DirectSmile is one of several recent acquisitions by EFI? EFI buys up leading cross-media developer DirectSmile for an undisclosed sum.
DirectSmile to see integration within EFI's existing Digital StoreFront software? New product incorporating VDP to be released at GraphExpo in SeptemberThe EFI acquisition trail continues, with Guy Gecht's company continuing its expansion into the data space between print and its digital future. Berlin-headquartered DirectSmile represents one of the most significant cross-media platforms; as the claimed originator of image personalisation, its CRM-integrated campaigns drive both inbound and outbound marketing campaigns spanning email, PURL, SMS, social and print. Of particular excitement is the expanded potential for it when wedded to EFI's existing, and potential future, software portfolio.
At the top end of the list of beneficiaries are the users of Digital StoreFront, the digital front-end （DFE） whose seventh version was launched in January this year, and OPS, its existing, standalone cross-media package. This workflow now stretches with greater functionality from Fiery server and MIS/ERP integration forward into new, non-print media realms, with the added sophistication of a software developer that has specialised in that expansion. OPS is already described by Rob Dalby at Clarkeprint as 'three years ahead of itself', containing as it does some of the cross-media and image personalisation features available with DirectSmile. In particular, its existing 'mini-CRM' feature will benefit hugely from DirectSmile's existing interoperability with API-enabled CRMs, including popular iterations, such as Salesforce and Insightly.
What EFI seems to be ensuring in this move is the pace on onward development. It has arguably bought up the master of image and video personalisation – and perhaps the originator, with the German company claiming it was the first to introduce the latter process as early as 2001. Crucially, the return of data to the CRM and outbound personalised collateral based on lead generation is likely to play a major role in the ongoing development of StoreFront, as is HTML-based online document editing.
Various printers out there would be wise to be excited by this acquisition. EFI's digital front-ends for most manufacturers may be printer control and automation software primarily, but JDF1.3 compliance, certified by CIP4, gives it an ease of onward compatibility that should prove attractive to them. Some of these will already be DirectSmile users, counting （how many） as it does amongst its user base; for others, adoption will be made gradually easier. It would not surprise us to see education-led marketing targeting these groups of user emanating from EFI later this year in a concerted effort to convince those still unsure how to option VDP within their existing workflows.
The true excitement in this deal, though, is beyond narrow-format print collateral. DirectSmile will continue to be developed as a standalone software package, but its real power is in its future impact on wide-format, short-run packaging and digital labels. As these applications hit popularity and therefore scale, they require the CRM integration that DirectSmile already contains, harnessing the two-way information traffic it generates. With EFI already broad-shouldered as an equipment provider in these sectors, it is well-placed to lead the way in incorporating their output within cross-media campaigns and with functionality surpassing that presently on offer.
In particular, a wide-format solution will undoubtedly contain the SmartSign Analytics data capture solution, which provides to print the facial recognition popular in larger scale digital signage networks. We know that retail and OOH campaign managers are demanding such analytics, and from that can surmise that EFI anticipates an increased demand for their pairing with wide-format collateral. No other developer has launched this technology quite as successfully; that said, SSA's technology hasn't seen a core update since its launch in 2013. EFI may be biding its time, waiting to acquire an appropriate developer from the existing DOOH world, or it may have the lid on newer developments in house. It could realistically add the full, cross-media-ready, out-of-the-box digital signage solution that is much needed at the lower end of the market – which is traditionally served by print houses.
In the deal, EFI is also buying up an enviable portfolio of users, not just of printers, including major British wide-format player Cestrian, but also fellow manufacturers. In Germany – DirectSmile's home territory – HP's Indigo division is a listed case study, while Canon partner Mapro has used DirectSmile's personalised outbound marketing to enhance trade show attendance. The prevalence of its DFE amongst Xerox, Konica Minolta, Canon, and HP users, supported by Fiery FS100 Pro's JDF1.3 compliance, ensures an active group of users for whom it would be easy to invest in what is now the industry-leading cross-media solution. Ricoh, in particular, is a Fiery OEM partner, suggesting it could be one of the first to benefit from onward development.
Today, it reveals that its first new product post-purchase will be released at GraphExpo, running from September 28th to October 1st in Chicago. Billed as a variable data printing product, its choice of launch venue and its continued sale of the DirectSmile portfolio in the immediate future suggests that this could be a wide-format offering, or one that spans multiple print formats. One also needs to bear in mind a statement made at the time of the OPS acquisition, where EFI stated that it planned to 'combine the two platforms over the coming years so that OPS and Digital StoreFront users will have an easy migration to a platform incorporating the best of both technologies'. One could rightly anticipate that this would be the moment to do so.
Our ongoing curiosity with EFI's countless acquisitions in the software space may not end here, though, and rumour would have it that Guy Gecht will aim even higher the next time his wallet emerges. （Those interested in such chatter may do well to consider other workflow providers that compete robustly with Fiery, and other partners with sophisticated DirectSmile integration.） I can't help but recall my conversation with EFI's top cat and front man at FESPA Digital this year, where, with characteristic animation, he said that "we aren't trying to defy gravity; we're trying to change print to the point where there is no gravity."For Gecht, and for EFI, that means digital production, printing to more substrates, and creating efficiency. Positioned to combine true marketing automation and VDP requiring full integration and seamless data transactions with printer control, ERP, MIS and other workflow-related products, as well as web-to-print, one can discern that EFI's ambition is to become the enabling technology provider for the vast swathe of digital print, and other media, endpoints. Now, we wait to see how it connects the dots to create an integrated picture of print's digital future – and how it enables its customers to do the same.