Guest blog post from Sean Banahan, Widen Area Sales Director

I recently spoke with a prospective Fortune 500 customer who was going through a formal evaluation of Digital Asset Management software vendors and solutions and was facing an interesting dilemma.  This prospective customer had kick started the evaluation process with the generation and distribution of a formal RFP.  This RFP document had been sent to a number of vendors that had popped up in web searches and inquiries into the DAM space.  The list contained the usual list of players that you would find by doing a simple search for DAM on google. 

The RFP was sent out and vendors were given a couple of weeks to submit a response.  Vendors were not expected to provide any really detailed information on their products because it was assumed that this type of information would be ferreted out in the demonstrations and discussions that would follow the initial proposal.  The problem occurred when only two vendors submitted responses to the RFP within the allotted time.  This prospective customer's purchasing process requires that they review at least three different proposals.  This left the customer scrambling to find out how to address this particular problem.  Should they give more time, should they put the project on hold or go through the effort to get an exception made to an internally established practice? 

While taking efforts to address the issue, the original timeline for a decision came and went.  Then the date when they had hoped to have phase one implemented flew by.  They are still waiting for responses from the remaining DAM vendors today as far as I know.  This really blew my mind.  How can any company trust a vendor as a future partner and service provider who can't even respond to a simple RFP and instead provides lists of weak excuses.  Its not like they were required to provide extremely detailed or extensive information over night.  Are they even doing business?  Maybe they have enough partners as it is.  This customer should start implementing phase one through Widen's on-demand digital media management service.  A basic DAM SaaS solution from Widen would be live and configured within two weeks.  Let the other vendors chase you down and explain why you should give them your business rather than the other way around.

Guest Blog Post from Tim Vial, Widen Sales Representative

In the wake of my defeat in Widen’s weekly football game, I found myself wondering what went wrong.  Many of you may be feeling like this in a much more important game. Like in a backyard football game, the team with the most talent doesn’t always win, but rather the team with the best system.  Attacking today’s global market is a lot like this backyard football game.  There are three pieces to the ultimate victory, score points (get your sales team the ball), don’t give up any points (manage all the new “looks” creative is giving you), and last but not least appeal to your fans (marketing).  How the team with the best system (DAM) will always prevail:

As the quarterback (head of your department) you are the decision maker, and the one who needs to start the production.  Each down (selling situation) is different and has certain routes that will yield better results.  You need to get your receivers (sales reps) the ball quickly, efficiently, and with the best chance of success.  Just like with your business, you need to get your sales reps the most up to date information, with the opportunity to be able to tweak it for each specific opportunity without losing brand integrity.  In the mist of all this action, you have blitzing linebackers (deadlines) closing in on you fast.  You need to play like a veteran.

Offense puts fans in the stands but defense wins championships.  On the other side of the ball, you need to keep track of all those other receivers (assets).  The offense is constantly changing their formations, and bringing in fresh, new players.  The key is managing where those receivers are, who is being used the most, and for what purpose.  That will keep you from falling behind.

Like every team in any sport, you’ve got to pay the bills.  Would a fan come and watch your game and spend their hard earned money if you showed them pictures and told stories of the “glory years” that are long and gone?  Getting your team’s fresh, new image out to the public has to be efficient and effective as well.

In the business world you face the same challenges, which can be solved with Widen’s Digital Asset Management’s Software as a Service technology.  Get your branded material out to Sales teams quickly, with the ability to change some specifics for each target audience, but maintaining brand integrity.  Manage all the new materials creative is busy producing, all the while knowing you are using the most up-to-date image, video, or document with version control.  Find the digital material you are looking for quickly with self service access complete with advanced search options, in an organized central repository, with roles and permissions allowing you to decide who uses what.  In addition, full reporting that makes it easy to find out what images are being used, what’s most popular, etc.

