With a specialty in consulting specifically geared towards workflows, Karsten Schwarze is always on the lookout for tools that make life easier. A self-described "Prepress Guy" and consultant to Impressed, Schwarze particularly enjoys the benefits of automated solutions such as Enfocus Switch, and conducts much training and consulting with it, as well as other, Enfocus solutions.

"Enfocus technology, especially Switch, makes it possible for customers to function in an easier, more streamlined way," Schwarze says. "The company’s tools make printing easy. They make data transfer easy. They make communication easy. They make preflighting easy."

Schwarze is a fan, and witness to, Enfocus’ "You First" operational and development philosophy. "It’s all about customer satisfaction," he says. "Switch allows you to be flexible in how you want to work and how you want to communicate with your customers. If a customer makes an error, we don’t need to spend time bothering them. Switch allows us to configure an automatic fix using its easy-to-use interface, rather than phoning constantly with one-off questions."

One of Switch’s frequently noted key features is the ease of integration with other solutions. Schwarze agrees: "You can make solutions do pretty much what you want them to do, like use JDF information in the Switch workflow. The ability to configure a flow so easily, without the need for scripting abilities, is very unique. Our customers are elated."

Schwarze’s focus is JDF-based workflows, and he notes how easy it is working with JDF and Enfocus Switch. He comments, "Switch prevents me from having to purchase new software to perform critical functions in JDF. I can simply integrate the hot folder based solutions I’m already using, and then utilize Switch’s hot folder connections."

"Switch does what it promises. I find it amazing the vast group of vendors that have come together to rally around one central automation tool in the Enfocus Crossroads Community. This speaks volumes to the significance and importance of what Enfocus Switch is doing."

Schwarze says that there is no automation solution that compares to Enfocus Switch. "Anything that comes remotely close to the functions that Switch performs is expensive. You also have to purchase multiple components, which is not only pricey, but becomes unwieldy."