Author Topic: Inksoft?  (Read 1943 times)

Offline BACjc

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Inksoft?
« on: September 23, 2021, 08:43:24 AM »
Is anyone using this? 

We have our own in house software, but it needs an overhaul badly.  We have been demoing Onsite (shopworks), and it seems fine in most ways, but there are a few things we aren't thrilled about.  Just came across Inksoft, and it seems like it offers a lot more than what I remember.  We only want to make this switch once.  Any advice or experience you can share would be great!


Offline Shanarchy

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2021, 01:47:59 PM »
We've been using it for years. I'm not exactly in love with it, but it does have some areas it is good at.

Their "proposals", which is their new and improved version of the "business tools" for the shop management side is, in my opinion heavily flawed and not realistically usable. Which is disappointing because the core of it shows promise that it could be pretty good.

The online designer is what it is. It could be better/smoother with a few tweaks. But it's workable as is.

For the stores, it works pretty nicely.

What are you looking to use it for or questions do you have about it? I'll try to be as informative and honest as possible.


Offline BACjc

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2021, 02:03:08 PM »
We do everything, to be blunt.  We do digital vinyl, banners, flatbed digital signage, screenprinted signage, screenprinted apparel, posters, transfers as a service, finishing, embroidery, buttons, sublimation of all kinds, direct to garment, design, fulfillment, ecommerce management, and have plans to add additional production and service offerings in house asap.

We are holding that together with a whole lot of duct tape and bubble gum (really smart, capable people with institutional knowledge and the ability to just make crap happen).  We need an effectively all in one solution.  It also needs to have some flexibility, and be able to import and export bulk data efficiently as we also do lots of mailout style work and contract bulk batch printing that comes to us in all variety of data formats.

We are familiarizing ourselves with shopworks, and it looks fine in many ways, but because of the importance of the change I want to be sure I have a full picture of what's out there NOW, not 5 years ago when I last really looked, not 10 years ago when it seems like the last time anyone mentioned some of these programs and apps.  Any insight is helpful!

Offline Homer

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2021, 03:27:24 PM »
good..luck..... we've gone round and round with this, we offer very much the same stuff as you. We find one that works with the sign shop but is horrendous for apparel. I'm looking at you Shopvox, you over complicated pile of sh!t.... All these programs are either way too complex or were built on windows 98.... I want a simple, color coded calendar. I do not want to have to click on ten different windows to perform one task. Printavo was kinda neat but lacked in too many areas.

the best option we have found so far is Teesom. We started the process but stopped once we realized how involved a full shop migration would be.

Right now we are stuck with T quoter and google calendar. We use a series of color codes and symbols to represent different task being completed. Easy to recall orders / proofs but T quoter can suck a fat one. Flan's a cool dude, always willing to help but this program needs help.
...keep doing what you're doing, you'll only get what you've got...

Offline rusty

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2021, 05:04:00 PM »
I am a super small shop (with big dreams) and we just switched to teesom. Its great but super involved and kinda complex ( im not smart) so I am using that and integrating mondays for actual shop flow. there is a QR generator app for monday that I am hoping will help a lot of production bottlenecks and keep everything updated.

probably didnt answer your question sorry but I am very interested in barcode scanning to update and show every part of the process  for us and the customer

Offline Shanarchy

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2021, 08:50:03 PM »
Based upon everything you do, I don't think InkSoft is a candidate for you for shop management, invoice/quoting. Can you force it to work? Sure. We do. But if I didn't get in when pricing was much lower than it is now, I can't imagine I'd be using them.

If you are looking for an option to set up stores that is probably the only reason I'd suggest looking into them.

Offline mk162

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2021, 09:35:35 AM »
I was going to have one developed, but by the time I looked at it t just wasn't worth it for this reason.  I am glad we didn't.

Teesom is the best I've found. 

Offline BACjc

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2021, 01:26:14 PM »
Thanks for the info on Inksoft, I'll add that feedback into the notes!

Teesom is looking promising, definitely spending more time looking into that.

We use Monday.com for certain things, and it is usable for shop management, but doesnt really solve most of the big issues we have currently.

We have 8 full time developers on staff at the moment working on a variety of projects, and while we could code something ourselves, the overhead, development timeline, etc just don't make it realistic for us right now. 

Offline freedomexpressions

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Re: Inksoft?
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2021, 08:26:19 PM »
We currently use Inksoft and love it. There are definitely limitations, but for the hosting purposes (ability to host 100 sites), it pays for itself. With that, there are also flaws. To get the best out of what it has to offer, would consider API license to have the control desired, however for our growing company, it's not worth it.
Would recommend Inksoft to anyone that wants to launch their site quickly and efficiently. Also to anyone who isn't too computer savvy, as it is very easy to use. Support is awesome, price is okay, but again limited in full capacity to a admin.
On another note, the virtual designer is AMAZING for putting the art aspect into the customers hands. You ever get those customers who just don't know what they want and drive you crazy because they don't like what they tell you they want?... The virtual designer is perfect for them, lol. It's easy, full of clipart and different style fonts, and they can spend as much time as they want going through ideas.
Personally, wish there was another alternative that offered website hosting and had a great designer like inksoft. Also, wishing they would continue to listen what we are telling them on adjustments they could make to make our jobs easier.
I did a lot of research before we went with Inksoft, and at the end of the day, I'm glad we did. There isn't many options out there and they seemed to be the best fit for our small business. Hope this helps!