Working out of Auckland’s Botany South district, Eagle Eye Image has carved a reputation for end-to end-digital printing, offering design, digital and digital wide format print, and web to print. Recently, the company invested in Xmpie, Fuji Xerox’s web to print software solution.
Spence Zheng, managing director of Eagle Eye Image, comments that Xmpie enables his company to offer its customers online print ordering, including variable print, through a customised web portal, as well as the ability to provide personalised, branded online print stores for larger customers.
The generic web-to-print site provides customers the ability to either upload a print file, or avail themselves of a range of preconfigured templates to create personalised business cards and other commonly used collateral. If the customer requires variable print they can upload their data using a specially configured Excel template supplied by Eagle Eye Image.
He says, “We have set up a range of templates that cater for a variety of businesses. For example, if they’re running a café, they can choose a template from the café category, and then add their logo and other content. Once they’ve finished, the software converts it into a print-ready file. Customers who don’t have an account with us pay in advance using a secure payment gateway. Once they have done this the solution routes their job directly to the printer to be processed. If the right stock is in one of the paper trays it will print automatically, otherwise it’s queued until the correct stock is loaded.”
Personalised online stores
THE Xmpie solution has helped one of Zheng’s largest customers, a company with multiple owner-operated outlets across New Zealand. Each outlet requires access to personalised, but managed, brand collateral.
Xmpie has enabled Eagle Eye Image to set up two online stores for this customer. The first provides streamlined online print ordering for each of the nationwide outlets, while the second provides a more complex central store for head office only.
The outlet managers can log in and create and order business cards and other personalised collateral utilising a range of marketing approved templates. When a job is entered online, a series of automated emails with pricing and a proof of the artwork are sent to the relevant administrative departments for acceptance, or rejection. This ensures budget management as well as the integrity of the brand.
Once signed off – again all this happens online – the job is automatically sent to print. The job is output overnight, and then trimmed, packed and couriered to the store the following morning.
The Xmpie software also allows rules to be set around minimum print quantities, and can apply pre-negotiated pricing or discounts. Zheng says the solution has achieved great success, delivering a streamlined process which ensures easy ordering, adherence to brand standards, cost control and an impressive turnaround. He says, “Xmpie basically gives you the diversity of options and flexibility as to how you’re going to market to your clients. The ability to customise stores for individual customers means that we can offer a range of store options to businesses that place frequent print orders.”
No downtime
XMPIE means Eagle Eye Image can run jobs automatically overnight. The ability to run jobs overnight means no downtime for the digital presses and a rapid turnaround for the customers who can react quickly to the needs of their customers, countering competitors’ offers by generating their own personalised collateral for customer-personalised specials or events or doing last minute promotions.
Zheng believes in offering customers the easiest print experience possible. He says, “We want to provide customers with no-hassle printing, day in and day out. They can just go online, place their order, make a payment if necessary, and the next day their job is delivered.”
Fuji Xerox has a long-term partner in Spence Zheng. He says, “Fuji Xerox has been a great supplier since we started in 2007. They’ve always been there to help us grow. They’ve not just been a supplier, but more like a partner. They’re not just trying to sell you something; they genuinely want a good outcome for you as a client.”
Zheng’s professional background includes photography, design, technology and marketing, but his first loves are sales and client interaction. He comes from a printing family and says that, for the last 35 years his father has owned and operated the second largest offset printing company in Nanjing, China.
When Zheng started Eagle Eye Image, his father offered to ship an offset press from China but Zheng had a dream to print digital and started with a refurbished Fuji Xerox DocuColor 5065 instead. He says, “Even back then I knew that digital was the trend and that having an offset press which wasn’t running to capacity would cost us more. In the New Zealand market everybody wants to print on demand, so you don’t need the flexibility to print small and large volumes.”
The popularity of short-run fast-turnaround work necessitated a move to larger premises in Botany, giving Eagle Eye Image room to grow and placing it close to some significant businesses. Growth has led to fuller complement of digital presses, including a new Fuji Xerox Color 800 Press and finishing capability.
Zheng says the Color 800 enables Eagle Eye Image to compete effectively with local offset printers on short-run jobs. He says, “A viable short run in the digital space for us is now 3000-4000 units. The running costs for the Colour 800 are significantly less than our older machines, and the quality and consistency of output is amazing. It’s made us very competitive in the offset space, provided us with more opportunities and more new customers.”
