Partner Portal Two-way Sharing
Self-service Web Portals for Your Partners and Customers
For many organizations, delivering digital assets to partners and customers is expensive in terms of time and money. Staff time is required to find files, burn CDs, address envelopes, etc. And then there’s the cost of overnight or courier services. Send the wrong file, and it starts all over again.
How much longer do approvals take when no one (but FedEx) knows where a file is? How convenient is it for you to have to “be there” to accept a parcel?
We left the physical for the digital for good reason. Why go back?
Canto Cumulus provides easy, permissions-controlled access for users on both sides of the file sharing equation. Fire up a Web browser, open a mobile device—your choice. Get and give what you need in moments—any time of any day.
Easy partner portal access is one of the reasons consumer electronics icon Monster Cable chose Cumulus. Scores of (current and approved) photos for hundreds of products need to make their way to thousands of sales partners, like Amazon.com, Best Buy and Radio Shack. Imagine the logistical and financial nightmare of this operation being based on physical media. Monster’s Jim Klar imagined it, which is why he came to Canto for help.
“Our online [Cumulus-based] platform is now a key touch point for our customers to do their research. Cumulus is not just an internal organization and archiving tool, it’s about getting our intellectual property into the hands of the people who need it.”
GA Communications manages media campaigns for major grocery chains. Via Cumulus, they provide self-service access for store managers to get what’s needed for regional campaigns. Grocers are happier, and GA Communications creative professionals avoid paper cuts from stuffing envelopes. VP of IT, Marc Konik, describes the benefit.
“The net effect for grocers is more affordable and effective advertising campaigns.”
To further drive home Konik’s point, what happens when approved assets aren’t readily available to those who need them?
a. People wait patiently until you send what they need
b. People destroy your brand by using whatever they can find
But partner portals aren’t just for easy access and brand integrity. Some generate revenue too.
Belgium entertainment powerhouse Studio 100 uses Cumulus to help it manage the assets it licenses for marketing and promotional purposes. Licensees have access to (only) what they’re entitled to use, and they know when updates are available. All the while, Studio 100 is leveraging two investments at once—intellectual properties and Canto Cumulus.
Studio 100’s image bank manager, Koen Schryvers, is pleased with the outcome.
“Our Cumulus system is easy for users because it works the way they expect. I can’t think of anything I would change about Cumulus. It does just what we need.”
Landor Associates also generates revenue via Cumulus by providing clients fee-based access to historical archives. It’s a win-win for everyone. For example, would a marketing employee at FedEx today know where to find an image that was used in a FedEx advertising campaign that ran before she was even born?
Landor and Cumulus to the rescue.
Austrian print house Reprozwölf provides a unique spin on the concept of a self-service portal by offering customers their own Cumulus catalogs to manage via Web browsers. Canto partner Andreas Schmuck conceived and configured the system.
“Our clients would never buy a DAM system of this scale, but we knew they’d benefit from it. Cumulus is simply the best product available to manage a broad variety of data.”
Self-service customer and partner portals enable others to get exactly what you want them to have. It’s a convenience for them, and time savings and revenue source for you. Plus, your brand will thank you.
For more information how Canto Cumulus can become your organization’s file sharing portal, contact your local Canto partner or Canto today.
In the meantime, if you’re curious about how Canto uses Cumulus for its own customer and partner portal, visit: http://crc.canto.com.
