March 16, 2005 The Powerpoint presentation continues to proliferate and control the day of many middle and upper management corporate employees. So much so that Gizmag is departing from tradition (we don't usually do software) and flagging the arrival of a very useful Digital Asset Management Solution that might prevent a few of our loyal readers from drowning in a sea of PowerPoint presentations! Using WorkBench a user can now drop all their digital assets (video, photos, ads, logos etc) to their own "WorkBench" from a central digital repository and create their own versions using templates. The Powerpoints are sent by email links, not originals.
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) provider Interwoven solutions for business, today announced that it has extended the power of its Digital Asset Management (DAM) system with the introduction of MediaBin Presentation WorkBench.
Available as part of the latest version of Interwoven's MediaBin Asset Server, Presentation WorkBench enables enterprises to more efficiently and cost-effectively manage and share Microsoft PowerPoint files within a centrally-managed system for all digital assets.
By gaining greater control of PowerPoint presentations within the Web-based MediaBin environment, enterprises can benefit from increased brand control and consistency across the organisation; reduced IT support costs through fewer PowerPoint e-mail attachments; and improved productivity through a streamlined presentation assembly and distribution process.
With the proliferation of PowerPoint files, today's enterprises across industries are faced with the growing challenge of effectively managing an increasing volume of presentations within their organisations.
The frustrating task of trying to locate specific presentations, slides, or company-approved templates is an all too-common occurrence for many organisations, and can impact the speed and efficiency of critical sales and marketing processes.
Furthermore, as e-mail continues to serve as the primary medium for collaborating on and distributing PowerPoint files, many enterprises are faced with the mounting IT challenge of how to control the costly burden of PowerPoint e-mail attachments on network bandwidth.
While several point products currently exist in the market to help manage PowerPoint files, they generally fail to address the broader management and user productivity needs for the full spectrum of multi-channel marketing content including: photographs, logos, audio, video, datasheets, ads, and documents.
By offering MediaBin Presentation WorkBench as a component of the MediaBin DAM system, Interwoven is ensuring that enterprises have the most comprehensive system available on the market today to centrally manage and control access to presentations in the context of an overall DAM strategy. As a result, business users across departments can now quickly and easily create personalised, highly-targeted presentations that are consistent with corporate branding by pulling together the right combination of pre-approved slides.
"At National Semiconductor, maintaining the integrity of our brand, as well as consistent messaging across marketing, product lines and executive presentations are key priorities-Interwoven Presentation WorkBench will help us achieve these objectives," said Andy Aronson, project manager/producer, National Semiconductor.
"Presentation WorkBench is easy to use-providing us with the capability to quickly mix-and-match PowerPoint slides from many presentations in one location-and will be a boon to our productivity. Furthermore, it will enable us to extend the role of our existing Digital Asset Management system to include a 'presentation clearinghouse,' thereby facilitating increased brand compliance across the organisation."
Available as a standard component of the latest release of Interwoven MediaBin Asset Server, MediaBin Presentation WorkBench extends the promise of brand compliance and collaboration to remote users by enabling anytime, anywhere Web-based access. Additionally, by allowing users to e-mail links to a presentation WorkBench instead of sending large attachments, MediaBin Presentation WorkBench reduces e-mail server storage and bandwidth bottlenecks, enabling IT to better maximise resources and reduce support costs.
"To get the right message to the right audience at the right time, organisations must achieve new levels of flexibility and responsiveness," said Bob Estes, vice president of marketing solutions at Interwoven. "In order to achieve this, organisations need a comprehensive and unified approach to collectively manage presentations along with all of their digital assets, rather than shallow point solutions that only scratch the surface of the problem. With the introduction of MediaBin Presentation WorkBench, we're pleased to provide the industry's first such system to empower organisations to assume greater control of their brands and messaging, while easing the burden on IT."
Interwoven's MediaBin Presentation WorkBench provides the following functionality/benefits:
• Single Window Access to Multiple PowerPoint Presentations-Users can select multiple PowerPoint files within MediaBin and combine them in one WorkBench. Users can save private WorkBenches for later use and e-mail links to colleagues, while administrators can save "Global" WorkBenches for broader access by users across the organisation• Custom Presentation Assembly-Users can select and re-order slides from various files and dynamically assemble new presentations utilising current and brand-correct templates• Pre-Approved Templates-Approved templates ensure brand compliance throughout the organisation while reducing rework and presentation assembly time• Efficient Storage-Since users can e-mail a link to a WorkBench rather than an entire PowerPoint file, IT departments benefit from reduced e-mail storage and bandwidth consumption
Interwoven MediaBin Asset Server software powers the industry's leading DAM solution and is chosen by marketing organisations worldwide to control, distribute and publish the thousands of digital assets used to promote their products and brands. With MediaBin Asset Server, marketing teams can provide their global sales force, business partners and outside agencies with instant, self-service access to approved, up-to-date marketing content including: photographs, logos, audio and video items, datasheets, ads, presentations, and documents.
MediaBin Presentation WorkBench will be available as a standard component of the latest release of Interwoven MediaBin Asset Server beginning March 31, 2005.
