Happy International Print Day 2016 from eLynxx Solutions! #IPD16 #printsmart

Happy International Print Day!

Under the hashtag #IPD16, eLynxx Solutions is joining the Print and Integrated Marketing community in reminding everyone that print is everywhere and that there are lots of people creating cool stuff with it. This year our theme is #printsmart. Take a bow, you ink-sniffers.

Two years ago, our participation in #IPD14 was a success in terms of finding new life and civilizations in what we now call the “Printerverse.” That event was the first time my @andysolages handle on Twitter rubbed zeroes and ones with thought leaders like Deborah Corn (@printmediacentr) and online communities dedicated to print and integrated marketing (e.g. #PrintChat). I also did some decent sock puppetry on the @eLynxx handle where I did the company promotion thing while being my own straight man. So IPD is special. It’s a good time to connect with new people, learn things, and maybe increase your follower count if your fragile ego is thirsty.

Across social media you’re going to find great content and examples of print under the hashtag #IPD16. Pick your platforms and enjoy. As usual, we’ll be taking this opportunity to get acquainted with more of the great people who make print happen. And since we make software to help print buyers achieve better results (and have better information) as they work with their trusted printers, we’re going to say “hi” first and introduce ourselves with this quick interview I did with our CEO, Mike Jackson.

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Andy: Tell us a little bit about your background. How long have you been the CEO of eLynxx Solutions?

Mike: I’ve had a variety of leadership roles in my thirty-year career, all working with companies who offer technical products and services.  I joined eLynxx as the COO in 2008 and I became CEO in early 2014. And are you going to link to my bio on the website?

Andy: Yeah. It has a pretty good picture of you. Should bring all the print buyers to the yard.

Mike: OK, then we’ve solved for that.

Andy: Pretend we’ve never met. What is eLynxx and how can it help the people who give us reasons to celebrate International Print Day?

Mike: Well, people that are in any kind of print production role are dealing with a couple of things. One is a deadline-driven environment, often extremely tight deadlines, so they have to react quickly. The second is that there are so many moving parts that they have to keep track of. What eLynxx has done is to create cloud-based software for print professionals that helps them coordinate, track, and optimize procurement of print projects. It’s purpose-built for these professionals to be able to rationalize all of the complex details and deadlines they have to manage. Things like project specs, changes, production schedules, vendor capabilities, vendor performance, etc. So it really makes order out of chaos and allows them to more effectively respond to tight turnaround times that are inherently part of producing custom print.

Andy: OK, so with that order, I would get information, so let’s say my boss asked for a report on…

Mike: The most common thing we see is that all the information associated with these projects is residing in different places. So you have a fragmented collection of data sources. Trying to put reports together with that usually involves analysts, it involves a lot of time, it involves a lot of effort. In eLynxx, everything is in one place so all of the metrics that are time based, that are cost based, that are qualitative based, all the project specifications, vendor performance, everything resides in one place. It’s in one database, and we offer a reporting module within the eLynxx software that allows customers to assemble that information and report on anything they want to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEjkqjlpmc

Andy: The King of Pop’s shadow looms large every time you first meet someone. But let’s put “Michael Jackson” to the side for the moment. I understand you grew up in a town called Bel Air. May I call you the Fresh Prince?

Mike: No.

Andy: Fine. Be that way. How can people contact you?

Mike:  I invite anyone who wishes to learn more to visit our website, elynxx.com or call our office at 717-709-0990. I’m a bit of a moving target, but any member of the eLynxx team will be ready to listen and give a sense of how our software can help. And if I can add value to your life with my monthly tweet, follow me at @eLynxxCEO.

To learn more about International Print Day, visit Internationalprintday.org

Happy International Print Day 2016 from eLynxx Solutions! #IPD16 #printsmart

eLynxx Solutions to Provide Print Buying Software to Johns Hopkins University

eLynxx Solutions is pleased to include Johns Hopkins University among the clients using its flagship eLynxx software. eLynxx is cloud software that is built for print buyers to streamline and simplify the specification, sourcing and management of custom printed communications. eLynxx is well suited for higher education where insight to autonomous print buying across many areas is desired.

eLynxx will be used across all colleges and administrative departments at Johns Hopkins. The software will handle marketing, student, faculty and business communications as well as outreach, scholarly and research publications.

Print procurement at most universities, including Johns Hopkins, is spread across the institution. With upwards of 200 vendors, insight into procurement activity, spending, vendor qualification, quality assurance and efficiency is challenging. The range of materials, number of individuals involved and diversity of audiences pose additional challenges to centralized procurement and make the case for departmental print buying.

eLynxx provides a single tool that enables institutional level insight while retaining the autonomy of departmental print buying. Unlike alternative solutions, eLynxx will not replace the people, processes or vendors already in place at Johns Hopkins. Rather, eLynxx empowers those people, strengthens processes and works with the vendors they trust to ultimately achieve better results in quality, service and price.

“Higher education is one of the more complex print buying environments,” said Deborah Snider, executive vice president at eLynxx Solutions. “eLynxx software has proven its value to higher education institutions where print procurement is spread out and insight is desired. Our software allows many different users to work in their familiar capacities while capturing all of the details of each project and providing a centralized source or reporting and analytics. We are excited to be able to bring that value to Johns Hopkins University.”

eLynxx clients achieve cost savings of up to 40 percent per unit and gains in operational efficiency of over 50 percent. More specifically, higher education clients using eLynxx have averaged per-unit cost savings of over 35 percent.

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eLynxx Solutions has been providing innovative products and services for helping organizations manage projects and connect with vendors of custom-produced graphic communication, direct mail, marketing materials, publications, labeling, packaging and all things print since 1975. Born, raised and still located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania along the east coast’s graphic communications corridor connecting Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City, today’s eLynxx Solutions is a leading innovator and provider of project management software for the marketing supply chain. As a software boutique, eLynxx Solutions tailors its cloud software to fit the needs and requirements of its customers, providing the functionality of custom software with the economy of out-of-the-box solutions. eLynxx print procurement software empowers an organization’s people to work with their own vendors and strengthen their own processes to achieve better results. For more information regarding eLynxx software, please visit eLynxx.com.

eLynxx Solutions to Provide Print Buying Software to Johns Hopkins University