Australia’s iMSGlobal has selected Cloudflow from Hybrid Software to ensure full production workflow flexibility across its multi-site operation.
As a creative design, pre-press and artwork production agency, iMSGlobal offers integrated marketing options for many of the world’s best-known brand owners, such as Danone, Nestlé and Unilever. It offers artwork, pre-press, colour and print management across all packaging, point of sale formats, and print processes. These are delivered through collaboration with agencies and print providers. With offices in Australia, Singapore, India, China, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland, the company has a global reach, based on a knowledge workflow and single platform system that is said to reduce time-to-market and improve productivity. A ‘follow the sun’ principle sees teams in different time zones collaborating to support clients and meet deliverables around the clock.
Cloudflow is a modular production workflow suite for printing file processing, asset management, soft proofing and workflow automation. It has been specifically tailored to meet the needs of packaging industry with support for PDF, colour separation, trapping, screening, proofing, etc. Being modular means users can define their own configuration and create a system that works best for their business.
iMSGlobal has already rolled Cloudflow out across its four main production hubs in Sydney (Australia), Mumbai (India), Shanghai (China) and Hull (UK). This enterprise packaging workflow system is fully integrated with the company’s in-house developed MIS. As fully Cloud-based application platform with powerful Share technology, it links across the internet to exchange and synchronise project data and resources to optimise their utilisation. iMSGlobal is also using Hybrid Software’s Packz native PDF editor, which has been designed for labels and packaging to capture all elements of a print job in a single file for seamless pre-press production. Floating licences that can be used irrespective of location has meant Cloudflow has proven itself as a valuable asset during the Covid-19 pandemic, with staff working from home can easily log in online without the need for specialised software.
These are the latest developments in a ‘symbiotic partnership’ formed over the past five years since drupe 2016, which has benefitted iMSGlobal and Hybrid Software, and helped lay the foundations for the global expansion of iMSGlobal.
The company’s CEO Mark Mahoney explained, ‘Although we are a global company, we’re that little bit different to some of the other players, because we really focus on listening to our clients’ needs and being flexible. So, we look for partners that have the same ethos and are happy to work with us to implement agile solutions that support our goals. As soon as we met the team at Hybrid and heard about its innovative approach, we could see that this would be the right fit for us.’
iMSGlobal COO Andrew Gale added, ‘We wanted to find a model that really worked in our industry on a global scale. With Cloudflow, we can easily manage projects around the group and truly ‘follow the sun’. One of the real game-changers for iMSGlobal, is access to all the global hubs within the same infrastructure; managing data in real-time is a huge bonus.
‘Cloudflow is great for maintaining consistency across the board, so we have that continuity in every region where we are active. This is a massive advantage, not just for our technical teams, but for the whole business, and most importantly, for our customers.’
Paul Bates, Hybrid Software’s UK, Ireland and global accounts manager, said, ‘Although this sounds like a cliché, we do work very closely with our customers. Cloudflow certainly wouldn’t be where it is today, if it wasn’t for the bi-directional relationship we have with the iMSGlobal team. Some of the functionalities you see in the software today were developed specifically for it, but to the benefit of all our customers. It has been a trailblazing cooperation.’
Mr Gale continued, ‘Australia is a smaller market, and it was a big decision for us to look abroad. To support this move, we wanted a new fresh solution that would set us apart from the competition, because we needed to fundamentally change the business to make that leap.’
Mr Mahoney concluded, ‘We’re looking to continue growing and we know we have a unique offering that not everyone enjoys. But this is only stage one and we’re excited about continuing the journey with Hybrid Software to see what we together can bring to the market.’
Read more about the effective use of workflow and MIS tools in the July/August issue of Digital Labels & Packaging; register here to receive the magazine, for free
