Let’s talk about reports.
Yes, those often-ignored buttons on your MIS that say “Generate PDF” or “Export CSV.” The ones people swear they’ll check every Friday afternoon… but somehow never do.
In a perfect world, reports would leap out of your system with confetti and say: “Here’s what’s working, here’s what’s not, and by the way, we fixed the bottlenecks already.”
Well, guess what?
When you combine Instaprint’s reporting power with Enfocus Switch’s automation magic, that dream gets a lot closer to reality.
The Beauty of Instaprint Dashboards: Clarity Without the Chaos
Let’s start with the obvious: Instaprint gives you clean, clear dashboards. You can track sales performance, see production load in real-time, and compare planned vs. actual costs without firing up Excel or chasing down your production manager.
But here’s where it gets even better.
Instaprint doesn’t believe in “one-size-fits-none” dashboards. You can customize views by role, department, product type, or that one operator who insists on naming every job “Test123.pdf.”
Want to see:
-
Which jobs are running late?
-
Which customers are most profitable?
-
How close your actual costs came to the estimated ones?
It’s all there. Live. Color-coded. With filters.
But What If Dashboards Actually Did Something?
Now here’s where things get fun.
With Switch in the mix, your dashboards don’t just inform your decisions—they trigger them.
Imagine this: your Instaprint dashboard shows that two jobs are late because files haven’t been received. Switch sees that too. And before anyone has a chance to panic, it:
-
Sends automatic reminders to customers,
-
Flags the job in Instaprint with a warning label,
-
Notifies the account manager via email or Slack,
-
Or (why not?) turns on a red lava lamp in the office as a gentle visual cue.
What used to be “informational” becomes “actionable.” No extra clicks required.
Planned vs. Actual? Let’s Automate the Verdict
Every print shop has had the “That Took Longer Than Expected” conversation.
You estimated 3 hours for finishing. It took 6. The customer got their job late, and your margin got thinner than onion paper.
Instaprint tracks planned times vs. actuals beautifully. But when combined with Switch, you can start automating your response:
-
If job duration exceeds X%, Switch can tag it in Instaprint as a red-flag job.
-
Notify production planning to review it next time.
-
Even update pricing templates or templates for future quotes.
Your reports now have consequences, and that’s a very good thing.
Import? Export? Why Not Just Connect Everything?
Let’s be honest—every company has at least one spreadsheet named “_DO NOT TOUCH_final_FINAL_2.xlsx” that still runs part of the business.
Instaprint is already great at letting you import/export data across platforms. But Switch can watch those spreadsheets like a hawk, and act when they change.
For example:
-
A salesperson drops a new estimate into a shared folder? Switch can import it, create the job in Instaprint, and notify the estimating team.
-
Need to send production data to your accountant every Friday? Let Switch export the right numbers and email them automatically.
-
Want a weekly KPI report sent to management? Just set the time, pick the report, and let Switch deliver it.
And yes—no more “Who forgot to send the monthly report?” messages.
The Feedback Loop: Reporting Becomes Process Control
Reports aren’t just for upper management or performance reviews. They’re feedback loops that keep your business healthy.
With Switch, every new insight becomes an opportunity to tweak the machine.
Here’s how:
-
Switch can analyze production data exported from Instaprint and make real-time routing decisions.
-
If a specific press has been overloaded for 3 days straight, Switch can start routing lighter jobs elsewhere.
-
If one finishing step consistently causes delays, Switch can notify the scheduler to adjust future timelines—or even block new jobs of that type until the backlog clears.
Your dashboards aren’t just mirrors anymore. They’re thermostats.
Some Real-Life Magic (Not Fiction, We Swear)
Let’s walk through a scenario that could be happening in your shop right now:
-
Job 4836 is due tomorrow.
-
Instaprint shows that prepress is 2 hours behind schedule.
-
Switch sees the delay, checks if the job’s files are present (they’re not).
-
Switch sends an automatic email to the customer with a friendly nudge.
-
It also updates the dashboard with a blinking warning.
-
An hour later, the customer uploads the file.
-
Switch detects it, preflights it, routes it to imposition, and updates Instaprint with “Prepress complete.”
-
Your production dashboard updates instantly.
-
Everyone breathes a little easier.
Not a single person had to lift a finger, chase a file, or manually update anything.
Now imagine that multiplied by every job in a busy print shop.
Custom KPIs? Yes Please.
Every business has its own quirks.
Maybe you care deeply about:
-
Jobs per hour per press,
-
Average response time to customer uploads,
-
Number of emergency orders per week.
With Instaprint + Switch, you’re not stuck with generic KPIs.
You can:
-
Define your own,
-
Visualize them in dashboards,
-
And use Switch to take automated actions if any of them go out of bounds.
KPIs become more than numbers—they become triggers for improvement.
Your Staff Will Thank You
Production teams aren’t fans of being data entry clerks.
With Switch feeding Instaprint real-time data from files, presses, or barcode scans:
-
Your reports get more accurate.
-
Your team spends less time filling out forms.
-
And nobody gets blamed for “forgetting to update the job status.”
Management gets clean dashboards. Operators get to focus on running jobs. Everyone wins.
From Insight to Instinct
Here’s the real kicker.
After a few weeks of running Instaprint and Switch together, you stop thinking about dashboards as “nice to have.”
They become part of your shop’s reflexes.
You see a spike in late jobs → Switch helps you investigate root causes.
You notice a dip in sales margins → Reports show where time or materials are leaking.
You want to tighten up turnaround times → Dashboards and workflows show you exactly where to focus.
And best of all?
No more reporting meetings that could’ve been emails.
Conclusion: Automate the Truth (and Everything That Comes After)
Reporting used to be about finding out what went wrong.
Now, it’s about making things go right—automatically.
Instaprint gives you the visibility.
Switch gives you the power to act.
Together, they turn your print business into a self-correcting, insight-driven, lean machine.
So next time someone asks “Do you even look at the dashboard?”, just smile and reply:
“No need. The dashboard looks at us—and Switch handles the rest.”