Competing against a business with no DAM is like playing a football game against a quarterback that throws back across the field… Easy pickings.  Let a hosted digital asset management system from Widen Enterprises give you all the tools needed for victory, while always having a “coach” there to guide you, and a “trainer” for all the “bumps and bruises”.

DAM Pros 100, DAM Joes 0

Guest Blog Post from Amanda Jenny, Widen Client Services Assistant, regarding Widen color management and prepress services

Reebok has recently entered into a partnership with Topshop and will launch collections in its London stores. This will be the first time the company has focused on fashion retailing within this area.

Many women find sportswear shops boring and unappealing and Topshop offers the perfect environment to increase sales in this new channel of retailing. The new collections will be promoted by Jamelia (an English R&B singer), which will include a NFL American football range.

Guest Blog Post from Amanda Jenny, Widen Client Services Assistant, regarding Widen color management and prepress services

Reebok International Ltd. has joined forces with women's clothing retailer Limited Too in an effort to reach the "tween-age" girls market.

The partnership calls for Reebok to sell its products in Limited Too's stores, on its web site, and through its catalogue, which is mailed to more than 4 million girls several times per year. The partnership is designed to connect the Reebok brand to trend-setting girls between the ages of seven and fourteen.

"Limited Too is widely considered the retail authority on fashion for 'tween girls," Jan Sharkansky, vice president and general manager of Reebok women's division said in a statement.

Mark Dordel, Quality Assurance

Working in Quality Assurance at Widen means that I work on a team that attempts to unveil most of the faults in the Widen Collective digital asset management software before it is ever released into the wild.  Imagine what would happen to our customer base if Widen did not include QA in the development process.  There would be dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria!  That’s what.

Not really, but our Communications team would be swamped by irate callers and emailers (is that a word?) wondering why they keep running into errors or even worse: incorrect behavior.

Collective is a fairly complex piece of marketing software.  We offer several different applications, most of which interact with each other, and each application’s behavior is dictated by a set of enabled features.  Do not get me wrong, we have some very fine developers in R&D, but ultimately they are human and they sometimes (very rarely) make an error when they code or compile.  That is why I have a job here.

Widen QA is the first line of defense in the battle for customer loyalty and brand perception.  If Collective doesn’t work as advertised, I have not done my job.  My job is not a day to day, Monday through Friday sort of job.  I am always thinking of ways to reveal faults in our software, and critically think about in things I encounter in everyday life.  I am always asking myself: why are things like this or that?  How can this or that be improved?  Why does this or that software return an error when I follow this workflow? 

Think about this, we are immersed in software every day.  You use software every time you use your car, get an X-Ray, pump gas, make a phone call, browse websites, pet your cat (hey, cats are soft)!  Behind all of that software are people performing Quality Assurance (some are obviously much better at this than others).

Quality Assurance, like Software Development is never finished, and at Widen the R&D department operates in a quasi-Agile environment.  This sort of environment always keeps the QA team on its feet.  We are always learning, and always trying to keep a few steps ahead of our customers.

We are Widen QA.

Sarah Cronn, Prepress Apprentice

What does 60 years of Widen mean to me?  In celebrating our 60th anniversary, I would have to say that to me, Widen means change, it means growth, it means advancement.

On July Fourteenth, in this year, Two Thousand and Eight my cohort and I embarked on an incredible journey.  The journey continues with a great many successes, lessons, hard work and laughter.  I am one of the Apprentices to the Prepress Services division at Widen Enterprises.  It is quite exciting to be a part of such an experience as we celebrate Widen's 60th year in the Prepress Industry.  As technology changes, so arise new demands, knowledge and fresh approaches.  Two Apprentices, new to the industry – you cannot get more fresh than that.

Just two and a half months ago we were introduced to the functions of the Premedia Services Division.  We began working in the Digital Photography Studio alongside Widen's photographers.   This entrance gave us a primer into the procedures followed at Widen.  Pouring the foundation for the Widen workflow, we were showed the "hows" and "whys" that enable Widen to thrive supplying high quality marketing communications in a competitive market.

