iCore speeds up content creation with 10x faster image search
iCore is a leading product and services company specialized in software integration. Their integration platform helps organizations connect their systems and applications, automate business processes, and turn their data into profit. iCore has been around for almost 25 years, has installations in more than 30 countries, and serves companies in a large number of industries, as well as the public sector.
"Pickit has provided us with so many new windows to our content – finding the right image only takes a fraction of the time it used to take, and causes a lot less headache."
“Finding a needle in a haystack” – The challenge of locating digital assets
iCore managed their digital assets, which included everything from brand-specific material (e.g. logotypes, icons and graphical elements) to stock imagery, illustrations, block diagrams, and more, on a network drive organized in a simple folder structure. As the pile of digital assets grew, locating specific assets became increasingly difficult – it required not only knowing how to navigate the intricate file structure but also basically knowing the name of the file you were looking for. Searching for the right image sometimes felt like finding a needle in a haystack, jeopardizing brand consistency and slowing down internal workflows.
PowerPoint presentations were another headache for the sales team and management. The established workflow involved duplicating an existing PowerPoint template and tailoring the content to individual needs. This approach often led to inconsistencies and potential harm to the iCore brand.
Observing how the iCore brand was being communicated to the market and recognizing the ongoing struggles, Ola Davidsson, Web Editor and Content Manager at iCore, realized a critical point had been reached – it was time to implement a digital asset management solution!
"I was at a point where creating content was getting frustrating – I never knew if finding the right asset would take 10 seconds or 10 minutes."
Click, find, create: Pickit revolutionizes iCore's content workflow
Ola began his search for the best DAM solution that could meet their business needs. It didn't take long for him to discover Pickit, which stood out for its simplicity and smart usability. Ola explains that other platforms felt like desktop applications and lacked the much-needed integration with MS 365, particularly PowerPoint and Word.
As Ola dove into Pickit, he quickly became familiar with the interface, and started organizing iCore’s assets using collections and metadata (e.g. tags). He found a world of seamless integrations opening up: native integration with Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and stock photo repositories like Adobe Stock. They also created a custom-made integration with iCore’s web CMS (Umbraco), using the Pickit’s API.
The Office 365 plugins presented a huge improvement, especially for the sales team and management who create PowerPoint presentations. They could access the image database directly from the tool, and the search feature provides previews of all created images, which can be easily inserted into PowerPoint.
Also, PowerPoint templates and other documents are now synchronized with SharePoint, where the source files are stored, saving a lot of time in the daily workflows.
iCore CMS and Pickit integration have also made Ola’s job as a web editor much easier. Now, he can easily access and use the media stored in Pickit directly in iCore’s web CMS.
Within just a few days, Ola found himself using Pickit daily. He explains that Pickit’s search functionality and graphical interface allows him to see previews and thumbnails of all their images, like an image gallery, which they didn’t have before.
"We need flexibility in the platform to quickly add new suppliers and collaborators. Pickit serves as the foundation for this, making it easy to onboard new partners."
Outcome: Scaling up with confidence
Looking into the future, iCore relies on Pickit to help the company maintain brand consistency and continuously speed up their work processes. As iCore continues expanding into more industries and partnerships, Pickit will be of great value in its value chain, allowing its content producers to easily share content with both suppliers and partners.
Pickit, a very intuitive tool
With Pickit, Ahlsell's employees, partners etc. can quickly find the assets they need, eliminating the time-consuming process of sifting through various tools, files, or emails. Learn how Ahlsell quickly and easily built a DAM platform for real-time assets to stay on top of business needs.