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DAM ● ● ● DYSON Print drives Dyson’s asset choice Dyson had specific needs from a new digital asset management system and workflow system and found the answers in the software of censhare, a system already proven in Germany hen Dyson started looking for a new digital asset Wmanagement system three years ago, its requirements were quite specific: the system it chose to manage what is now around 60,000 assets had to be conversant with print. That might seem obvious, since the vacuum cleaner and hand dryer company creates huge quantities of marketing and technical information about its products, including in-store point of sale, packaging, and manuals to go in the box for every sale it makes, but finding a system that speaks the language of print was not straight-forward, according to Dyson’s Creative Services IT manager Gary Bidwell. “We still use a lot of ink on paper so we needed a company that understood print. There are many digital asset management systems but only about 10 that work well with the print industry. Most brand management systems don’t understand print. Content management systems are ten to a penny and have all sorts of functionality, but we were Bidwell adds: “There is nothing more censhare presents a and the existence of a good development specifically addressing the print production demanding for a DAM than a newspaper, gallery view of images, team and back-up behind the software with a large preview of side of things. We take great pride in the so the robustness was proven.” a selected image was also vital. colour accuracy of what we put on paper, Dyson had been using a smaller Of course, no major DAM project and we needed a system that could help publishing system for asset management, should be undertaken without a clear us achieve that. It really does matter if we and had learned a great deal from strategic view of where a business is use an RGB or CMYK image.” using this – lessons which informed its going, why such a system is necessary The supplier that Dyson settled upon identification of needs for a new and and how it will provide benefits along is censhare, a company that originated better system. As well as the print- that journey. From Dyson’s perspective, in Germany in 2001. In that market specific functionality and the track the key drivers for investing in censhare censhare is a well established name, record, Bidwell says Dyson required were its growth as a business globally and counts a number of newspapers a DAM that could work with both – and more particularly, that its as well as Siemens, SwissRE, General QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign, and manufacturing is located in Malaysia. Motors, agency McCann Erickson, and that was platform independent for Mac While most marketing collateral is car manufacturer BMW among its or PC; it needed to be able to integrate still created in the UK, print is fulfilled publishing, agency and corporate clients. with systems in different areas of the globally, and Dyson was establishing a This track record, although almost business, such as Dyson’s new SAP production facility in Malaysia to mirror entirely outside of the UK when Dyson business software, its Product Line that in the UK. It needed a robust system started its research, was also important. Management system and a CRM system; to ensure that management of digital 38 | May 2009 | www.printmediamag.co.uk DAM ● ● ● DYSON files was secure and efficient. When bags were carried around between areas scoping of the project, a first stage launching a new product, Dyson creates of the business. Now the artwork file just of implementation of the censhare artwork templates centrally, for local sits within the censhare database, and all system was its installation as a live adaptation. It needed the complicated users with access rights to sign off can trial in Dyson’s production studio in process of translation and artworking easily find it there at any time. Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Here it was used to be managed more efficiently, so that The system also has a translation in parallel to the existing DAM to prove material could get to market on time. memory system, which can identify the concept. Gradually, more and more To see the system in action, common strips of text that have been functionality, such as automation of some representatives from Dyson travelled to translated before, and automatically processes and digital sign off, is being Germany to visit BMW, and marketing apply previous translations to that. rolled out. It will be used extensively operations director Bronwen Edwards Translators work directly on live in the UK and Malaysian hubs, and says speaking to the motor company documents in censhare, which is driven potentially also in the US in the future. about the benefits of censhare and by Adobe InDesign Server. They can It will therefore tie together all of the any issues that had arisen gave Dyson “good reassurance”. Edwards continues: “Knowing that BMW could make it work “There is nothing more in that environment, I felt we could probably crack any operational problems demanding for a DAM than a here at Dyson as well.” newspaper, so the robustness The big problem that Dyson was grappling with before installation of was proven.” Gary Bidwell, Creative censhare was that it was creating a huge Services IT manager amount of promotional work. Bidwell estimates that up to 4,000 jobs spread across perhaps 200 different campaigns see the English file, for example, and activities and behind the management are created every year, often with type the required language straight into of campaigns and the creation of all multiple language translations required. the document alongside, using the web of Dyson’s printed communications “Managing that data was a nest of interface. material. snakes, and we needed something to Bidwell says that every document For the marketing teams, the benefits manage it for us,” says Bidwell. “It was created in censhare is print-ready. are already apparent, and will become a full time job just making sure that InDesign Server gives users a WYSIWYG more so, says Edwards: “We had a files were in the right place. censhare live page, allowing them to change text management system before but censhare takes us straight to the right location. and imagery, which the server re-renders just gives us a much more accurate Strict criteria are used for searching, so to generate the high resolution PDF picture of whether schedules have finding and tracking work is one of the for print. The files are preflighted changed, if the brief has gone through big benefits. We can find an image and through EskoArtwork’s Odystar prepress correctly – a lot of information to help see how many times it has been used, workflow, through an automated process us improve our processes and make the and in what documents. We are growing that takes files out of the DAM, into department more efficient. and doing more product launches, so the preflight engine, and then back into “It brings us clarity because it we wanted to design more structured censhare as a certified PDF. records everything. We will be able to processes, and censhare gives us that.” After the initial comprehensive see and understand how well our people The system that Dyson has installed is customised for its requirements to a degree, with certain feature requests being provided for the company “In the central marketing (development work that can also team and creative services benefit other clients thereafter). One example of this is in digital sign offs of department it has been very artwork. Dyson wanted to be able to positively received because make annotations onto PDF files, which censhare at first did not have. It does it is bringing order and now, and so every censhare client now clarity to what can look like has access to this enhancement. Even before that improvement was chaos with so much work made for Dyson, the approval processes going through.” Bronwen Edwards, in censhare were far better than Dyson Marketing Operations director was used to. Files were emailed putting strain on the network, and physical job www.printmediamag.co.uk | May 2009 | 39 DAM ● ● ● DYSON are articulating the brand as we roll it months before we rolled it out. We had out further. We have a huge collection of hoped to have translation and project imagery and before, we had to download scheduling up and running earlier, but them for the individual markets and send it became clear that users were having them the images. Now they can just pick to adapt to new processes and a new them up from within censhare. system, so it’s taking time. You expect “It brings other operational areas some negativity, but people had no to light where it might be of benefit. In visibility before censhare, so it’s opening the central marketing team and creative up a lot of doors. The people that were services department it has been very using the old system are now working in positively received because it is bringing censhare quite happily.” order and clarity to what can look like Further enhancements are to come chaos with so much work going through. for Dyson: more scheduling for campaign I get the sense that there’s a lot more and resource management; more calm in the department. People are more The Layout Editor can be used to open an InDesign layout via the webclient sophisticated translation modules. reassured; there is less running around For that reason, Bidwell says in six chasing things down, chasing legal, months time a conversation about how chasing Intellectual Property, because the censhare works within Dyson will be system is doing that for us.” completely different to now.

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