From the studio to the machine.  We began with photography, processing the digital images or passing them onto other departments to work their magic.  The machine became a more integral part of our day, a more important tool to our set of growing skills.  We began working with members of Quality Control, the members of Quality Control would introduce us to our next great adventure, our skill sets expanding.

Skill sets expanding, ah I like the sound of that.  Learning is a great joy of mine, and in an industry like Prepress that attitude is an asset as well.  With the many developments in technology over the past 60 years (even 10 years), openness to change and acceptance of the "new" and the "now" are a must. Acceptance becomes practice, practice becomes proficiency.  I think of it as variety, as they say, it is "the spice of life".  Learning new techniques I can apply to my set of skills impacting my work day as well as my personal work gives me that variety I strive for.  Only two and a half months in and I look at all I have learned, the small details, the bigger themes and I know there is much more to come.

The journey continues… I look forward to the new territory thus far unrevealed to me at Widen.  To me, Widen will continue to mean advancement, as I learn and progress, Widen will continue to mean change as it grows to meet the ever volatile market it has thrived in for the past 60 years.

Danielle Strosin, Production Art/Digital Graphic Support

WOW!  I was 23 when I started working at Widen.  I still remember the phone call I received telling me I got the job. And of course the coffee I spilled all over myself on the way to work my first week.

I remember the fast paced integration of mac computers and workflows replacing scitex machines and workflows.  So many things have changed over the years… as have I.  A recently graduated Commercial Art student, I moved quickly from Project Prep into Data Management.  After my year in Data Management I moved onto Account Management and working with customers and their packaging files.

Eventually, I made it to the then Creative department and now the Production Art department where I have been ever since.  Over the years I have worked with customers, internal marketing and communications in a variety of ways.

My responsibilities at Widen have been invigorating, evolving and challenging every day. The experiences that I am now excited to say I have under my belt, the connections I’ve made, and the endless possibilities for professional improvement have proven to be priceless.

Widen employs so many talented and innovative people.  I believe the success of this company is largely due to the fact that the people here are truly amazing.

I’ve come a long way from the scared little turtle of a student that I was, largely due to working here.  I’ve worked at Widen for almost 12 years (and now that I’ve said that, I’m feeling a little old).  In a nutshell, working for Widen is an amazing experience.  Here’s to another 60 years of service!

Alex Byrne, Sales Representative

To be honest, Widen was foreign to me before January of 2008.  I was at an event in Madison for St. Norbert College, and it was there I was introduced to the company known as Widen.  Matthew Gonnering, Vice President of Sales and Marketing explained to me that Widen was involved in the Information and Technology service industry.  Software-as-a-service (SaaS), digital asset management (DAM), marketing operations management, sales enablement, creative workflow applications, marketing consultation were all aspects of Widens vast services.  Today, I spend my days at work trying to sell to companies on the idea that Matthew sold to me; a Digital Asset Management system that allows organizations the ability to establish a process in which everyone in need of digital media is granted self-service access to one central source, allowing for repurposing and distribution.  He showed me that we can help companies reduce costs associated with searching computers and servers for known assets, as well as help them stop wasting time rebuilding media that cannot be found.  It hasn’t taken long for me to realize why Widen has been around for 60 years

Brian Becker, Vice President of Client Development & QC

It was May 1988, I just completed my initiation with Widen Colourgraphics (what we were called back then) by surviving 3 straight months of making dylux books for Western Encylcopedias.  I really enjoyed the “D” book, my fascination with dinosaurs I guess.  I soon moved into making color proofs for Widen which – back in the old days – was done by hand toning the CMYK toners onto stock that was exposed with a high-powered light source.  At that time, Widen had two rooms of “strippers” (did they actually have that title on their business cards?).  These people assembled the images and copy manually onto many flats of film that, in turn, were merged into 4 individual separations.  Ever hear of Plate Negatives, Plate Positives, Emulsion Up, Emulsion Down, linescreen, dot shape?  It all seemed very complicated!  Color management has changed a lot in the last 20 years.  Heck, I might have even had a mullet back then!

