AFP Marketing

Enormous Photo Archive for Print and Online Advertising  

Photos are a must for presenting products in an appealing way that promotes sales. The more products a company offers and the wider the variety of print and digital channels they use, the larger the photo database. AFP Marketing knows this all too well. Their photo archive is enormous. 

The company currently manages and uses around 200,000 images in its image database. These images are used in web shops and print publications, among other uses. Utmost efficiency is needed to manage and distribute these assets. 

AFP Marketing Wants to Supply Customers with Data, Text and Images  

The media database forms the basis selling goods in the web shops. In a nutshell, Anne Mette Alfken says: “Customers ultimately need to see what they’re buying.” She’s on the team at AFP Marketing that is responsible for maintaining the media database and online shops. Experience has taught her: “To store all these files so they can be found again, you need a portal with good archiving and search functions.” 

Improved Archiving of Images and Graphics

Nowadays, Anne Mette Alfken uses such a portal in her everyday work. In order to achieve its objectives, AFP Marketing decided to optimize the archiving of images and graphics to ensure that they could be easily found in the future. Anne Mette Alfken recalls: “Before, all the product images were stored in a folder with subfolders. You had to be familiar with the folder structure to find anything.” 

Betting on the Future: A New Digital Asset Management System (DAM)

AFP Marketing is a flexible company and, as such, decided to make its work more efficient and time-saving. This is why it decided it was high-time to get a new DAM system. 

When you reach a certain number of files, you simply need a new, modern and powerful system.

Anne Mette Alfken, responsible for maintaining the online shops at AFP Marketing

4ALLPORTAL DAM System to the Rescue

But what should this new software be capable of? What requirements should it meet? “The main goal was to have a system that offers an image database with a really good search function and supports digital workflows,” explains Anne Mette Alfken, adding: “it should also include a quick and clear preview of the files you are looking for.” AFP Marketing chose the 4ALLPORTAL DAM system because it met all of the most important requirements. 

Great Performance Thanks to Standardized Tagging  

After installing the DAM system, Anne Mette Alfken was responsible for its maintenance. She defined internally uniform standards when adding tags and categorizing files and contributed to the system being able to fully exploit its strengths in everyday work. A good DAM software is surely a good start for professional data management, but it needs other measures in order for it to deliver a high level of performance on the long run. 

The more precise the tagging and categorization during upload, the higher the probability that an asset will also be found when searching for it. That is what Anne Mette Alfken works on. She likes the high performance of the system and wants to keep it that way. 

Creating New Digital Workflows at AFP Marketing

4ALLPORTAL’s DAM system enabled AFP Marketing to use digital workflows even more efficiently. An example of this is the improvement in the collaboration with internal and external stakeholders: now you can simply store editing requests on images and assign them to specific people. Sending images directly from the system is also child’s play. Last but not least, the management of usage rights is even easier and clearer because they are already stored with the assets when they are uploaded. 

DAM System as the Ultimate Efficiency Machine

The search and filter functions are first and foremost what have made the 4ALLPORTAL DAM system the ultimate efficiency machine for AFP Marketing. Suddenly, image files that used to take so much time to track down can be found in just seconds. 

Faster Searches Thanks to a Search Mask with Full-Text Search

Prior to the system change, complex searches forced Anne Mette Alfken to dig through numerous subfolders. The new DAM system provides her with a search mask with filters and full-text search capabilities that enable her to precisely narrow the search.

In the end, the system shows me all of the files that match the selected search terms and parameters. Searches are much faster this way. This used to be extremely time-intensive.

Anne Mette Alfken, responsible for maintaining the online shops at AFP Marketing

AFP Marketing Quickly Learns How to Use the DAM System

Anne Mette Alfken is thrilled with the 4ALLPORTAL DAM system and its wide-ranging uses. “You can do so many things with it,” she enthuses. “And it is absolutely intuitive. And you can’t destroy anything with it,” she adds. She always tells new employees: “Just give the system a try.” The fact that everything functions so easily is due in part to the highly advanced role concept this DAM system employs. 

Role Principle with Restricted Access

It is based on the principle of individually restricting access and functionality for user groups in order to provide adequate data protection and security. The system training provided by AFP Marketing is quickly completed. “I need about 15 minutes to demonstrate the functions to someone. Other than that, trying it out and asking questions is all that’s needed.” 

Friendly, Patient and Uncomplicated Support  

How is the collaboration with 4ALLPORTAL going these days? Anne Mette Alfken has high praise for the support:

When we have a question, they help us without any hassle. They are very nice there and really patient.

Anne Mette Alfken, responsible for maintaining the online shops at AFP Marketing

Regular updates are issued to keep the DAM system operating at the state of the art. “Most of them run automatically via the DAM system,” Anne Mette Alfken explains. She can also initiate smaller updates herself. “Whenever a new version is issued, 4ALLPORTAL calls us and suggests an appointment for installation.” 

Brief Training Provided at AFP Marketing After More Extensive Updates

“If the appointment works for us, we make the update and can quickly get back to work with the system,” she adds. The last update was more extensive. “The things that were completely new were explained to me then in a brief training session.”