eProductivity Software (ePS) just wrapped up its 2023 CONNECT User Conference in Las Vegas, and it is incredible how much the company has accomplished in just over a year. CONNECT is an annual event historically focused on ePS and EFI products. ePS became a separate company just a few months before last year’s event, so this is the first time the company ran the entirely conference, from planning to completion—and it was a success.
What Was Said
Roughly 700 people attended the four-day event that was comprised of keynote speakers, dozens of educational sessions, receptions, and a hall with 24 exhibitors. ePS also had ongoing demonstrations of their various solution suites for packaging, corrugated, mid-market, enterprise and production, as well as quick print. Some key speakers included:
ePS CEO Gaby Matsliach kicked off the event by describing what ePS has done over the past 390 days as well as plans for the future of the company and this event. He plans to continue the CONNECT conference and hopes to evolve it beyond a user conference into a broader trade event.
Printing United Alliance CEO Ford Bowers spoke about this year’s PRINTING United Expo.
Flexible Packaging Association President and CEO Alison Keane shared her organization’s efforts regarding working with the government to create meaningful, effective, and implementable sustainability regulations.
Jessica Lobo, Global Goals and Climate Programme Manager for the UN Global Compact Network UK, shared her association’s successes in identifying climate goals.
Nick Benkovich, ePS Vice President of Portfolio Product Management, spent considerable time with the press and analysts sharing their accomplishments over the 390 days ePS has been an independent company. The two most significant changes to me are:
They rearchitected their offerings to work with other management information system (MIS)/enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Historically, customers had to buy Monarch, Pace, Radius, or PrintSmith Vision before adding other capabilities. Now, functionality like iQuote, PrintFlow, and AutoCount can bring their power to existing customer MIS/ERP systems. Frankly, this is how it should have always been designed.
ePS redesigned their user interfaces to be browser-based, consistent, and contemporary. Many of ePS’s offerings arrived as acquisitions, and their legacy interfaces were anything but consistent. Now, almost all ePS products look like they’re from the same company, thanks to the graphical redesign and the implementation of eFlow communications.
What Was Shown
Production Workflow Advisory Service subscribers will soon be able to read the full event recap, but here are some of the highlights from a few partner exhibitors…
ISCorp is a global provider of custom-designed, managed, and secure private cloud services. The company is one of the options for implementing cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) versions of ePS offerings. They provide more extensive services than cloud hosting services that just rent space. Instead, ISCorp co-developed ePS solutions for the cloud as well as provides server space and first-line technical support when issues arise. Listen to this short conversation with Tim Roloff, ISCorp Vice President of Business Development, to learn more.
Bob Raus, Americas Category Manager for HP PrintOS, Workflow, and Solution Partner Programs, was one of Nick Benkovich’s first calls after ePS was formed. These two companies have made incredible progress getting their products to work together. In this short video, see Bob describe some of their journey over the past 390 days.
OneVision, a company that has been participating in CONNECT for years, has continued to extend its workflow automation capabilities with ePS. Diego Wharton, Senior Technical Consultant at OneVision, shared some of his company’s improvements since we spoke at last year’s event. As you can tell by the noisy audio, the crowd was both large and enthusiastic.
ePS has made tremendous strides in rebuilding its solutions to be highly contemporary in terms of architecture, user experience, and cloud implementation in just over a year. I can’t wait until CONNECT 2024.
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