment system called eCatalog; soft and remote proofing; and digital asset management (DAM). eCENergy is the latest initiative in an ongoing campaign by Cenveo to standardize and improve customer-facing operations throughout its network, which spans more than 80 production and fulfillment sites throughout North America. Its broad goal is to create highly efficient, cost-saving workflows that are compatible with customers’ existing systems and procedures. “We’ve been listening to what our customers are saying about where we need to be two, three, and even five years from now,” says James Cozart, Cenveo Commercial segment vice president of sales, marketing, and technology. “What we’re offering increases their ease of access to their information and assets and makes it easier for everyone to do business with each other now, and in the future.” Flexible eCatalog Capability Cenveo executives agree that of all eCENergy resources, customers are most interested in the eCatalog offering. Dan Furry, director of eCommerce sales, says that the term eCatalog is a blanket description of a number of processes that make up a fully automated print management program for Cenveo customers. Components include online ordering, fulfillment, print-on-demand (POD) with on-the-fly PDF proof creation, inventory management, order tracking, and reporting. Online ordering and fulfillment executes with a shopping cart that lets customers select from a library of inventoried items such as literature, forms, or displays. Additionally, PDF files can be downloaded by users to print themselves or order in quantity. Catalogs may also include specialty items like t-shirts and mugs. POD services include variable items like business cards, stationery, envelopes, brochures or virtually any other commercial print material based on business rules that can be personalized for a particular client. Personalization permits free-form variable text entry, the ability to change pre-approved text paragraphs, and the ability to upload or insert alternative images. eCatalog will then instantaneously generate an online PDF for customer review and approval. Customers may choose to have an approval queue or allow users to submit orders directly with purchase order, credit card or cost center checkout. Cenveo will then print and ship these items digitally or conventionally, depending on the quantity ordered and the customer’s specifications. eCENergy’s eCatalog function “helps our customers to decentralize the purchasing process,” Furry says. “In the past, there were rigid requirements and a lot of paperwork before a field person could place an order. For example, business cards are low-ticket but high-maintenance items that typically required a group to handle them for the enterprise. Now people in the field can access the eCENergy website and do everything themselves. “Online ordering saves time and does away with the administrative overhead,” Furry adds. “It creates a lot of efficiencies but still maintains centralized control.” He also points out that Cenveo can offer customers comprehensive eCatalogs with enough flexibility to grow with their businesses. According to Furry, medium-sized companies will benefit most from the eCatalog product that combines reporting functions such as order history with the ability to drive data like product usage in real time. This data is generated in XML and therefore is compatible with Ariba and other eProcurement platforms that customers may be using to manage their purchasing. As its highest-end enterprise solution for large companies, Cenveo offers an application that integrates with the SAP (software-based systems, applications, and products for common business functions) system used by Cenveo, which is connected to multiple print and distribution facilities. Matt Smith, eCatalog Development Architect, explains that the eCatalog application is connected in real time to SAP, providing the user with inventory, pricing, order status and more. “The integration of the user-facing application to middleware and to back end production systems is really significant,” Smith says. “It eliminates much human intervention for an increase in productivity and accuracy. For example, if you order 1,000 copies of a document through eCENergy and there are 1,500 in stock, SAP will fulfill the order, then automatically generate and submit a replenishment order based on the inventory requirement.” Soft and Remote Proofing eCENergy’s soft and remote proofing services build time savings and enhanced accuracy into the approval process. The soft proofing solution provides customers with an online, collaborative workspace that enables project stakeholders to manage their jobs from creation through print. Workflow begins by creating project folders and then uploading and annotating files with digital crayons or comment notes. Project managers may invite as many team members as are needed to review the work throughout the project timeline. Multiple team members can view, annotate, chat, and compile change order notes at the same time. The synchronized process lets everyone see and react to the workflow. Because images within proofs are actual high-resolution scans, customers can view and approve image retouching, take color readings, and measure size parameters. The project manager can also track corrections and report them to the workspace. After final sign-off, the file is converted to PDF and sent to the designated Cenveo printing plant. eCENergy’s remote proofing component is a branded, turnkey solution called Cenveo ColorScience, which consists of a suite of hardware and software components that will be installed at customer locations and in the high quality commercial print plants that make up the Commercial segment of Cenveo. In this workflow, customers upload job files to an FTP site, retrieve their proofs in digital form, and generate inkjet hard copies of the proofs at their own locations. The workflow is centrally administered by a process-control backbone called Total Customer Solutions, which manages every step from monitor calibration and remote inkjet proofing at the customer’s location to contract proofing, platemaking, and press runs at whatever Cenveo location is printing the job. Customers benefit from reduced production cycle times, streamlined quality control, and cost savings from faster makereadies and reduced spoilage. Digital Asset Management eCENergy’s DAM component aims at giving customers a streamlined tool for maximizing the value of their digital assets—the building blocks of their print and electronic projects. According to Jay Gilbert, director of sales technology development, Cenveo provides customers with a digital asset management workspace that Cenveo prepress personnel can maintain and manage for them or that customers can fully control and manage themselves. eCENergy’s DAM capability gives customers a single point of entry to their business graphics, creating a searchable central repository that enables companies to locate and handle their assets efficiently and better protect their brand image. “Different users have different requirements,” Gilbert points out. “Some want to burn the file to a CD, others want it sent via e-mail. Many users may want to repurpose the file format. Some need GIFs for the Web; others want TIFFs, JPEGs, or EPS files. The benefit is that a single workspace provides access and the ability to edit or crop a file as well as to repurpose it by selecting the appropriate format, resolution and color space for the intended media output.” “In the end, the common thread of all the eCENergy components is using efficiencies created by today’s leading-edge technologies to cut time to market and to drive cost out of customer media production processes from creation to delivery,” says Cozart.