Essential DigiHub, a brand new one-stop digital print, design and photographic business in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, has opened its doors for business with state-of-the-art digital printers from Xerox.
Supplied by Bytes Document Solutions’ Xerox Business Partner Cape Office Machines, the Xerox C70 Press and WorkCentre 5875 printer gives Essential DigiHub an immediate advantage over its local competitors.
“When André Rustin and I first suggested the idea of a new digital printing business in the heart of the Imam Haron precinct in Claremont, the first non-negotiable item on our list was quality, closely followed by service,” says business owner Robin van Graan who has extensive experience in the Cape Town print industry.
“Without those two elements your printing business is dead before it even gets started, so we worked exceptionally hard at finding the best quality available and backing it up with the service, we knew would get customers coming back for more.”
Rustin, who also owns a successful office supplies and label printing business, says feedback from peers and colleagues put Xerox front-of-mind when it came to quality.
“It didn’t take much convincing once I saw what Xerox offered compared to other vendors. We then started talking to Xerox suppliers and met with Cape Office Machines. What impressed us most was the attitude and approach of Cape Office,” van Graan says.
“We knew that we wanted Xerox for our mainstay digital machines,” he says. “Cape Office initially wanted to know more about our business, our goals, our competition and our capabilities before venturing into any discussions about hardware.
“It’s subtle things like that which make all the difference between a real business partner and a box dropper, and in a service industry where partnerships and commitment to quality are paramount, it made all the difference to us when choosing a Xerox supplier.”
Van Graan says it is not the model of machine that ultimately made the difference, but rather the approach to the business and the strategy Cape Office adopted from the very first day of doing business.
“For any new print business it’s important to know how we’ve segmented our customer databases and where the technology fits in with what we want to achieve, and Cape Office paid close attention to these details at every stage,” he says.
Along with the high-resolution, high-speed engine, heavy 300gm media support and industry-leading colour registration capabilities of the Xerox C70 press, and the high-speed, high-volume colour and copying functionality of the Xerox WorkCentre 5875, Essential DigiHub has also invested in a range of complementary equipment for wide-format and fine-art printing. The company is also currently offering professional photo-book & photo printing and has opened a fully-fledged photographic lab and service centre in partnership with photographer Sebastian Aitken from Pixel Evolution.
“We want to quickly become the essential digital communications, print and design hub in the area, hence our name,” says van Graan.
“So far we’ve invested significant time, energy and money into making sure we have the best possible launch pad of equipment, services and partners to achieve this goal, and in Xerox and Cape Office we believe we have the most critical part of our business in the best possible hands.”