It’s now September 2008 (no mullet) and working at Widen has changed dramatically.  We are still a very strong premedia services supplier, 8th largest in the USA, but we’ve added even more to our portfolio.  The architecture that we created to manage our own company’s internal needs and expectations has been developed into an outward facing, web accessible system known as digital asset management (DAM).  Just as Widen became a leader in premedia services, Widen is the 3rd largest software as a service DAM provider in the world.  Widen provides solutions for brand recognized companies such as Motorola, Reebok, Sub-Zero/Wolf and Trek for the management, organization, and distribution of digital assets from a central repository. 

I have also had the luxury of working with some of the best people in the industry and without their dedication to grasp new processes and equipment, our success today could not have been achieved.  I am looking forward to the next 20 years.

Ryan Cathman, Color Production Specialist

I recently celebrated my 2 year anniversary at Widen.  I have to say I am glad I left Lands' End after 13 years to come here.  My knowledge of premedia services and creative software has expanded greatly and my old company has even signed on with Widen as client.  It has been a great learning environment.  I hope I have many more years to laugh and learn with my great coworkers.

Carolyn Woerpel, Quality Assurance

I love going to garage sales and flea markets.  There’s something about the allure of finding hidden treasure that peaks my interest.  Widen has proven to be a hidden treasure for me.  After 21 years, I was laid off by my former employer.  During my job search I applied for a position at Widen.  I had never heard of Widen before.  Imagine my surprise when I entered the boardroom for my first interview and could see my former employer’s building through the window! 

I am very grateful to be given an opportunity to work for such a good employer.  Everyone I’ve met has been extremely friendly.  People stop in the hallway to introduce themselves and find out a little bit about me.  The employees here take great pride in their work.  That is exactly the work environment I was looking for.  

It’s the best of both worlds for me.  I have a great job to come to every day, and I’m close enough to my former employer to meet old friends for lunch.  It’s amazing to me that I found such a treasure, right in my former employer’s backyard.  

Tom Schmidt, Executive Vice President

This all started when Mark Widen and his dad Arthur started a company to create copper and zinc engravings 60 years ago.  This has emerged to one of the leading hosted providers in a global market plus one of the top prepress services providers in the US.  I can only speak to the last 25 years.  There are a few with longer exposures, Reed, Terry Vial and more that have witnessed a transition of seeing Wacho in a rubber apron, goggles and brush… dot etching film, to being one of the first installs of Scitex, on to Visionary, Widen Collective DAM SaaS, to ???

In those 60 years one element that has always been strong is the quality of the people who comprise the company.  Remember the day when our production supervisor announced that he was going to start his own company and take six other employees with him. The crew that was left stepped to the plate and compensated.  Today, if you examine the biography of current employees, they have varied experiences always stepping to the plate to meet the new technology, being creative in its implementation.

After 25 years, the most significant thing I remember is it has always been “FUN”, wouldn’t trade it for any other vocation.  There are not a lot of people that can’t say that about their vocation, glad that I am one who can.  For those in the pipeline, everyone should be excited on what’s going to happen next!

…What is going to happen next?

Sean Banahan, Area Sales Director

Companies love to talk about where they came from.  You see it in commercials as grainy images of patrons drinking America’s oldest lager or at your bank in photos of stage coaches.  When we introduce ourselves and our products, we almost always start with a brief explanation describing who we are, where we come from and why we’re there.  It’s a natural point to make in a conversation.  That’s why it is so incredibly nice to be able to say that as a marketing software and premedia services provider you have been around for 60 years.  Are there any technology companies that can make that claim?  The idea that the company  you are considering as a partner to manage your most important marketing and creative assets has been in business for 60 years carries a lot of weight.  As a company Widen is very special because the people that drive it and the experience behind it are so unique.  There are people here who have been with the company for 30 years mingling with folks like myself who have so recently jumped into the mix.  There is that combination of new ideas and experience that really makes it easy to become passionate about Widen. 

