One reason to get started with digital asset management or web2print is the consistency of your brand. More and more, printing companies are taking a central role in these brand management efforts.
Specialization
Brand management is no different than most other marketing operations. It's all about the content. But just like the other areas, it needs good tools. And these tools require an additional portion of flexibility because of the wideness in scope. Brand management doesn't focus on a single output. And this cross media publishing approach is exactly what is existing more and more as a specialization for printing companies and other graphical service providers.
A brand relies on publishing and identity across different media. And depending on the brand, different focus is put on different approaches. Web sites, printed catalogs, flyers, e-mailings, and the list goes on. While it might not be the idea to go to a single partner for all of this output, it helps to have a partner that knows all areas of your business.
Digital Asset Management
Content is king, and images are some of the best content available. But how to make sure that the right images are used at the right time. And in the right quality. That's exactly the reason that a lot of our customers offer digital asset management functionalities to their end customers. In some cases it's a central marketing department working with a single set of images and documents, being able to find them when needed. But in other cases, simple interfaces (a download centre, an image bank, call it what you will) is created on top of this for end users. Bank employees, bar owners, real estate agents, and so on. All of them can log in to a simple web application and download images as needed. Often, this same interface is also offered to the graphical agencies working for those end users.
PIMS
Content is king. But all too often this content is maintained in technical systems, suited best for logistics or accounting. That's why a lot of printing companies offer product information management services. Technical information is imported from the source database (Axapta, SAP, Progress, ...) and synchronized with the FLO Suite database. There, marketing information is added to the database by the central marketing department. This information is very flexible, so the marketing department can keep adding fields to the database. Descriptions, actions, images from the digital asset management module, and so on.
Database publishing
Content is king, but it needs to come out nice. So our customers get together with the marketing department and work out InDesign Server or PDF templates to create output of the product information and the digital assets. This can range from simple business cards or product flyers to advanced catalogs. And the same data can also be used to populate mailings or websites (using the embedded content management system).
Web2print and printing on demand
Database publishing is the slightly more technical brother of web2print applications. The idea is the same: use templates and content to create output (of PDF files, or maybe of InDesign packages if you're using InDesign Server). But on top of that, a simple interface is added for the end users. Simple wizards for printing on demand applications, where they can choose pre-existing items and order them. Or intuitive web2print solutions with variable data templates. All resulting in output that conforms to your brand. Every time!
Various custom applications
One of the USP's of our customers is that they are able to offer all of the above from a single platform. But an even bigger USP is that they can create custom applications. Even when it is not part of their traditional core business. Again: Cross Media Publishing is becoming second nature to a lot of them. Allowing end users to create ads, hosting websites, creating brand sites (with the company guidelines), and so on. All can be done exactly according to specification.