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Avanti Slingshot

Avanti Slingshot at a glance
VendorCAI Software, Graphic Communications division (formerly Ricoh subsidiary Avanti Computer Systems; sold to eProductivity Software in 2025)
HeadquartersToronto, Canada (origin); now part of Graphic Communications, Pittsburgh, PA (CAI Software corporate: Lincoln, RI)
OwnershipPrivately held; majority investor Symphony Technology Group (STG); owned by Ricoh from 2017 until mid-2025
DeploymentCloud
Target marketMidsize and larger print service providers, direct mail providers, and in-plant print centers
IndustriesCommercial print, direct mail, wide-format, in-plant printing in government, healthcare, education, and finance
PricingNot published; modular, quote-based
Websiteprintepssw.com/eps-avanti-print-mis

The short version

Avanti Slingshot is a cloud print management information system (MIS). It carries a job from estimate and order entry through scheduling, production, fulfillment, and billing. The vendor now sells it as ePS Avanti Print MIS inside the Graphic Communications division of CAI Software. Modular, JDF-certified, and unusually well entrenched in US in-plant print centers.

Vendor, history, ownership

Avanti Computer Systems started in Toronto in 1984 and spent four decades building print MIS software. The browser-based Slingshot platform arrived in the mid-2010s as the successor to the classic system.

Then the ownership carousel started turning. Ricoh acquired Avanti in 2017 and distributed it widely, above all through Ricoh USA, which is how the product became a fixture in American in-plants and commercial shops. In June 2025 Ricoh announced that it was selling Avanti to eProductivity Software, saying it wanted to focus on its own print workflow software. A merger of equals between Print ePS and CAI Software followed in October 2025. Avanti now sits in the Graphic Communications division next to Pace, Monarch, and PrintSmith Vision, and the branding is migrating from Avanti Slingshot to ePS Avanti.

What it covers

Estimating and order management, scheduling with production tracking, fulfillment and inventory control, billing with financial reporting, CRM. The architecture is deliberately open and JDF-certified, and the integration list does much of the work: accounting through QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, and SAP; prepress automation via Enfocus Switch and HP PrintOS; shipping and tax through USPS, FedEx, UPS, and Avalara; web-to-print through MarketDirect StoreFront and connected CRM platforms.

One boundary matters more than the others. General ledger accounting lives in the connected finance package, not in Slingshot. That keeps the product a print MIS rather than a full ERP with native financials.

Typical customers

Midsize and larger print service providers, direct mail operations, wide-format shops, and above all in-plant print centers. The vendor points specifically at regulated sectors: government, healthcare, education, and finance, where in-plants need workflows they can track and audit. Canadian roots, but the Ricoh years gave the installed base a broad US footprint.

How it is sold

Cloud delivery, modular licensing, no published price list. Quotes are assembled from the modules, user counts, and integrations an operation needs. Since the accounting system, the storefront, and the shipping platforms are separate moving parts, an honest budget covers the whole stack rather than the MIS license alone; our ERP cost guide sets out how to structure that comparison.

Our take

Buy this if you run an in-plant in a regulated industry and need auditable job tracking plus JDF-level prepress and press connectivity. That is where Slingshot is genuinely strong, and the integration breadth means you rarely hit a dead end. Skip it if you want general ledger accounting inside the print system itself: sister product Pace does that natively, and stitching a finance package onto Slingshot to fake it is the wrong shape of solution. The bigger risk here is not features, it is portfolio politics. Three owners in roughly a decade, and the product now shares a shelf with several overlapping MIS siblings plus the cloud-native Nubium platform. Ask about consolidation plans and roadmap investment, in writing, before signing. A disciplined selection process that puts Slingshot next to independent MIS vendors is worth the effort in this segment.

What the Avanti Slingshot website looks like

Current view of the vendor homepage, captured by our editorial team.

Screenshot of the Avanti Slingshot vendor homepage

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Frequently asked questions

Is Avanti Slingshot still a Ricoh product?

No. Ricoh announced in June 2025 that it was selling Avanti Computer Systems to eProductivity Software so it could concentrate on its own print workflow solutions. Product and customer base now sit in the Graphic Communications division of CAI Software, following the merger announced later that year.

Is ePS Avanti a different product from Avanti Slingshot?

Same product, new label. After the sale by Ricoh and the merger into CAI Software, the vendor began marketing the system as ePS Avanti Print MIS, while existing customers stayed on the same platform. The Slingshot name still appears widely in the market and in older documentation.

Does Avanti Slingshot include full accounting?

It handles billing and financial reporting, but general ledger accounting runs in an integrated external package such as QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, or SAP. That architecture is what makes Slingshot a print MIS rather than a full ERP with native financials. Shops that want accounting inside the same database should look at sister product ePS Pace, or plan for a horizontal ERP alongside the MIS.

Which systems does Avanti Slingshot integrate with?

The integration list is one of the product's selling points and covers four areas. Accounting connects to QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, and SAP. Prepress automation ties into Enfocus Switch and HP PrintOS, backed by JDF certification. Shipping and tax run through USPS, FedEx, UPS, and Avalara. Web-to-print is served by MarketDirect StoreFront together with connected CRM platforms. Because these pieces are separate contracts, they belong in the budget from the start.

Who typically runs Avanti Slingshot?

The strongest user group is in-plant print centers, particularly in government, healthcare, education, and finance, where auditable workflows carry weight. Commercial printers, direct mail providers, and wide-format operations also run the system. The installed base concentrates in North America, reflecting both the Toronto origins and the years of distribution through Ricoh USA.

How is Avanti Slingshot priced and deployed?

Cloud delivery with modular licensing, and no published prices. Quotes are built from the modules, user counts, and integrations an operation needs, so two shops of similar size can land on very different numbers.