Canto

File storage

Portal creation

Search function

Customer service

Ease of use

Search doesn't always bring up files

Auto-tagging of files

Portal updates sometimes do not update right away

Teach out team to organize files

The original link of a file remains the same even after uploading new versions. This allows us to link to or embed files (whether graphics, images, PDFs, etc.) on the website one time and it can be updated in real-time without having to log into the CMS. This allows us greater control over who needs access to use our CMS and creates easy touchpoints for the internal teams that I serve.

The tagging features in Canto are especially helpful as a secondary way to find/filter search results within the system. We have both a layered folder structure to house files, otherwise you can search by tags as well. A single file can belong to multiple tags which is really helpful.

Canto also has many controls when it comes to privacy and user permissions. We can lock any particular folder or album and hide it so that only certain user accounts have permissions to view them. This again allows for greater control and gives our IT product team flexibility from an administrative perspective.

I have noticed that overall the major downfall in implementing this system is a lack of infrastructure/rules to create a standard operating procedure for all users. This is the downside of having such a flexible platform: it is easy for the organization of files to get messy and to be mismanaged. Our IT team has been slowly rolling out the use of Canto across the organization until there is clear direction when it comes to organization and administrative privileges. A more robust onboarding experience for the tool might be beneficial, or additional support resources for implementing across an organization.

Recently there has been a little bit of a letdown when it comes to uploading new file versions. I am not sure the extent of the issue, but Canto has been experiencing issues (which they are currently in the process of resolving) where new file versions do not appear automatically. Sometimes it can take up to 24 hours for a new version to be "published". Hopefully this will be resolved and is just a temporary bug.

Accessing images

Cataloguing

Archiving

Tagging

More power users are allowed.

Update to the user interface.

Stores digital assets in a system where you can search for your content on a mass scale.

Integrates with the Adobe Suite efficiently so you can quickly find and search the content you are after.

A great way to organise digital content!

Being able to access/view different versions in the Adobe Suit.

Sometimes unresponsive/slow clicking keywords.

Presentations: Overview and Business Unit presentations . BUs and sales people can upload their presentations, and we can keep them in a single location.

Marketing media library: over 10k images, 500 brochures, 300 advertisements, 100s of presentations, and other media, such as videos and animations, that anyone can access instantly

Website content management

User interface

Previewing files

Face recognition to quickly find agent, staff, volunteer, etc.

When a child passes away we send a thumb drive in a beautiful box to the parents that includes all photos and video we have of the child.

Sharing photo and video files with our sponsors, video production vendors and other partners.

One DAM Base saves us all time and effort searching for “that one photo” we saw once. We all upload, share and have access to all photo assets.

MIB Agents Media will be available as a legacy for all time, not just for current stewards of the org.

Seems they think of everything.

sharing assets internally

sharing assets externally

one centralized location for a global organization

honestly no recommendations on how to improve

Canto consistently updates it's software, so they're always making it better and more efficient, user-friendly, etc.

Provides a portal option that helps you control how your images are being displayed to users, which images can be seen and gives an aesthetic version for employees.

Canto is very responsive to support requests, ticket submissions, etc., and will work with you until your problem is resolved.

There's no size limit on files that you can upload.

It works fairly quickly when uploading images.

The download button is hard to find, a little obscure and I'm finding that employees are having a hard time figuring out how to download images without help/instructions.

I had to write up detailed instructions for employees on how to use Canto. It's not exactly user-friendly and self-explanatory upon first use. You have to use it a while to fully understand all capabilities.

When you do a search, there's the option where if you mouse over the search icon, a tool pops up allowing you to "search within" and the option to select other search filters. This is not easily findable. I have to tell people about it to narrow their search.

It is clearly structured and all functions are easy to spot and use.

Good ability to search through metadata and quickly and easily find an asset

The platform can be a little faster when creating folders/albums

Structure and ease of use.

Open communication with account manager.

Some redundant features

Canto is a very thorough program, the way you can tag and categorize your assets is very well put together.

Facial recognition is by far the greatest idea and Canto does this well. It is a super helpful feature for us.

We love the portal aspect of this platform. It is an extremely helpful tool.

The option to make a single file downloadable or not. We have some highly sensitive files and some we don't want people to be able to download but be able to look at. So it would be nice if we could make a single file not downloadable. They do have other options like terms of use or watermarks but it [would] be nice if that was a feature. You could do this but only in bulk, so you'd have to make all files not downloadable.

