EskoArtwork Acquires Gradual Software

Many of you have expressed their optimism about the recent acquisition of Gradual Software by EskoArtwork. At the same time, we have heard many questions and requests for more clarification. This page is an attempt to answer your questions and put your mind at ease. If you have different concerns, please let us know. It is our goal to make you feel as comfortable about this change as we are ourselves.

We have also prepared the document "Enfocus - Enabling Automation". This PDF file provides more background about the acquisition and about the vision behind the newly formed Enfocus business unit.

On Enfocus

The Gradual team and technologies are merged with the existing Enfocus team in EskoArtwork. Together, they form the new Enfocus business unit. As a business unit, Enfocus is responsible for its own product strategy, marketing, sales, development and support.

Enfocus is headed up by Peter Camps, who becomes Senior Vice President Enfocus at EskoArtwork. The management team further consists of:

• David van Driessche, Director of Enfocus Marketing
• Saskia Desmet, Director of Enfocus Sales
• Elli Cloots, Director of Enfocus Services
• Filiep Maes, Director of Enfocus Software Development
  

On SWITCH

Starting with the next major version of SWITCH, the product will be rebranded as Enfocus SWITCH. SWITCH, and its focus on gradual automation of publishing workflows, is an essential part of the Enfocus strategy moving forward. The product will be further developed and supported as it is now.

SWITCH is an open automation platform, it automates tools from many different third-party vendors. This open nature of SWITCH will not change. It cannot, as it is an integral part of how we believe automation should work in publishing workflows. To be very specific, this means that SWITCH will continue to proactively support third-party products even if they compete with Enfocus or EskoArtwork products.

EskoArtwork provides a number of workflow products. These are significantly different in scope and feature-set than SWITCH. SWITCH has its own place in the graphic arts market and will not be merged with these existing workflow products. We will however ensure it cooperates well with the workflow products from EskoArtwork and other graphic arts vendors.

On the Enfocus products

The existing Enfocus products were instrumental to the success of Enfocus through the years. Enfocus will continue to support these products and intends to significantly extend them in the traditional graphic arts market and beyond. Come visit us at Drupa and we're sure you'll be impressed with some of the improvements we have in stock.

On Crossroads

The Crossroads community brings together vendor partners and end-users and lowers the threshold to start using automation in their workflows. Crossroads is built on SWITCH and reflects its open nature. As with SWITCH, Crossroads will continue to support vendor partners even if they provide products that compete with Enfocus or EskoArtwork.

In conclusion

A change always raises questions and requires some getting used to. For you and for us. We have gone through that process and feel comfortable that the new Enfocus business unit is good news for our partners and end-users. With the support of the EskoArtwork management team and the dedication they have pledged to the Gradual and Enfocus users, we plan to accomplish great things.

We hope this information answers your questions. Of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating - over the next months you'll see us deploy a number of initiatives that confirm our commitment to the new Enfocus project and the strategic choices we made for it. Once again, if you still have doubts, please let us know. We will gladly setup a call or meeting to elaborate.

 

With kind regards, the Enfocus team.