Interview with Francesco Santi, CFO – Longo

Logica solutions are designed considering all aspects,
offering its flexibility, scalability and adaptability to meet different types of production and their specifics, management and control.

The Suite embeds dedicated functionality, allowing companies to optimize processes by reducing inefficiencies, improving production and ensuring a smooth and reliable supply chain.

LONGO: PRINT, PACKAGING & CREATIVE. SINCE 1957.

A concrete example of how we were recently chosen to support a company specialized in packaging and publishing printing is Longo.

Based in Bolzano and Augsburg, this company fits into a market
that is half Italian and half foreign, with a strong presence in Germany and Austria.

Longo was born as a typography, it is in its DNA, and over time it has specialized in the production of complex and high-end print applications. In addition, its strengths include strong expertise in prepress.

For this reason, over the years, management has chosen to expand the company by adding two business units, including an in-house creative agency.

A strategy that considered the fact that transforming a digital elaborate into a physical product requires know-how that, often, is not found in most agencies focused on digital communication.

Longo’s benefit is being able to rely on two departments that communicate and work in synergy: the design department and the production one.

More than 70 people work at Longo in Bolzano and deal specifically with offset printing and converting, while the German office, based in Augsburg, is specialized in digital printing.

INTERVIEW WITH FRANCESCO SANTI, LONGO CFO

To learn more about the motivations and needs that led Longo to trust Logica Suite for its process management, we interviewed Francesco Santi, the company’s new CFO.

How did you get to know Logica and what reasons led you to choose it as your partner?

It was thanks to a referral that came from our previous CFO, through a contact from a company outside the graphics industry.

The product presentation was certainly another determining factor in the choice.
Andrea Sentimenti, Logica’s project manager, demonstrated great technical expertise that he was able to communicate very effectively: an important aspect when considering software designed to manage complex operations.

I would like to also thank Logica’s sales manager Pier Giorgio Boninsegna (in the photo, on the left with Francesco Santi) and Norberto Bucciarelli, founder, for their participation in the project.

Logica has been open and extremely prepared to welcome and meet our needs, keeping up to date with industry and market developments. This also means sharing an affinity of vision and operations considering constant modernization as fundamental.

These have been the main reasons.
So I would say that in addition to the product, it was the service and the people who interfaced with us.

What about the software, what features have met your needs?

Compared with other software, the Logica Suite was more suited to our needs for the part related to production and connection between machines.
Our printing systems are extremely productive: so, one of the critical success factors is being able to use them to their full potential.

One aspect that immediately convinced both me and Robert, Longo’s COO, is that, compared to other systems, Data Production seemed to us to be much more evolved; in addition, the preventive and scheduling part also seemed well structured.

What was the aspect that pushed you toward a SAAS solution?

This is an economic-contractual reason: from a strictly financial point of view, what motivates a company to choose the Software As A Service model is being able to defer the investment instead of facing an economic commitment all at once.

What features/aspects of the software do you find most beneficial to your daily and business management operations?

The more a software can facilitate information sharing, the more work within the company is clearly simplified.
Having control of this aspect, in day-to-day operations, makes all the difference in terms of efficiency.

Equally important are the management and decision-making aspects: the Logica Suite allows us to keep track of the company and what is happening within it, but it is also an incentive tool for setting prospective goals.

I expect the Logica software to support us in this aspect as well, helping us to remain competitive in the marketplace. In short, when you invent the button that will show us the most profitable market to follow at that point we will be safe.
Who knows, you may get there in the future… (Santi says, smiling).

Do you think artificial intelligence can help in the future in this respect?

Artificial Intelligence is efficient when it is fed with data, which someone must have, data that perhaps Logica already knows

How have operators perceived the news? We noticed high participation, finding it wonderful to see so many different professional figures being involved from the beginning...

Six months ago I came to Longo and did a simple thing: I listened.

The moment we spread the idea of investing in a new ERP, everyone welcomed this decision with optimism and positivity. The common goal was to work orderly, accurately and on time. What really stands out was the service and availability of Logica’s technicians to answer our questions.

At that point it was easy to make the decision, a choice supported by the whole team.

During the software selection process, you had the opportunity to compare yourself with a couple of our other customers. Was it helpful?

Both companies we dealt with were really enthusiastic about the adoption of the Logica software and what the journey was like.
I would like to personally thank their management because it is not expected that a competitor shows such openness in sharing their experience. I firmly believe in healthy competition.

What emerged was a confirmation of what we expected: control from A to Z to what happens in the company. They were clearly satisfied.

How do you rate the service and support?

Basically we used to mature our decisions from objective data, but customer service is more difficult to evaluate without experiencing it.

We took an approach based on a rigorous analytical method: evaluating the product first and customer service second. Having had the opportunity to hear reviews, in agreement, about customer service related to the software we were evaluating allowed us to concretize our positive feeling.
Getting in touch with companies that all expressed the same positive feedback confirmed our decision.

Of course, we expect a long-term partnership to emerge that will allow both of us to grow together, an ever-valid paradigm between customer and supplier. We do the same with our partners.

In the end, the technological innovation offered by Logica, with its ability to perfectly fit in with Longo’s versatile and complex reality, was a key factor in this company’s decision to trust our Suite.
In addition, the support and professionality of the team, with clear and competent communication, reinforced the trust in this solution.

Share this article on