Jennifer Kutz, Customer Service Coordinator

I joined Widen September of 2005, a fresh-faced 25 year old.  I started
right out of college in prepress services / color management at my hometown printer, naïve and inexperienced and slowly realized there was no place to go, stripping film and making plates, the technology had transferred to digital and the company I worked for was still part of the "old world" ... it was time for a change.

After some searching I found an opening at Widen, a company I had actually toured on an "industrial visitation" while in college.  The title of the opening was data entry, but needless to say years later I've learned there is so much more to this position.

I have been working on the Reebok/Adidas account for over three years now and have learned so much about a niche that I never knew existed in digital sampling.  Now browsing the internet, I can't help but see retail websites that still shoot each color of every garment and think "wow we could save them a ton of money and headaches," but we'll reach them all one customer at a time.

Kathy Lewis, Receptionist/Administrative Assistant
 
60 years, WOW.  That is a long time, and how have times changed.  I have only been with Widen for 1 1/2 years and it has changed so much in that short period of time, with several new marketing and creative software products and ideas that have just come about.  I am constantly learning new things about our company every day, adding to our Digital Asset Management Collective Site and adding much needed information into Salesforce.  It’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks!  I can’t wait to see what our company does in the next 60 years.

Anna Vo, Software Developer

Do you find yourself asking that very thing but spelled differently?  When I started here a little more than four years ago that's all I heard.  Now all I hear is DAM! DAM! DAM!

If you're still asking yourself where you put that image and you seem to be trailing people and emails asking the very same thing than it's time to find a Digital Asset Management system.  Luckily for you, we have one.

For almost 60 years, Widen has been involved in just about everything relating to imaging, media and graphic communication.  We needed to know where our files were. Our clients needed to know where their files were.  We needed a way to distribute files quickly from a central location; so did they.  Enter the world of Digital Asset Management.

As part of Software Development, I work closely with a dedicated team of talented individuals.  We continually work to refine and enrich this application, among others, providing a solution that keeps up with the changing times.  In fact, we never seem to run out of things to work on, and that’s a good thing!  I know where I’ll be tomorrow… slouched at my desk in a darkened room, behind a monitor with a scrolling marquee screensaver which reads, “It’s 10AM… Do you know where your assets are?”

Ben Dotte, Lead Software Developer

Three years ago I decided to join Widen to have the chance to work on software that didn’t just support the business, but actually got promoted and sold to clients as part of the core business model.  Coming from a large corporation that was not in the business of technology, the idea of having external clients that used the software I helped to write was very appealing to me.  It changes the way you use technology.  Instead of upgrading when you are forced to just to maintain support, you have to stay at the cutting edge to remain competitive.

Widen’s use of open-source software is a real boon to the business as well as the developers.  The core frameworks our code runs on are as transparent as our own code; it provides for the ability to troubleshoot issues without involving a third party, and it reveals the designs of some of the great masters of software development for anyone to learn from.

I’ve learned a great deal about the business of media asset management and creative software development for in the time I’ve been here, and for that I am very grateful to the people at Widen who helped me get to this point.  I see nothing but great success in the future for this company.

Mark Pajari, Widen Color Manager

Wow!  Widen is 60 years old this year.  Many graphic communications companies have come and gone in that time.  Often, the reason many companies go out of business is that they fail to change.  Conversely, some companies change too fast.  Change for the sake of change is usually never good.  Widen has been successful by staying on the leading edge of technology, making sound business decisions - diversifying our services, and employing some of the best minds in the industry.  If you don’t maintain dedicated, talented people on your floor, you won’t last.

