SolarEdge uses thousands of images and other media files to promote and sell their cutting-edge technologies. They need the latest materials to be available to varied stakeholders and collaborators from designers and marketers to engineers and technical teams.
Before Canto, storage was disorganized and contributed to a slowed workflow. With assets stored across personal laptops and shared drives, it was hard to keep the latest versions in circulation. It also meant Limor was the focus of every asset request, burdening the one person who knew where everything was.
“We have been archiving on different servers, it was just becoming more and more difficult. It got to the point that I was spending much of my day responding to hundreds of requests for digital assets,” explains Limor.
A culture of downloading copies of assets meant constantly making sure salespeople and engineers were using the most up-to-date assets.
“Everybody kept assets on their own local drives and just kept re-using them,” says Limor.
The growing company needed a way to manage and share assets that matched their innovative philosophy. In other words, they needed a digital asset management tool like Canto.
“Canto met all our initial requirements with an off-the-shelf product that didn’t need any further development or add-ons. It had competitive pricing and the interface was friendly. The option for unlimited Consumer users was very attractive,” says Limor.
It was important for SolarEdge to be able to provide access to an unlimited number of internal and external users. An ever growing number of employees and customers need access to product images, documents and presentations.
“We had a growing need for these Portals to make assets accessible, both to our internal and external customers. We have five different divisions in the company. That need was not fulfilled before. The number of externals Portals will continue to grow,” commented Limor.
Now, with over 31,000 assets across 19 Portals, and well over 600 users from 35 countries, users can access the assets they need.
Changing the philosophy of search
Before Canto, Limor spent most of her day fulfilling asset requests. Now with the Canto library, known internally as SPARC, users from across the organization can search for the media files they need at any time.
This means Limor can invest her time in more diverse and engaging activities. She can push the boundaries of the platform, develop new portals and train other users to be confident in searching for assets on Canto.
“I had a very clear image in my mind that I wanted to get away from the folder/subfolder approach of archiving assets. If you want to find something in our Canto library, you find it by searching, using free text search, applying filters, and by using the metadata. My philosophy is that if you keep clinging to your old method of doing things, you cannot move forward. You cannot grow. You have to evolve,” says Limor.
“I’m so passionate about Canto because it has changed how I work. It’s so easy for me now to find what I’m looking for. The fact that it’s working so well for me is what makes me so excited about sharing it with others,” Limor continues.
Creating a safe space to collaborate
The design team at SolarEdge uses a Workspace to collaborate with Contributors and external agencies on creative projects. Photographers, translators and 3D modeling agencies use upload links to push material into Canto.
“When someone places a ‘follow’ on a folder, they receive an immediate message both in the system and via email that something is there. This is very convenient. I don’t even need to tell them that something was uploaded for them. They are automatically updated,” says Limor.
Limor can store her team’s active projects, licensed stock assets, source and design files apart from the main library.
“This is a safe environment for them to upload into. They know that it will stay within the Contributors community. Nobody else can access it. It’s also a smart way for them to share assets with external agencies because the share options are so good and secure. Canto also allows us access 24/7,” says Limor.
Support that helps push boundaries
New to using a DAM, Limor found Canto intuitive and easy to use. She is enthusiastic about the quality of Canto support.
“The support is incredibly efficient. Indeed, Canto support is something that is rare to find. It’s incredible. You open a ticket and within 15 minutes you receive a response. You have someone that is taking care of you that is checking what you need, and that understands how to help. There are no words to say how good [they are],” says Limor.
With Canto Limor has the confidence to try new features and get the most value from the solution. Innovative uses include using Portals as placeholder websites for regional sites in development.
“I do not know many companies who have really stretched the platform as we do. We try to use everything,” comments Limor. “At the moment I am testing the option of changing the metadata to different languages. People who set the user interface to another language not only get the Canto library in another language, but they will also get all the local language metadata.”
