Keyline print shop management software integrates via apps
Print Solutions
Keyline, the next generation printing management software can now be integrated with other systems in just a few clicks through apps available from Keyline developer Crispy Mountain’s dedicated AppStore. Apps will soon be available to integrate pre-press and finishing machinery with Keyline. With the move, Crispy Mountain takes the management of printing houses to a whole new level. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Keyline is distributed by Cloud to Print.
Distinct business models and customised software environments have led to the fact that no printing house resembles another. Ever changing market conditions are exacerbating the situation and printing houses must be able to adapt flexibly. As Christian Weyer, managing director of Crispy Mountain, notes, this also poses new challenges for software vendors. ‘Traditional software houses tend to develop their applications into ‘jack of all trades’ solutions to meet all requirements. But that usually leads to difficult to use and inflexible software giants, which are also hard to maintain.’ Crispy Mountain takes a different approach. Keyline is a powerful yet lean management system that can communicate with other applications and machines through open interfaces. Up until now, such integrations had to be developed individually for each customer. This is now changing with the introduction of the Keyline AppStore.
‘With the apps available through our AppStore, we are now pushing integration to the extreme,’ said Christian. ‘We are not talking about integrations that require five digit budgets and take ages to develop, but are done in minutes with just a few clicks. It just works.’
According to Christian, some apps are free while others require a monthly fee. Currently, the Keyline AppStore includes apps for integration with the following applications:
Pipedrive: an easy to use customer relation management system (CRM);
Shipcloud: a unified interface to shipping service providers such as DHL, UPS, GLS, DPD, TNT, FedEx, ParcelOne and others;
Dropbox: for filing and managing various files;
Slack: for communication internally, as well as externally with customers and partners.
Crispy Mountain is continuing to expand its offerings. Other apps are already in development, including connections to the most popular web to print solutions. The apps can also be developed by third party developers.
In addition, apps will soon be available to integrate Keyline with pre-press and finishing machinery. ‘We are already talking to various manufacturers,’ said Christian. ‘The feedback is very positive, and soon the first integrations will show up in the Keyline Appstore.’ Keyline acts as a control centre for all of the processes in the printing house. The system permanently sends so-called events, such as when objects are created, changed or deleted. An app can pick up on these events to trigger processes and workflows. That way, event driven process chains can be designed and processes can be automated.
