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John Boutros: A platform for raising standards in the graphic design industry
Sun, 2008-01-13 21:56 - By
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Grapheast is at the forefront of the regional graphic industry, offering the latest technologies through its strategic partnerships with global leaders in graphic fields, as well as providing innovative value-added services.
John Boutros, Grapheast’s General Manager talks about the company, its range of products and services including exciting new technologies which have been launched in Gitex 2007.
Q: Grapheast began its foray in the region as a system integrator with a special focus on the advertising industry in the early nineties and has since sustained a leading position in the graphic market. How did the company grow into a key player in the region?
The early nineties were witness to technological developments that were rapidly revolutionising the publishing industry in other parts of the globe, but these were yet to be delivered to the Middle East market. An Arabic graphic designer had a very limited option or if a product was available, he would not have access to expert information or support services. Grapheast filled this gap and tapped into a massive market opportunity by bringing the right solutions for a then emerging market. We began by introducing PhotoDisc and Aridi products, and then later added Phonyx, Arabic extension for Quark Express.
In 2002, Grapheast became a member of the MDS Group of Companies, which gave our company access to in-depth knowledge of the regional business environment as well as solid financial support necessary for the expansion of our operations. Since then, Grapheast has established strategic partnerships with global manufacturers including sole distributorship rights of Adobe’s products in the Middle East in 2003 as well as representation for Corbis among other industry leaders.
Q: With the company’s tremendous expansion, how has it maintained its quality standards and corporate goals?
The company set its vision when it began its operations, and we have always aligned our corporate targets and strategies accordingly. We aim to provide a powerful platform for raising the standards of the graphic design industry in the Middle East by sourcing and developing high quality solutions, which in turn, will help enhance the creativity, productivity, caliber and profitability of Arabic creative professionals.
In line with our goals, our company maintains three dedicated divisions that have their respective business focus. The distribution division, which handles the marketing and distribution of our products, maintains an extensive network of over 3000 resellers and sub-distributors and delivers leading brands such as Adobe, Corel, FileMaker, Extensis and MAXON among others across the region.
The image division is tremendously successful in distributing Corbis Images in addition to our own image library of local contents.
The solution division takes charge of high-end specialised products such as the new ORIS solutions for colour matching and ink saving, QUATO calibrated monitors, Pantone products and Pantone ink for Epson printers in addition to developing our own products for the graphics and publishing industry.
Q: As a leading player in the industry, Grapheast has been reputed for introducing the latest solutions through its strategic alliances with global manufacturers. What has been the impact of these partnerships from a business perspective?
Our input has not been limited to introducing new products but also in ensuring significant market reach for the international brands we carry. For instance, Adobe had three distributors before they appointed us as exclusive
distributors in 2003, and Five years later, we have achieved a tenfold increase in sales volume for Adobe. We replicated that accomplishment with Pantone, which had over 9 distributors in the region, and in June 2007, decided to appoint us their master distributor. Through our exceptional performance and added value, we create success stories for our global partners.
In addition, our collaboration with international companies has enabled us to fulfill our goal of helping the advancement of the local graphic industry by offering the latest technologies available for the graphic industry. We have generated huge response for our new range of ORIS solutions from CGS for colour calibration, proofing and ink saving for printers and publishers and have implemented our first installation less than three months after the launch. We will also deliver Maxon products, which will mark the beginning of our foray into the 3D animation market as well as our support to its continuing development.
Q: With in-house development activities, Grapheast has brought its own products to the market. Kindly tell us about the new solutions you have unveiled recently.
By developing our own products, we are able to cater to the unique needs of our clients in the region, which complements the range of products we carry and helps push these solutions in the market. When Adobe launched its first InDesign Middle East (ME) version, we realised that designers will not make the most of it without a good range of Arabic OpenType fonts; therefore, we have introduced in the last three years over 100 Arabic fonts under the name Khotout. More new Arabic fonts to come this year.
We also recently launched TextraNews, an editorial solution tailored to the demands of Arabic newspapers that will provide ease and security to editing and sharing stories. Three newspapers have availed of the solution with two already using TextraNews alongside InDesign ME version for the production of their daily pages. Further, TextraNews is not only suitable for Arabic newspapers but also for all Arabic publications.
Since 2003, we have published the first Image library offering images from the Arabic and Islamic world, and today, our website provides local and international graphic designers with over 5000 local images.
Q: What have Grapheast launched at the last GITEX show in Dubai?
We unveiled arPix Professional, a stand alone utility for both Mac and PC. I will help users type Arabic text using Latin applications that do not support Arabic such as Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro or Flash. We have witnessed huge response for FileMaker Pro by providing our clients with tailor made solutions and programming, and we expect that the launch of the FileMaker Pro Arabic version will further boost its sales performance. Both arPIX Professional and FileMaker Pro ME will be supported with our range of Arabic fonts.
We introduced a number of InDesign plugins that are designed to boost user productivity including Easy Attributes and Easy Overset. Users will be able to change text attributes in multilingual work much faster, control overflowing copy more effectively.
We have also launched the first Arabic type book, which will showcase the full range of fonts marketed by Grapheast including the Boutros International Arabic font collection as well as our new Graphics and Photography bookstore. Designers and photographers will no longer need to travel distance to bookshops, they will be able to browse our web store to order their books and have them delivered to their premises.
Q: The graphic industry has seen unprecedented boom over the years. How does Grapheast view its position in the future?
We are poised to further our leading position by expanding our channel network in order to better support our resellers and end users. In addition, we will continue our focus on technological development and value-added services. We will certainly continue expanding our Arabic font collection and further develop our website to provide exceptional services to our end users online.
Q: In your opinion, what have been your major challenges in the graphic market?
Our biggest challenge has always been piracy. Despite the fact that people appreciate the high quality of our solutions, many still opt for copying or buying pirated copies or refrain from ordering the right number of licenses. This has affected our returns, and consequently, we have to control our investments. As a business enterprise, we cannot afford to invest money on development unless it is profitable.
However, with the ongoing focus on anti-piracy campaigns, there has been a growing awareness on copyright issues since the early 90s. Users are producing artistic works themselves and have become concerned about infringement of their intellectual rights.
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