sions,” Thurston says, adding “With a strong emphasis on innovation, PrintIQ aims to support printers in increasing efficiency, improving customer service, and maintaining profitability in an increasingly competitive print market.” On this, Thurston offers more general advice on what to look for if you are in the market for a new MIS. He says a high-quality MIS should deliver automation, visibility, and scalability, while PSPs should also look for software that streamlines estimating, job costing, scheduling, inventory management, invoicing, and reporting in a single integrated platform. “Real-time data access is essential for monitoring job profitability, production efficiency, and sales performance,” he says, continuing: “Integration capabilities are another priority, a strong MIS should connect seamlessly with accounting tools, web-to-print portals, prepress software, and production equipment. Ease of use and strong onboarding support are also critical, ensuring staff can adopt the system quickly.” Minimise Disruption Elsewhere, Sam Yarnall, marketing and sales director at Clarity Software, says many legacy MIS platforms have reached the limits of what they can reasonably support. She says years of job history may be locked in outdated software with no clean upgrade path and attempts to modernise them often result in broken workflows or missing functionality. In those cases, a clean transition to a modern, cloud-native MIS is usually the better option. “The key is to minimise disruption,” Yarnall advises, continuing: “Businesses should look for systems that allow them to trial the software properly, using real jobs, without large setup fees or long-term commitments. A full overhaul does not have to mean starting from scratch if the migration is handled carefully and with strong onboarding support. “A quality MIS should reduce admin stress, not add to it. That means a single source of truth where quotes, artwork, job progress, production notes, and invoices are stored together. Information should flow naturally from one stage to the next, without retyping or manual checks.” Yarnall goes on to say that visibility is critical, explaining teams need to see job status in real-time so deadlines are predictable rather than guessed. She adds pricing must be consistent and up to date, particularly in an environment of rising material costs, and that the system must be intuitive enough to enable new staff to be productive quickly. “Just as important is the support model,” Yarnall adds, continuing: “Printers should look for a provider that understands the print industry and offers hands-on onboarding, ongoing support, and flexibility rather than locking customers into rigid contracts.” As for Clarity Software, Yarnall says the company continues to invest in features that simplify the most error-prone parts of print workflows. One recent example is the launch of Artwork Approvals for Clarity Go Premium, a feature that consolidates the Cloud-based MIS platforms provide round-the-clock operational visibility across various devices. 24/7 ▲ PrintIQ says high-quality MIS should deliver automation, visibility, and scalability If an existing MIS is modern, supported, and adaptable, upgrading or extending it can be a practical option MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS | ROB FLETCHER 56 Issue 359 - March | April 2026 email: editor@printmonthly.co.uk
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