Heidelberg's Prinect Media Manager Earns a 2015 InterTech Technology Award

KENNESAW, Ga.—July 27, 2015—Printing Industries of America has recognized Heidelberg’s Prinect Media Manager with a prestigious 2015 InterTech Technology Award. This is the 34th time a Heidelberg innovation has been so honored.

Heidelberg’s Prinect Media Manager (PMM) is a browser-based, multi-channel media publishing tool that merges advanced content creation, project management, databasing, e-commerce and more, behind a simplified “mind-mapping” interface that coordinates the work of everyone connected with the job. Media data is stored in a central database, linked logically, managed centrally and made available to all applications. As part of Heidelberg’s Prinect family of products, PMM can be integrated with the print production workflows Prinect customers already use for automated print production.

Good News for Print Shops
Heidelberg is committed to supporting its customers in identifying new business prospects beyond print. Multi-channel publishing tools offer printers an opportunity to strengthen and diversify their traditional print shop business models. New customer segments, additional orders, higher customer loyalty and improved margins are only some of the positive possible results.

“Media communication is undergoing a radical transformation,” commented Jürgen Grimm, president of Heidelberg USA. “Print today is likely to be just one of the elements of the marketing mix for many companies. While Heidelberg continues its commitment to provide best-in-class products and services that enable the creation and mass distribution of our customers’ message, we also recognize our obligation to develop technologies that will provide more options for customers to deliver their message across all available media channels. Prinect Media Manager answers this need by helping provide an efficient structure whereby customers—and ultimately brand owners themselves—can manage the message from concept to delivery.”

Rob Anderson, Heidelberg product specialist for Prinect Media Manager agreed that print is still an important communication channel, but it is far from the only option out there, he said. “Because we live in a connected world, it is imperative that our customers be able to deliver their message across all relevant media channels that are meaningful to their audience," Anderson relayed. "That message, as well as the content and data driving it, must be clear, concise and consistent across all channels. With Prinect Media Manager, printers finally have a way to do much more with customer data than producing it in hardcopy.”

Simple, Practical, Economical
One of the hallmarks of Prinect Media Manager is a basic simplicity that eludes complex database systems requiring IT professionals or computer programmers to utilize fully. Instead, because PMM must be understood by customer service, marketing and graphics professionals, and top management, Heidelberg has developed an intuitive “mind map” navigation menu to simplify data and asset use. This is unique to Prinect Media Manager, shortens the learning curve and significantly increases the usability of the system for all stakeholders.

All data, content and digital resources used by the brand owner are managed in the central database in a media-neutral way. These centralized resources are then made securely available to all stakeholders (via the mind map navigation menu) for the purpose of producing the needed output to any media channel. This data may be used to drive print, Websites and mobile apps, and can even flow bi-directionally to the ERP or pre-existing data systems in the brand owner’s workflow. Output is automated for both print and online media, with changes made at a single point in the system. This enables fast, consistent, uniform control of all media production operations on a single, Web-based platform. PMM’s ability to interface with other data systems via closed loop data interfaces helps maximize the value of these prior investments and simplifies the process in many ways.

“The judges were impressed with Prinect Media Manager’s completely integrated system,” shared Mark Bohan, vice president, Technology and Research, Printing Industries of America. “As the printing industry continues to evolve, technologies like these are critical to the successful transition from one business model to another.” More specifically, “Our panel admired the proactive manner in which resources and content were managed, with updates being pushed out without any further user action,” he said.

Prinect Media Manager is also practical and economical. PMM’s modular structure means it can be customized to provide just the capabilities a print shop wants. Examples include the Layout module and Print plug-in that work in conjunction with Adobe InDesign. The Layout module can open native InDesign documents and templates, make changes, and then save them back to the central database in native InDesign. The Print plugin enables an Adobe InDesign user to access the centrally stored layouts and to database assets they have permission to use. By enabling the brand owner, creative personnel and premedia technicians to work on the same file with a common set of tools, Prinect Media Manager promotes the ultimate in collaboration. Additional modules include:

• Cockpit, the user-friendly navigation hub that provides access to all modules from a single view. The database also can be accessed externally via Web browser.
• Flow, an interface that illustrates and simplifies all phases of the project workflow.
• Marketing Calendar, which generates a comprehensive dynamic timeline of milestones and deadlines for the marketing campaigns in progress.

Print shops that take advantage of PMM can expand their portfolios and transform themselves from conventional service providers into strong partners able to manage and process content for their customers’ media communication. Benefits for printers include better operating margins and stronger differentiation, and, as Bohan also observed, “a close working relationship with their customers, creating added value and client retention.”

Depending on the customer’s needs and IT infrastructure Prinect Media Manager is available in three different configurations, i.e., purchased as a license, as a subscription, or on a usage-based SaaS model, currently under development.

Source: Heidelberg.