Blue Octopus, Aleyant Partner to Develop Print Management Solution

The Blue Octopus team.

Blue Octopus Printing Co., the in-plant for the Anthony Wayne Rehabilitation Center for the Handicapped and Blind (AWRC), has partnered with Aleyant and P3 Software to develop a unique print management solution for a midwestern state government.

Blue Octopus prints for its parent organization, generating revenues and providing jobs for disabled workers. Its external customers span a number of vertical markets including hospitals, marketing agencies, insurance companies, governmental agencies and universities. The organization produces about 10 million printed impressions per year.

Blue Octopus was looking for a robust print procurement solution to support a project with a midwestern state. The solution needed to efficiently handle fast turnaround work submitted through a Web-to-print catalog, as well as custom printing from a single, user-friendly interface. It needed to be able to manage an extensive list of catalog jobs as well as transparently manage vended-out work that fell outside of the defined set of standard products. Vended work required three quotes to meet the state’s requirements.

“The state project was a significant business opportunity for us,” said Joe McKinney, director at AWRC. “Our existing system of tracking work via email and Excel spreadsheets was clearly not going to be adequate considering the volume and complexity of work the project would entail. Over the two-year RFP period, we were able to source expertise from Aleyant and P3 Software to create a unique solution that met all of the state’s requirements.”

The final solution included:

•  P3Expeditor, a software-as-a-service system that establishes a connected workflow for custom print jobs from job origination through supplier selection, pricing, proposal, order and tracking key production dates.
• Aleyant Pressero Web-to-print for fast turn printing from an online catalog.
• Aleyant PrintJobManager to house the pricing and quoting engine driving the Pressero storefront, and automate workflow based on business rules.

“We were pleased to work with Blue Octopus and P3 Software on this unique opportunity,” said Greg Salzman, Aleyant’s president. “Not only were we able to help them put together an integrated workflow solution in response to this opportunity, but we also felt great about supporting their work, including the assistance and job opportunities they provide to disabled people.”

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with IPG. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of IPG.