Print365 Insights

Is Your Print ERP / MIS Still Being Developed? | Here's How to Tell

Written by Jan Aleite | Jul 26, 2026 8:00:00 AM

When you last evaluated a Print MIS quote, did you check how old the screenshots were? Most vendor decks in this category have not changed in years. The same workflow diagrams, the same dashboard mockups, sometimes the same three or four customer logos repeated since the system was built. That is not evidence of stability. It is evidence of a vendor who stopped investing.

Print production has not stood still. Margins have tightened, deadlines have shortened, and the data your press room throws off every shift has become something you are expected to act on, not just record. A Print MIS that has not changed since it was written cannot help you with any of that, no matter how reliable it was a decade ago.

What "still developed" actually looks like

A system that is genuinely still being developed has a visible product team behind it: named people who ship features on a schedule, a roadmap you can see progress against, and release notes that describe real functionality, not just bug fixes. It also has customers who can point to something in the platform today that was not there two years ago, because they asked for it.

By that standard, most Print MIS / ERP vendors in newspaper and commercial printing fail. The category is old, the customer base is not large, and once a system covers the basics of planning, tracking and invoicing, many vendors quietly move from building to maintaining. Support tickets get answered. New capability does not get built.

Why so many platforms stop moving

It is rarely a dramatic decision. A vendor gets acquired by a holding company focused on extracting margin, not investing in the product. Or the original founders retire and nobody replaces the engineering team. Or the market looks saturated enough that new sales matter more than existing customers' evolving needs. Whatever the reason, the system freezes in place, and the risk gets passed quietly to you: the moment your workflow, your regulations or your customers' expectations change, the software cannot keep up, and you find out at the worst possible time.

How to tell if your vendor is still building

  • Ask for the last twelve months of release notes. If they read like a support log, that is your answer.
  • Ask who decides what gets built next, and how customer input reaches that decision. A name and a process is a good sign. A shrug is not.
  • Ask whether the company that owns the platform is investing in it for the long term, or holding it while looking for a buyer.

Where Print365 stands

We are one of the few vendors left in this niche still actively developing our platform, with a dedicated product and engineering team shipping new capability every year, not just patching what already exists. Customer input drives what we prioritize: every year, we invite our customers to KPI Days, a dedicated session where we work through the metrics that decide whether a print operation is winning or losing, waste, throughput, plan versus actual, margin per job, and use it to shape what we build next.

Since 2022, MWM Group has been part of Valsoft Corporation, a software group that acquires and holds vertical market businesses for the long term rather than flipping them for a quick exit. That means the company behind Print365 is not shopping itself around for the next buyer. It has the capital and the staying power to keep investing in the platform you depend on.

Frequently asked questions

Is Print365 still actively developed?

Yes. Print365 has a dedicated product and engineering team that ships new capability every year, and a roadmap shaped directly by customer input rather than set once and left unchanged.

How does MWM decide what to build next?

Largely through direct customer input, including our annual KPI Days, where customers walk us through the metrics that matter most on their floor: waste, throughput, plan versus actual, and margin per job.

Why does it matter if a Print MIS vendor is still developing its product?

A production system that stops evolving becomes a liability the moment your workflow, regulations or customer expectations change and the software cannot keep up. Ongoing development is what keeps a Print MIS relevant, not just functional.

Related: About MWM Group · Print365 facts · ERP for newspaper printing production