How to ensure your Print MIS project fails

31 July 2025

Print MIS MultiPress

Choosing and implementing a Print MIS or ERP system? That sounds like a strategic investment in your company’s future. But… what if you secretly want it to fail? Don’t worry, with the right mistakes, every Print MIS project is guaranteed to derail. This ironic guide shows you how to expertly mess it up. (Or not, if you read between the lines.)

1. Just postpone it

The best way to make no impact is simply not to start. You’re too busy now. Maybe next quarter. Or next year. In the meantime, problems pile up, your processes become outdated, and employee frustration grows. Sound familiar? Then you're well on track toward postponement mode.

Reality check: postponement is not a strategy. The longer you wait, the greater the backlog and the loss of return. Many printing companies only take action when the chaos becomes unmanageable. By then, it’s already too late. Those who wait for the perfect moment to automate wait forever. And while you hesitate, your competition continues digitizing.

2. Pick a vendor without print expertise

Why choose a specialist in print production when you can go with a generalist? MIS is MIS, right? Why seek a partner who truly understands prepress, print costing, production planning or finishing? Someone familiar with your customer types, order flows or machines? Skip that. The less industry-specific, the more you get to explain. And the higher the chance that quotes, planning or finishing fall apart.

Reality check: print and sign companies have specific needs that a generic IT partner simply doesn’t grasp. Dataline has worked exclusively in your sector for over 25 years; we speak your language, understand your processes and know the typical pitfalls. MultiPress is built on 100% graphic expertise, with modules and insights you won't find elsewhere.

3. Solve bottlenecks by hiring more staff

Starting an MIS project? Why bother when you can just hire someone? An extra planner, an administrative assistant, problem solved. Until your organization becomes so complex that nobody knows who does what, and mistakes keep happening.

Reality check: a well‑configured MIS system makes redundant roles and duplicated work visible and avoidable. If your processes don’t evolve, inefficiency will just grow. Adding more people to a chaotic system fixes nothing. MultiPress enables you to do more with fewer people, which is exactly what automation is for.

4. Invest in a webshop first

Sales are important, so let’s start with a webshop. We’ll process orders manually for now; the rest comes later. As long as money is coming in.

Reality check: a webshop without MIS/ERP is like a storefront without inventory management. You attract customers to something you can’t support. Without a sound backend, your webshop becomes an island solution. The power lies in integration: MultiPress connects seamlessly with your webshop, so your entire order flow runs automatically and correctly. Sure, online matters. But without underlying MIS/ERP structure, you quickly end up with manual order processing, missing costing, and delivery date errors. Foundation first, then expansion, that’s how you build real sustainable growth.

5. Let your accountant choose, go with their favourite accounting package

Accounting software is cheaper and your accountant already has it. So why a separate MIS? Your accountant surely knows ‘a good system’ that can also ‘do a bit’ of planning…

Reality check: an accounting package is not a MIS/ERP solution for a print company. What you need is insight into planning, post-calculation, paper usage, subcontracting or order status because that’s exactly where margins are made or lost. MultiPress covers the entire workflow, from request to delivery, and simply integrates with your accounting software. That way you don’t lose sight of your numbers and you maintain control over production.

6. Opt for a warehouse‑driven approach in an order‑driven print business

Who says a warehouse-based approach can’t work for print‑to‑order? A generic system for a distributor should surely suffice for a print business?

Reality check: print businesses are order‑driven. In a print business, every order is unique, with specific requirements and strict timing. A warehouse‑driven approach quickly becomes a mismatch. Your production is driven by customer requests, not inventory rotations. Unless you enjoy saying no to customers. MultiPress is designed for order‑driven production, offering full visibility from request to delivery.

Or... Choose a successful project

Each of the errors above unfortunately occurs more often in practice than you might think. And they are disastrous for the print companies involved due to lack of strategy, unclear requirements and poor communication.

At Dataline we know this all too well. That’s why for over 25 years we’ve been guiding print companies in making the right choices around their ERP/MIS. We speak the language of the graphic industry and understand how crucial it is to align software with your specific processes and techniques.

What we do:

  • We map your processes and link them to concrete functionality in MultiPress.
  • We scale the solution to your real production capacity.
  • We make the ROI of each trajectory transparent and measurable.
  • We implement in phases, in consultation with your team.

No empty promises: between 2021 and 2024, 94% of our implementations led to a successful Go Live. No coincidence, but the result of a thoughtful approach that works.

Dataline follows a very structured procedure, from the first conversation through to the final Go Live.

Want to know more? Feel free to speak with one of our experts.