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Online service provides fast company brochures

4 November 2007

Dubliner Bill McConnell has been working in the computer and printing industry since 1969.

Back then, he developed the first software programme for the Irish Golden Pages for ITT World Directories. Three years ago, he set up Documation, which offers an online publishing system aimed at companies that produce regular brochures and catalogues.

"I joined ITT World Directories after the first Golden Pages programme was developed and was sent to Greece to set up the Greek equivalent of the telephone directory," McConnell said. "When I came home, I joined Smurfit's publishing business to attract computer-based print products. Then I went out on my own in 1977 and set up LaserType."

As well as general computer applications like accounting systems, LaserType used software developed by Advent Publishing Systems in Britain to create software for newspaper publications. LaserType and Advent merged in 1995 and as part of the merger, the Irish office became Advent's worldwide software distribution centre.

"I was a main board director and worked with Advent until mid-2004 when the company was in the process of being bought by Arbortext, a US software company."

McConnell took the opportunity to set up his own company, Documation, with a long-time colleague, Éanna MacGiolla Phádraig.

The firm's main clients are newspaper publications, including the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Irish Examiner and The Farmer's Journal. Other clients include pharmaceutical companies, which produce regular brochures and catalogues.

"We developed a powerful publishing tool called Web4Print which enables people to produce brochures and catalogues online. They simply specify what they want the end product to look like and we create an automated system or an online template for it," said McConnell.

McConnell gave the example of one client, Turner's Printing. "They use Web4Print to allow their customers to go online and customise business cards, compliment slips, letterheads, and brochures using online templates. It cuts out the back-and-forth proofing process and saves time," McConnell said.

"In the same way, drug companies used to send all their promotion information to a printer in the form of spreadsheets and image files, which took about five to seven days. Now they can create a spreadsheet, including links to image files, and use the Web4Print application to create a brochure in a few minutes.

The cost of the system is based on an initial set-up cost and depends on how complex the product is. "It could cost €20 a page to create, so a 20 page brochure or catalogue would cost about €400," McConnell said.

"It’s a pay-as-you-go system and is cost effective and timesaving, especially for companies that produce brochures once a month or every quarter or for companies that produce regular fliers." Documation is planning to move into the British market next year.