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PRINT MANAGEMENT
Print management has been good
to YSoft Corporation. The privately
owned company was founded in the
Czech Republic in 2000 and introduced
its SafeQ print management solution
in 2003. Since then, it has gone from
strength to strength, to the point
where it now has annual revenues of
$30 million (US), 370 employees in 16
offices around the world and 14,000
customers (700 in the UK).
YSoft sells SafeQ through approximately
30 partners in the UK, among them seven
leading print vendors and their networks
of resellers. This includes three Platinum
Partners, Xerox, Konica Minolta and Sharp,
plus HP, Lexmark, Ricoh and Toshiba.
Historically, SafeQ has provided public
and private sector organisations, enterprises
and SMBs with everything one would
expect from a print management solution,
including cost recovery, document security,
more efficient/productive processes and
environmental benefits, such as reduced
paper use and lower energy consumption.
Faced with the challenge of maintaining
growth in a mature market with strong
downward pressure on prices, YSoft has
recently announced two developments
of great significance for the future of
the company and its partners. One is the
establishment of YSoft Ventures to mentor,
encourage and support Central and Eastern
European start-ups. The other is the latest
version of its print management solution,
SafeQ6, now available from YSoft partners.
In addition to two major enhancements
to the core product (see box), SafeQ6
provides a platform that will enable YSoft
and its partners to diversify their offerings
and develop new market opportunities.
“With SafeQ6, we have produced a
platform for the first time,” explained
YSoft senior regional sales manager
Nick Parkes. “There are three pillars to it:
one is print management; the second is
document workflow – we are looking to
attract new customers and new partners
through document workflow; and the third
is 3D printing. We both manufacture 3D
printers and develop software to support
3D printers, just as we have been doing all
these years for the 2D market.”
More options
In all, SafeQ now has seven modules,
available individually or collectively as a
suite licence. This, says Parkes, gives resellers
more flexibility when selling to customers.
“If a customer needs four modules, it’s
more cost-effective for them to buy just four
modules, but if they require five or more,
it’s cheaper to go for a suite licence. There
are two ways to approach this: one is for
the partner to lead with modules to keep
the price down and get a foot in the door.
Then, after proof of concept, to take the
opportunity to upsell to the suite. The other
is for the partner to lead with the suite, so
that if there are price objections they can
suggest buying just the required number of
modules rather than the whole suite.”
Parkes adds that SafeQ’s modular
approach also makes things simpler and
more affordable for customers. “Document
workflow is a brand new market for us,
but already, through our feature set, our
platform gives end customers a genuine
all-in-one solution,” he said.
“A lot of customers will have a print
management solution coupled with
document workflow from a different
supplier. Yes, they are integrated and
have single sign-on. But they have two
different sets of licence agreements and
two different sets of terms and conditions;
quite often you are paying for the same
modules twice; and you have two different
support paths. SafeQ6 really is a genuine
all-in-one solution,” he said.
3D Printing
Unlike the SafeQ document workflow
module, which is a logical extension of
YSoft’s traditional business that dovetails
nicely with partners’ own evolving service
offerings, 3D printing is a completely new
opportunity.
Next month, YSoft is planning the
soft launch of an end-to-end solution
developed specifically for the education
sector. This includes be3D printers,
manufactured by YSoft itself following its
acquisition of 3D printer company be3D
in 2014; the SafeQ print management
solution, which allows schools to manage
and control 3D printing for the first time;
and be3D Academy coursework, developed
by YSoft in conjunction with Telford-
based Tablet Academy and educational
organisations in the Czech Republic.
“Whilst schools are introducing 3D into
their curriculum, many are not really pushing
it as they have no control over costs, security
and productivity,” explained Parkes.
“3D printing takes time and schools
don’t want students to send a 3D model
to print and then stand over the printer for
As YSoft partners roll out the latest version of the company’s print
management solution,
PITR
finds out what makes SafeQ6 special
An added dimension
Document
workflow is
a brand new
market for us,
but already,
through our
feature set,
our platform
gives end
customers
a genuine
all-in-one
solution
What’s New
In addition to the workflow and 3D
print modules, SafeQ6 incorporates
two important enhancements to the
print management solution:
1
Client-based print roaming (CBPR),
which removes the need for multi-site
organisations to deploy a print server in
every location. Parkes cites the example
of an organisation like Birmingham City
Council (not a YSoft customer), with many
locations across the West Midlands. Some
will have hundreds of users and quite a
few MFPs and would benefit from a print
server-based environment. Others might
have just one MFP and a handful of users
and wouldn’t warrant a dedicated print
server. SafeQ6 allows you to keep a print
server in larger buildings, but store print
jobs on (and release jobs from) a user’s
workstation in satellite locations. “This,”
explained Parkes, “reduces costs, reduces
infrastructure support and administration
and, because you can’t always guarantee
that the links between the satellite office
and the data centre are going to be strong
enough, mitigates any latency and time-
outs by keeping documents local.”
2
Multi-tenancy, which lets a holding
company, e.g. Kingfisher Group, have one
installation of SafeQ that they can push
out to their subsidiaries, e.g. Screwfix
or B&Q. Rather than having multiple
installations of SafeQ, they can have one
installation and create two tenants, B&Q
and Screwfix, that can each manage their
own devices and their own users and
generate their own reports.
three hours to make sure no one walks up
and takes their model or stops the print
job. With our solution, users send models
to print through YSoft SafeQ6, the world’s
first 3D print management solution; walk
up to the 3D printer and authenticate
using a card, PIN or password; and then
walk away knowing no one can touch
their model because the 3D printer is fully
enclosed. All the doors are mechanically
locked so no one can break into 3D printer
whilst it’s printing unless they are the
owner of that job. And, because that job is
going through SafeQ, we can measure its
cost in time and materials.”
This capability has already proved
successful for YSoft in the world of 2D
printing. There is every reason to suppose
that it will be just as compelling in the
emerging 3D sector as well.
Nick Parkes,
senior regional
sales manager,
YSoft
