WHEDA Selects Widen Collective to Manage, Distribute Digital Assets

MADISON, WI--(Marketwired - October 05, 2016) - Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) has selected the Widen Collective for its digital asset management (DAM) needs. WHEDA, which provides affordable housing and business financing products, will use Widen's cloud-based DAM solution to improve internal workflow and access to its digital assets, as well as maintain consistent brand standards.

Dawn Gibbs, creative services coordinator for WHEDA, says she didn't realize the need for an asset management system until she was swapping stories with a Widen representative and telling him about her frustrations.

"It was like light bulbs were going off," she says of her discussion. "All I could see was my work life changing forever."

Gibbs says until the DAM came along, a typical day would go like this: a colleague or client would need a logo or photo and since she was the only one who knew where the file was stored, she would have to stop everything to retrieve it. Another issue was others in the office would upload image files to the server, using incorrect or no naming conventions, without letting anyone know they had been added, making digital assets harder, if not impossible, to find.

As WHEDA is a quasi-government agency, it must follow specific purchasing regulations and protocols. This process took nearly a year to get final approval for the system. Gibbs pressed on, insisting the DAM system would improve efficiency across the agency and build a stronger brand.

"When I'm not [in the office], it is difficult for anyone to find what they are looking for," she explains. "I needed to get all of the information out of my brain and into a central location."

Widen was an easy choice, Gibbs says. She describes the system as simple to use, and says she's happy to work with a local company who is easy to get in touch with. "The fact that I can have everything in one spot? I'm totally excited! Everyone at Widen has been unbelievably awesome to work with," she says.

Gibbs and the other DAM users at WHEDA are excited about using the new technology to organize their assets and, in turn, allow the entire organization to become more self-sufficient. Someone from each business unit -- from marketing and community relations to human resources -- will be trained how to store and locate the files they need.

Gibbs uses WHEDA's sales team as an example of the need for a more efficient solution. With the DAM, they can now access the approved marketing materials they need, like fliers or brochures, and print them on the way to a meeting, rather than waiting for someone else to find the files and contact a print shop.

The marketing team will also make logos, photos and PowerPoint templates available. In the future, Gibbs hopes to also use the system for social media and video storage, and to share design proofs and comments within the system, rather than emailing bulky PDF files back and forth.

"Dawn did a great job of identifying and communicating WHEDA's need for DAM," said Chris Rewey, advisor team lead at Widen. "She made it easy for us to confirm Widen Collective as the right fit for WHEDA, allowing all of their employees to efficiently find and reuse their presentations, images, videos, logos, and other important digital assets."

About WHEDA

WHEDA was created in 1972 by the Wisconsin Legislature to provide low‐cost financing for housing, small business and agricultural development. Since 1972, WHEDA has financed more than 77,000 affordable rental units, helped more than 120,000 families purchase their first homes and made more than 29,000 small business and agricultural loan guarantees. For more information, visit wheda.com or call 1-800-334-6873.

About Widen Enterprises, Inc.

Widen is a marketing 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 SaaS 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, Roche, Trek, 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.