Less work performing routine tasks and improved user-friendliness thanks to Shop, SOAP interface, media catalogue, and diverse functional improvements

Frankfurt am Main, August 25, 2009―Version 4.5 of the iBrams web-based brand management solution is now available with immediate effect. Diverse functional enhancements such as the automated production of merge documents, metadata that can be grouped as well as improved and new automation functions (field rules) accelerate and optimize processes connected with the production of marketing materials. Companies, agencies, and service providers profit from the new features such as the media catalogue, the SOAP interface, the iBrams Desktop Assistant (IDA), and the Shop. Using iBrams 4.5, all the marketing materials can be created, coordinated, and produced more simply, clearly and more quickly than before.

“The extended functionalities of iBrams 4.5 make an even greater contribution towards ensuring agencies, companies, and service providers can concentrate upon their core business and thus increase their sales or their performance”, explained Andreas Michalski, Chief Executive Officer of CDO Corporate Design Online. “The new functions simplify the tasks and thus help to structure routine tasks that have been time-consuming and cost-intensive up to now more efficiently and via a central platform; the focus is on more transparency, lower costs or higher earnings in this process.“

The functional improvements in detail
iBrams 4.5 enables the automated production of merge documents such as personalized letters due to the connection to client address databases (CRM interface). Marketing specialists save so much time that would otherwise be devoted to the individualization of the documents. The new version offers metadata that can be grouped to streamline the approval process. In this way the information can, for instance, be filtered during the document approval, so certain information can be made available in a targeted form for the production process. In addition iBrams 4.5 offers for the first time users the option of defining field rules using JavaScript (ECMA-Script). The new field rules facilitate for instance, the automated, data-driven insertion of pictures from the media catalogue.

Media catalogue: All the data is clearly available
Marketing specialists access all the available files and information via a central location by means of the media database that is integrated in iBrams. Users can directly cut, scale, turn and subsequently download pictures in the browser without any additional training solely on the basis of their usual interaction with web and desktop applications. The resolution and the file format can be converted with just one click so the file is precisely optimized for its output on the web or in print form. Thus far fewer data formats must be provided and the user no longer requires separate software for the data conversion―everything is accomplished by iBrams.

Whether they are employees in local branches or project participants in agencies: People working on documents can connect existing databases to the layout to produce personalized marketing documents at no extra cost or effort. This ensures greater flexibility during the design of individualized serial documents in one-to-one marketing or the most diverse media in dialogue marketing.

Integration with ERP and DAM systems
The extended SOAP interface simplifies the integration of iBrams in existing ERP or DAM systems and provides for a more rapid implementation. Due to the connection to multiple InDesign servers, which iBrams is based on, the application can flexibly react to different usage scenarios at any time. In this way all the marketing staff and service providers obtain rapid access to the central marketing management platform.

The iBrams Shop: Integrated process from the idea to the invoicing
The most diverse marketing materials can not only be individualized without difficulty via the Shop that is integrated in iBrams but can also be ordered, produced and billed based on an individual piece count. Trader organizations, regionally distributed branches of companies or connected agencies can react to their specific query very flexibly―in this way excess inventories can be avoided and the number of service providers required is reduced.

Working offline: the iBrams Desktop Assistant
With iBrams Desktop Assistant, the upload of media files is performed independently of the web interface. The function that has recently won the Adobe Innovation Award (www.ibrams.de/ida) makes it possible to effortless upload several templates and media asynchronously into iBrams by dragging and dropping them from the desktop. This means that users can also work on files offline and make them available for uploading. The data is automatically uploaded as soon as there is an online connection again and is stored in iBrams. In this way marketing staff become more independent and flexible in their working sequences.

Version 4.5 is available to all customers with a maintenance agreement.