How CSI Manages Print and Graphic Installations with Vantage

CSI was using Lift ERP by Durst to manage its wide-format printing campaigns and required a solution to streamline their installation management.

Explore how, by partnering with Vantage to connect its industry-specific installation management software with the Lift ERP system, CSI eliminated repetitive tasks, boosted efficiency, and simplified print and installation project management.

Bridging the production and installation management gap

Founded in 1976 in Alexandria, Virginia, CSI started as a traditional typesetting firm but has grown into a leading full-service printing and graphics provider. Their offerings include everything from offset printing to superwide grand format printing, as well as professional installation services.

Today, CSI serves a broad range of industries, including retail, food service, events, sports, museums, and nonprofits, across the United States and Canada. To meet the evolving demands of the printing industry, CSI opted for an automated flow to manage both production and installation workflows.

The CSI team relies on Durst's Lift ERP system to streamline its printing operations, quoting, and invoicing processes. From online order acceptance to preflight, manufacturing, and delivery, Lift ERP optimizes critical production workflows. However, to achieve a truly seamless workflow, CSI needed a way to reduce paperwork and eliminate the time spent manually copying installation jobs from Lift to their installation team.

CSI found the missing piece in its operations by partnering with Vantage, a cloud-based project management software designed specifically for print and signage installations. The Vantage and Lift ERP teams worked together to create an integration between the two systems, enabling the automatic import of installation jobs and near-real-time syncing.

Together, Lift ERP and Vantage offer CSI a complete end-to-end solution, connecting sales and print production with installation management. The integration eliminates repetitive tasks, saving the team over 10 hours each week on installation scheduling.

With this streamlined approach, CSI delivers faster, more efficient installations while reducing the workload for install coordinators, schedulers, and vendors.

The story behind CSI and Vantage's partnership

The partnership began in 2023 when Vantage approached Rob Harris, Partner and VP at CSI, to introduce the system. The timing was ideal, as Rob had recently met a colleague from Moss UK (formerly MacroArt) at the FESPA Global Print Expo, where they mentioned they were using Durst’s Lift ERP software together with Vantage.

“We knew it would be a great addition for us too, as Vantage is specifically geared to the large format printing industry,” Rob says, explaining that the company chose to work with Vantage as a ‘beta’ site to help further develop the integration with Lift. The goal was to track jobs across both systems, from estimates to final production and installation.

“We had the right experience to have an input, and early shaping of the Vantage integration to Lift was critical for us,” he adds.

Automating manual tasks

Before partnering with Vantage, all of CSI’s installations were handled manually. Salespeople filled out forms, which were then sent to the installation scheduler. The scheduler checked the installers' online calendar and replied with a date and time.

Next, the installation coordinator gathered all printed materials and created a ‘hard copy’ installation guide. Installers would check the calendar on the day of the job, pick up the guide, and then proceed with the installation. “It was a complex set of manual tasks,” Rob explains.

However, with Vantage, this entire chain of events is automated thanks to continuous synchronization between the two systems. “When a job is created in Lift, the relevant data is sent automatically to Vantage every couple of minutes, so staff don’t have to duplicate tasks,” he says.

Thanks to their partnership with Vantage, the CSI team easily handles five to 15 installations or more on average. CSI’s installation scheduler can now view all installation details in Lift, assign tasks, and upload guides there. Meanwhile, the installation coordinator sees the same information in Vantage and can easily check when a job is ready.

Providing an all-in-one tool for collaboration

Another benefit the CSI team enjoys from working with Vantage is online installation proofing. They can now get on-site sign-offs from installers directly in the Vantage mobile app, which are automatically shared to Lift.

Describing the efficiency this gives CSI, Rob says: “Having customers sign a screen instead of using paper copies is much quicker, and the photos from a job are also automatically sent back to Lift. That way, we can close off and invoice jobs much quicker. Any large format print company that manages installations could benefit from Vantage, which also works great as a standalone solution without the need for Lift.”

Removing duplicate steps was crucial for the entire CSI team, as they aimed to automate as much as possible. They found that Vantage’s push notifications—updating the team on any job changes—saved a lot of time compared to sending emails.

Shaping the product together

Since first working with Vantage, Rob praises the progress and emphasizes that the most valuable aspect is how the Vantage team takes all their requests seriously, providing clear explanations from the developer’s perspective and giving insights into the cost/benefit of each change. This approach has helped the CSI team focus on the most impactful areas.

For example, with installers enjoying the benefits of the Vantage mobile app, CSI requested a similar app for their installation coordinator, scheduler, and sales teams, allowing them to check in on jobs remotely if needed. The Vantage team made that possible.

“The Vantage team is incredibly agile and responds to customer needs, so the risk a company undertakes by being a beta site for software development is offset by the gains of being actively involved in its creation,” Rob says.

CSI sees its relationship with Vantage as a partnership, not just a software purchase, but an investment in the product’s growth and future.

Source: Vantage Software 

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Wide-format Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of Wide-format Impressions.