The Economist Automates Its Workflow with Enfocus Switch

Robert Banbury, production project development specialist at The Economist, says, “After considering all available automation systems at the time, our decision to choose Enfocus Switch was influenced in part by its ability to integrate with third-party applications, giving us the choice of some of the best available technology then and into the future; and also the easy-to-follow graphical user interface. Value was one of the more important factors in our final choice, but quality is always our priority.”

Switch is used primarily to move and duplicate files, often using metadata to create new folder structures and route files. Utilizing over 50 active flows, the range of applications Switch automates includes repurposing of PDF pages and images, preflighting editorial and advertising PDFs, and FTP file transfers.

Success Means Expansion
Initially, Switch ran on one live server and provided an advertising-based preflight and proofing replacement for the publication’s previous system. Now, four servers run a range of Switch flows supporting everything from advertising and editorial production, through to data transmission and archiving.

Banbury reports much success with Enfocus’ automation technology. He says, “Switch has become increasingly important for the newspaper’s production as the need to move, check and repurpose data and assets for other media outlets has come to the fore. Automation has removed many manually repetitive tasks from users, freeing them to concentrate on other important matters, and enabling them to meet critical deadlines.”