Which made me wonder if there are other notable people that are celebrating their 60th birthday that have at one time worked in the graphic communication business.  I started to do a little digging, and here is what I found out...

Samuel L. Jackson – December 21, 1948
Way before he played Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, Jackson worked in the marketing department at McDonald’s Corporation where he came up with the print campaign for the “Royale with Cheese” burger.

Terry Bradshaw – September 2, 1948
Shortly after joining the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1970, Bradshaw jokingly ripped off the number 12 on his jersey, stitched on the number 15, and replaced “Bradshaw” with “Starr” on the back of his jersey.  Little did he know, this act would become the model for Widen’s own digital sampling technique where we create many different versions of jerseys from one piece of apparel.

Teller – February 14, 1948
In 1974, Teller, from the illusionist team of Pen and Teller, was fired from a prepress services job at the Kankakee (IL) Tribune for talking too much on his 3rd shift job of making Dylux proofs.

Olivia Newton-John – September 26, 1948
In 1969, back when she was known only as Olivia Newton, Newton worked for the Nabisco company where she proofread packages of Fig Newtons.

Todd Rundgren – June 22, 1948
In 1973, Rundgren was litho stripper at Big AL’s Litho in Butte, Montana.  One day he got up and said “I don’t want to work.  I just want to bang on the drum all day.”  He was let go immediately, and the rest is history.

Ted Lange – January 5, 1948
Before he became known as “Isaac the bartender” on ABC’s “The Love Boat,” Lange worked as a DAM tour guide at Hoover DAM.  This was before DAM SaaS.

Stevie Nicks – May 26, 1948
Before she joined Fleetwood Mac, Nicks was an animator for Universal Studios. It was there that her silky, gravely voice would eventually land her a job as the voice of the popular cartoon character, “Popeye.”

Prince Charles – November 14, 1948
Chuck once flipped through a Lillian Vernon catalog printed at a Quad Graphics plant in Saratoga Springs, NY, stopping for a moment on the page showing an oversized pair of red musical earmuffs that played “God Save the Queen” for $19.99. 
       
Michael Richards – July 23, 1948
Richards is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Cosmo Kramer on NBC’s “Seinfeld” from 1989-1998.  He also is known for his outburst during a comedy routine in 2006.  Richards is now a door-to-door Digital Asset Management salesman on the north side of Scranton, PA.

Chris Rewey, Widen Sales Manager

I began working at Widen on April 11, 2007 and I am the DAM sales manager.  I actually began working in this building in 1998, when I was with a software company that was leasing space from Widen.  I sat right about where Michael Kiesler’s (CFO) office is.  Widen had been in business about 4 years when I was born, and though for many years I was impatient to begin my career here, trusted advisors told me to wait until I had gained adequate experience; they were right.  I doubt I could have appreciated what a great company this is, had I not worked for so many lesser ones.  It is a great company because everyone unleashes their creative energies to fulfill the vision of providing superior marketing software and premedia services.  If the first 60 years has brought us to this point, I can’t wait to see what the next 60 will bring. 

Kevin Arkin, Sales Representative

In the current state of the economy, mass layoffs, and everything being outsourced, I take for granted the job security I have and the longevity of our company and our services. 

We don’t worry that our services won’t be used while the economy is slow.  We’ve seen a rise in interest in our digital asset management services simply because we efficiently automate a process and help organizations reduce costs.   Companies easily justify the cost of Widen DAM and see how they can do more with less using our application.

I also have conversations everyday with people who can’t believe our entire staff is in-house.  They can’t fathom that we have decided to do everything internally as opposed to outsourcing.  If I have a question I walk upstairs and talk to someone from the development team or a lead architect who maintains and upgrades our DAM services. 

Widen, by definition, is a Software as a Service provider.  With our high-level of expertise and ongoing support we continue to uphold the highest regards for our employees and our clients.