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CDD Lets it Flow

CDD have been offering their clients design and photography solutions for over a decade. Their focus on creating the right message and willingness to adopt new technologies has helped them grow from their two original founders to a team of fifteen. Their latest addition is Flowmation, an Interactive Project Management system, which combines Digital Asset Management, Remote Approval with Project Management in an innovative way.

Company

Since laying its foundations in 1997, CDD has performed at the forefront of the ‘design and print’ and new media industries. Although the company started with only two employees, from the onset it was designed to be a full services agency with conceptual, creative, design and photography under one roof. “Ensuring all of these functions are housed together increases collaboration between them and this can be seen in the work we produce” says Steve Radjen, their Managing Director and founder.

Their mission statement sums up their philosophy “to bring together the very best in people and technology to deliver creative excellence to the benefit of our clients, employees and company”. When they started out they were one of only a few studios to incorporate digital photography as one of their services. Today they are one of the few agencies to still employ a full time photographer, again a sign of their commitment to their customers.

This dedication to quality has proved to be successful; the company has grown substantially in the last decade. Last year they moved in to brand new offices providing 3,500 sq ft of design studio and 1,500 sq ft of photo studio.

They have a broad range of clients that cover many market sectors such as fashion, leisure, manufacturing, automotive, biotechnology, recruitment and retail. They offer these clients both above and below the line solutions.

CDD’s relationship with Silicon systems started back in 2003 when they installed a Silicon Systems Graphic server and Helios OPI software. The relationship was strengthened when they installed the wwWebflow DAM system in 2003 as well.

Driving Forces for Change

CDD hold a massive image library, with both their own assets and those held on behalf of their clients. wwWebflow made it easy for their clients to access and view these, but their requirements have became more sophisticated. Steve says “Our larger clients need to approve assets from multiple locations; there was no easy way to do this. I calculated we spent £5,500 on one client just on file delivery. There are a lot of costs involved, firstly the time and production, then the carriage; sending disks long distance via timed delivery can get expensive.”

Silicon Systems

Silicon Systems showed CDD what they wanted to do with Flowmation and invited them to become a development partner. Steve recalls “I liked the concept and the approach, the fact that it was being developed with the end users constantly contributing was a real change from the usual development approach. Like us it was at the forefront of technology.”

CDD have since been actively involved in the development of Flowmation. They have found it to be extremely robust, an area where other systems have not proved to be. As a development partner they are entitled to future developments and regularly have their system updated with improved functionality.

The Future

Steve says “We are hosting digital assets for a number of our clients in Flowmation. We have also started to use it to for remote approval of clients’ artwork. Our clients really like the system; we have rebranded their portals with all of their own livery and logos. The system looks and feels as if it is part of their company, which increases their brand strength in the eyes of their suppliers and distributors. Third parties can be given controlled permission to access and approve files.”

“They also value the traceability of the system, the knowledge that all project history and assets are stored in a centralised place and can be viewed in seconds is revolutionary.”

Apart from the customer interface Flowmation has also proved a hit with the internal teams. Steve reveals “All of our team have found Flowmation easy to use; they really appreciate the fact that all assets associated to a specific campaign can be held within a project.”

Find out how Flowmation can work for you.