Cavok digital asset management system as central storage location after company merger
As a leading manufacturer of dental products and technology, Dentsply Sirona has centralized all marketing and sales materials for the DACH region in Cavok digital asset management since its corporate merger.
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What were the challenges of the corporate merger?
- 2016 merged from Dentsply International & Sirona Dental Systems, Inc.
- Industry: Medical Technology
- 16,200 employees
- Headquarters: USA
- Subsidiaries in > 40 countries; Sales presence in > 120 countries
- Dentsply Sirona Deutschland GmbH with its headquarters in Bensheim, Germany
The merger of Dentsply and Sirona in 2016 resulted in the world's largest manufacturer of dental products and technology. Dentsply Sirona offers dental professionals and technicians a comprehensive range of products for dental and oral health. A key challenge for the sales company for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, based in Bensheim, Germany, was a centralized data management. "The goal was to create a central loction for all files, as our different product areas had different storage locations for their data," describes Sabrina Brandner, Digital Marketing Manager at Dentsply Sirona's DACH sales organization. "Everyone had their own storage media, whether that was Sharepoint, OneDrive or the local drive, which other employees could not access." Recurring image requests and searching for the right files were costing the marketing team a lot of time.
Why did Dentsply Sirona choose the Cavok DAM system?
"It quickly became clear: we urgently needed ONE place where we could store all marketing and sales documents and then easily share and edit them from there. We found the answer in the Cavok digital asset management system." The digital files to be stored for marketing and sales are mainly images as well as marketing materials such as flyers, brochures, presentations and videos. Digital asset management software is designed precisely for storing, editing and distributing such digital media assets. "When it came to selecting the right system, we relied on the expertise of our media services provider Studio Oberländer," Brandner remembers. "When Studio Oberländer, together with PEAK-14, introduced the Cavok DAM system to my colleagues and me, we were excited about the many possibilities."
How did Cavok convince?
- Media service provider with focus on packaging material
- 55 years on the market
- Locations in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt
As a media service provider, Studio Oberländer GmbH has already been handling the adaptation of packaging materials, instructions for use and labels for Dentsply's international laboratory division since 2014. In addition, the company, which is based in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, also handles the storage of all creative files in the Digital Asset Management System on its own servers. Support for the sales organization in the DACH region was then added. Initially, the company had worked with another DAM manufacturer, but then switched to PEAK-14 GmbH's Cavok digital asset management system.
In particular, the possibility of continuing to operate the Cavok DAM system on its own servers persuaded Studio Oberländer GmbH to switch. "Cavok coverd everything we were looking for. In particular, the flexibility with the collections convinced us. That was exactly the feature our customer Dentsply Sirona needed," describes Kersten Andreas Oberländer, Managing Director of the company of the same name. The fact that videos can be streamed directly in Cavok, as well as the similarity and duplicate search, were also important decision criteria. "We were also particularly impressed by Cavok's optional structure and the possibility to connect different systems individually. Here we have the possibility to implement and specifically adapt functions step by step without great costs," reports Oberländer.
Corona Lockdown drives adoption of new system
In March 2020, many of Dentsply Sirona's employees moved to work from home, making it even more important to use the digital asset management system. "That's when Corona really forced us to be disciplined and accelerated the initial filling of the system with all the existing data," Brandner reports.
How is Cavok used?
Today, around 150 employees in marketing and sales in the DACH region at Dentsply Sirona use the Cavok Digital Asset Management System. In addition, media service providers and agencies such as Studio Oberländer have upload rights to the system and can store their data directly in the upload area. Employees from the marketing department are notified by mail about the upload and then assign the assets to the product categories. "Our marketing managers enter and manage the assets. Other colleagues, mainly from sales, can help themselves to this marketing and image material," Brandner explains. Sales staff have access to the final PDFs and visuals and download rights for them.
Collection links for easy distribution
"We have countless image requests from sales, for example. Often, these requests always require the same images. In Cavok, we use the collection function for this." It's particularly practical for recurring requests, as the images don't have to be picked out again each time. In the past, it was time-consuming to search for the images in the various storage locations and then send them via a WeTransfer link. After a week, the WeTransfer link usually expired, but the images had not yet been retrieved and a new request was sent to the marketing department. "Today, we create collections for all kinds of areas and can send assets from them via download link. In addition, there is the possibility to adjust these again and again or to simply renew the links. This is a huge relief for us!" Brandner enthuses.
Which individual additional functions have been implemented?
1. Automatic file renaming according to company specifications
The automatic renaming of files is also highly practical for all employees. "All files stored by colleagues used to have to be manually adapted to the company-wide filenaming rules. Now Cavok does that autmatically for us!" says Brandner. The structure of the file names is predefined. After a file has been uploaded, assigned to products and, if necessary, supplemented with metadata, the file name is automatically adapted to this structure.
2. Due to diplicate checking, only original files are displayed
"Of course, it happens that the same image is uploaded by different colleagues," Brandner admits. "That's why we use the duplicate filter in Cavok. This ensures that such duplicates are hidden in the interface and only the original file is displayed." The duplicate filter thus helps to maintain an overview of the assets. It was deliberately decided not to automatically delete existing duplicates, as these are often already built into layouts and then result in incorrect links there.
3. Batch function shows images used in PDF
Which images and logos have been used in an InDesign is automatically displayed in Cavok via the function 'relations'. This is not possible by default for PDF documents. At Dentsply Sirona, this is remedied by adapting the batch function. If PDF and the associated InDesign file are combined in a batch, Cavok DAM also displays which images were used here in the PDF file. At the same time, the batch function ensures a tidy layout. Certain user groups also have the option of sending or downloading the packaged InDesign documents with the links/relationships they contain using a customized action.
"When I present the system internally or hold a training session, there is always a lot of positive feedback."
Sabrina Brandner, Digital Marketing Manager
What are the plans for the future?
"In the future, colleagues should use the batch function more, so that the layout becomes leaner," Brandner hopes. "Cavok offers an enormous number of functions, the potential of which we haven't even exhausted yet. That's why we want to expand the system further." For example, specialist retailers should get direct access to the DAM system. "We work a lot with specialist retailers. The plan is to roll out the system to retailers soon."
Conclusion: Cavok facilitates collaboration
Challenge: Decentralized storage locations, difficult collaboration between marketing and sales.
Solution: Cavok digital asset management as a central location for marketing assets
Key features: Collection link for distribution, automatic file renaming to company specifications, duplicate check for better overview, batch function for relations between images and final files
Outlook Integration of resellers
While there used to be many different storage locations for creative assets, Cavok is now the central location for all marketing and sales documents. Thanks to the DAM system, marketing and sales can collaborate efficiently. Especially the flexible collection links and automatic filenaming according to company specifications save the marketing team a lot of time. The automatic duplicate check and batch function ensure that the system remains tidy and clear. "When I present the system internally or hold a training session, there is always a lot of positive feedback," Brandner sums up.
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