Their style guide option - being able to use a single image for the style guide instead of the whole folder or file.

I think the different language option could be built out a little better.

Automation

Visual Database

Quick Sharepoints

Great Customer Service

Innovation in Product

Standardization of Assets

Digital Asset Storage & Licensing Management

Speed in browsing through databases.

More customization for specific use cases.

More customization with portals.

I really enjoy having the shareable links that can direct outside parties to folders that have their content in them. This way I don't have to use another third-party tool like Google Drive or Dropbox to share documents with clients.

Sorting content is easy as well. The "My Collections" function is great in that it allows me select save files to the "My Collections" folder. This can help make it easier to find images and documents that I use most often.

I also like being able to filter by keywords and tags. It is important that your team utilize these correctly and have unified definitions in place before using this, though. However, this can make it much easier to find what you're looking for.

The search function does leave something to be desired. I have found it hard to find past documents, images, graphics, etc. But honestly part of that could be just how our team names those folders and files.

While the "My Collections" function is great, the "Following" and "My Selections" functions seem redundant.

Another downside is that the shareable links that we use to share the content with outside clients does expire. I know this is for security, but if the client does not access the content in a timely fashion, which happens often, then we have to resend it.

Detailed metadata that is easily searchable

Ability to share images with non-licensed users

Tag images as confidential or sensitive

Collect images from field personnel

Integration with Adobe products could allow for drag and drop functionality

Easier/Faster migration of large datasets

Easy cloud-based image uploads allow for fast access from anywhere. We're no longer dependent on a VPN connection to our shared drives.

Searchability is fantastic. This requires close attention to tagging and categorization of assets, but when done properly, makes it much easier for users at all access levels to find what they need.

Canto's responsive design is good, but could be better.

A tag suggestion process for consumer-level users would be ideal.

Visually show you the file in a thumbnail without having to click on it

Keyword search to find files relating to exactly what you're looking for

Easy user upload and download

Ability to share assets with outside members

The servers get slow after a single use experience of uploading items

The servers can't handle large uploads (for instance like 1 GB) very well

It would be nice to not have to pay for more than 5 users

Tagging

Streamlining Processes

Organization

User friendly

Upload links - would be great to be able to import a full list of contacts from excel instead of having to manually enter each contant

Portals can be tricky to master

I did not face trouble in its configuration, it provides much integration which helps me to extract the data across various platforms.

I have got rid of manual maintenance of the files on my desktop, now I easily search and sought the file through date.

It has provided an alignment to my daily work and I am its happy and satisfied customer.

It is limited in terms of file upload it only processes the data up to certain limits but also it varies with the plan you have purchased, still, it’s an issue or the small business set-ups.

Further with time this systems start to lag it take time to load any file.

Uploading assets

Organizing assets

Sharing assets

I haven't come across any areas that need improvement

Organization

Sharing

Search

Settings can be a little confusing

It'd be nice to have one place where folks outside our org can collaborate / upload + download

Easy implementation

Google Drive/External Link Synchronization

Does all the hard work for us

We noticed a bit of data loss with our Google Drive link, but other than that, nothing else was noticed.

We have a number of brands that sit under the Serenity umbrella so the album and folder structure really helps with our workflow.

As a designer the Adobe connector was a major reason for us going with Canto, being able to have that connectivity between Canto and Indesign has saved us so much time.

Canto is easy to use and very intuitive.

With our previous Asset Management system it would create a unique sequential number for each new file that was uploaded this is something that we have not been able to do with Canto. This would have been beneficial to us as it would have helped with our workflow.

Would have helped if it was easier/faster to migrate large datasets

User friendly

Lots of useful integrations with other platforms

Tailored pricing scheme for our specific needs

Some additional integrations, for example, with online design tools would be useful.

Allows seamless integration with our Wordpress based website

Is easy to customise areas of it even for people not too tech savvy

Allows us to automatically watermark our images so people have to request them - leading to potential follow-ups

Filters that will lead to no image results will still be shown, potentially adding confusion

Non-watermarked images can technically be accquired through page inspection

Organization

Search queries

UX

Onboarding is tough, but that's more because it's a robust tool and we're a team of over-thinkers :).