Widen Introduces More Professional Services and Expanded Digital Asset Management Platform

MADISON, WI--(Marketwired - May 09, 2017) - Widen Enterprises today introduced a new line of Professional Services for its digital asset management (DAM) platform. Customers can now get hands-on assistance with system integration, project management, and administration from veteran DAMsters. Widen also announced the expansion of its product offering, which now includes five apps: Assets, Insights, Portals, Templates, and Workflow.

"We measure success by how much value customers get out of their relationship with us," said Widen CEO Matthew Gonnering. "Too often, software vendors close the sale, say 'good luck,' and disappear. We take the opposite approach. Pro Services are another way we help customers through every step of their journey. People, not tools, come first at Widen."

Recognizing the demand for tailored, hands-on services, Widen assembled a team of veteran DAM administrators and consultants in early 2017. Whereas many martech companies outsource services to third parties, Widen's leadership team felt strongly that services belong in-house. The consultants work closely with teams that develop, design, and teach Widen content technologies.

Widen Pro Services includes four new team members. Brooke Emley, a DAM specialist and former Creative Services Manager at SeaWorld, leads DAM administration. Courtney Roe, a marketing and merchandising specialist who served at L.L.Bean and Kohl's Department Stores, heads up customer experience marketing strategy. Lucas Ledbetter, previously an IT administrator at Indiana University, provides technical support. Leah Ujda, a workflow specialist with a master's in library and information studies, consults on marketing and creative processes.

The team currently offers five services:

• Full-service onboarding, with custom-constructed workflows, training, and launch assistance.
• Full-service data migration to prep, review, consolidate, and organize assets and metadata.
• API integration project management to connect DAM to other content systems.
• Dedicated DAM administrative services for short- and long-term engagements.
• Onsite workflow consulting to streamline creative work processes with Widen technology.

Organic Valley, a farmer-owned producer of dairy products, piloted DAM administrative services in early 2017. They now have more than 52,000 assets in their DAM system, all organized and tagged with metadata. Cindy Toedter, Traffic Manager at Organic Valley, shared the following feedback:

"Having a dedicated person come in with such a vast knowledge of the tool was invaluable. I was actually surprised at how Brooke was able to go into the system and look at all the different areas -- categories, upload profiles, and metadata types -- and digest how we could simplify without knowing our co-op, and without me involved. It was great! Brooke had such a different perspective and way of looking at things. She was able to meet with individuals to find out what concerns they had with the system and show us how to address them. In the end, Brooke cut our metadata types by half and simplified the number of fields considerably. The dashboard and category structure is much more intuitive. It's been a great success! I would highly recommend the investment."

The Pro Services complement Widen's updated platform, which now consists of five integrated applications: Assets, Insights, Portals, Templates, and Workflow. They handle the visual content lifecycle, from ideas to analytics. The newest addition, Templates, helps brands spread their message in the physical world with web-to-print collateral customization tools.

• Learn more about Widen Professional Services at www.widen.com/professional-services
• Explore Widen's product lineup at www.widen.com
• Learn more about the Widen Collective UX evolution in this blog post at http://www.widen.com/blog/first-look-at-new-widen-ux.

Meet members of the Professional Services team at DAM NY 2017, May 11-12, at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel.

About Widen

Widen is a content technology company that powers the content that builds your brand. Leveraging cloud-based resources, Widen delivers configurable, scalable, and cost-effective digital asset management solutions to help you easily store, search, and share your digital content. Organizations of all sizes use Widen's cloud-based DAM solution, the Widen Collective, to streamline their marketing and creative workflows and make their content work harder. Widen is trusted by hundreds of thousands of users around the world at organizations like LG, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Trek Bicycle Corporation, Cornell University, New Orleans Tourism Marketing, the Atlanta Falcons, Red Gold Tomatoes, Electrolux, and Yankee Candle. To learn more about Widen, go to http://www.widen.com.