Case study 3 - Image management
Description:
Our client was a large, UK-based retailer which had no
structured way of working with images, which meant that
they were re-creating them because they couldn't find
originals and also paying out substantial money as a
result of copyright infringements.
Despite being an image-rich business, its product designs
and photographs were not shared between functions and
locations. So, for example, its product development was
rarely supported by images which meant that samples were
frequently wrong and communication with its overseas
suppliers was made more difficult.
MCL services delivered:
MCL managed successive projects to deliver
increasingly complex image management requirements for
the client. This meant implementing an image library for
searching and re-using images, then managing the rights
associated with each one. Subsequently MCL implemented
additional software that the client was able to use to
re-format images for multiple uses.
Services delivered were:
- The business analysis necessary to define how the client should work
- Change management
- Risk management
- Training
- Problem-solving
- Links between client and software providers
- Authoring of business requirement and functional requirement specifications for software additions and/or changes
Typical approach:
A typical approach might be to ignore altogether the
potential offered by an image database or choose one that
is either too big or too small for its
requirements.
We find that a business may also not consider the
potential offered to its entire operation through the
effective management of its images. For a product
development process, for example, a picture of a design
is often what's needed to communicate with a factory
producing a sample, especially if it's in a country where
the language spoken is not that of the business.
MCL has also found that some businesses don't manage the
usage rights of its images at all. This creates a
significant risk of copyright infringements and cost
penalties.
MCL's approach:
MCL identified many of the potential uses of each type
of image across the business, the possible benefits of
improving the management of images and likely methods of
working for each department.
MCL then worked through with key employees how they
needed to work with the images and information associated
with them. It also identified the possible efficiencies
that could be achieved through re-using (therefore not
re-creating) images and their information.
Having defined the requirements in functional and
business terms, MCL then identified potential image
database software providers and assisted in the selection
process.
It then implemented the solution, trained key staff and
continued the evaluation of further possible uses of the
software, thus improving the cost/benefit ratio.