Heidelberg has announced its new open and independent cloud-based collaboration platform for the printing industry, Zaikio.
The move follows the company’s takeover of cloud software business Crispy Mountain about a year ago.
Heidelberg CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer said the solution was launched as the company saw that print shops were faced with the challenge of making ever shorter and more varied runs cost-effective, and that the increasingly complex relationships between these print shops, their customers, and various business partners need to be managed efficiently.
He said the solution was to establish fully automated, integrated processes across company boundaries that make workflows and transactions between printers, software providers, equipment manufacturers, and suppliers far, far simpler.
“With the open industry platform Zaikio, Heidelberg is actively meeting the challenges faced by the printing sector in the digital era. This marks the next milestone in the industry’s digitisation,” Hundsdörfer said.
Zaikio unites all industry players on a single platform using three key elements: the free Zaikio Account, which enables all users to log into connected software systems with a single login; the Zaikio Hub, used to administer personal and organisation-based accounts that link the services and software of the various providers; and Mission Control, the print shop’s digital control center which enables all data to be received in a standardised form, and read, edited, and restored by other apps.
Hundsdörfer added that the result is straightforward, standardised data exchange between software, hardware, and the partners involved, which creates the basis for end-to-end automated process chains.
“In addition to making complete processes and collaboration much simpler in the printing industry, Zaikio also has the potential to secure a profitable future for its users. As a founding partner and driving force of Zaikio, Heidelberg is open to working with other strategic partners and investors to grasp the opportunities digitisation offers an entire industry,” he mentioned.
Heidelberg is calling on early adopters to help gradually shape, expand, and establish the platform.
Zaikio interfaces and tools enable potential partners and investors to link their products with the platform and make them available to all users via the Zaikio Hub.
Heidelberg said “a large number” of the industry’s software providers are on board from the outset, and preparations are being made for further cooperation agreements.
“Only a shared, open platform that unites as many industry players as possible can bring about the change and standardisation so urgently required,” Zaikio managing director Matthias Prinz said.
“Zaikio is just such a platform, combining the comprehensive Heidelberg know-how and network with Zaikio’s agile philosophy. Over the coming months, we’ll gradually be unveiling and establishing our platform,” he added.
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