Strategic partnership to enable print providers to deliver Amazon-like customer experiences through Durst’s Smart Factory – with something new on the horizon from Durst very soon
Digital Ink, a specialist print marketing agency based in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, announced a strategic partnership with Durst Software & Solutions to bring advanced e-commerce and web-to-print capabilities to print service providers across the Middle East and North Africa region with the goal of driving print-on-demand smart print factories, manufacturing, and growth across the territory.
Market Opportunity
The partnership leverages Durst’s Smart Factory, a comprehensive digital ecosystem designed to modernise printing workflows and enable seamless customer experiences from pixel to output. The modular software suite spans web-to-print, production, ERP/MIS, and prepress automation, and is built to work with any printer and any brand. The MENA region represents a significant growth opportunity, with diverse print requirements spanning large and wide-format applications, labels, packaging, and commercial print production.
Chris Minn, Founder of Digital Ink, states, “The region is expanding and growing at a fast rate. There is such excitement around digital signage, AI, software automation, and robotics. Bringing lightning-fast, streamlined print purchasing processes with minimal touchpoints to the territory is exactly where we see the opportunity. Digital Ink looks forward to working with companies like Durst to unlock this potential for our market.”
Strategic Positioning
Market demand for digitalised procurement and web-to-print capabilities is accelerating across the region. Print providers increasingly need to offer their customers the seamless, personalised experience they expect from major e-commerce platforms, a model Digital Ink and Durst call the ‘Amazon-for-Print’ model. Durst’s global reputation for hardware innovation and reliability, combined with the Smart Factory software ecosystem, positions both companies to effectively address this demand.
“The printing industry is changing, and software needs to be as flexible as the production itself. We launched the Open Software Initiative to give the industry exactly that: a modular, cloud-ready software ecosystem, open to any printer, any brand, and open to connect to other systems. This open environment built on proven Durst technologies, combined with the deep understanding of local market conditions from Digital Ink, will highly benefit the printing companies in the Middle East and GCC,” says Matthieu Delessard, Software Sales Manager and Business Developer at Durst.
Streamlining MENA’s Print Landscape
Digital Ink and Durst Software & Solutions are collaborating to integrate advanced digital transformation strategies and automated software within the Middle Eastern printing market. This partnerships aims to optimise the printing process – from pixel to output – by implementing the Durst software suite, cloud-based ERP systems, and Smart Factory principles. These technological updates are intended to improve operational efficiency and data-driven insights for printing businesses across the GCC and the broader MENA region.
