Very pleased with our decision to choose Canto
Updated October 02, 2020
Very pleased with our decision to choose Canto
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Canto
We use Canto as our first custom DAM. It is replacing an 'in-house built' system. Currently, it is being used by our Comms, Marketing, and Creative teams. Our Admins from other teams have begun accessing it too. We had outgrown our old system and had begun to invest more in our content creation abilities. This led to us reconsidering our storage and distribution methods in support of our teams. We are now more responsive and consistent when it comes to representing and promoting our brands and our teams feel more efficient being able to access this platform when and where they choose without worrying about old network restrictions.
- Basic DAM functions like tagging, search and displaying content
- Distribution and access to team members and trusted vendors/partners
- Communication after the sale, system upgrades for the platform and human support
- Sometimes the amount of customization and display tools can feel overwhelming, finding your right 'fit' for your work style requires dialing it in through your profile preferences.
- Team alignment and efficiency has been a positive impact especially in the Covid19 work environment.
- Speed to market has been increased by adoption of this tool across teams.
Best of all in the combined areas of Function, Price, Support based on our 3 month vendor assesment.
Do you think Canto delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Canto's feature set?
Yes
Did Canto live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Canto go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Canto again?
Yes
Using Canto
Communications and Public Relations
Creative disciplines
Marketing
Admins
Creative disciplines
Marketing
Admins
Digital, Leadership, Creative, Project management backgrounds.
- Creative team members fulfilling project needs.
- Marketing team members assessing overall content library and helping them to shape asks for new content.
- Communications team members efficiently sharing with third party and media partners.
- Content reviews internally.
- Viewing and sharing off company network.
- Facilitating more in-depth content review and approval processes.
Evaluating Canto and Competitors
Yes - We had some asset management tools from the previous decade but they had fallen out of favor and were not used by many. We were using an internal server to navigate but without the search or visualization that Canto does so well.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
Features and ultimately Usability were our primary reasons for choosing Canto over others. Our team was starting from scratch so the variety of functionality was a bit overwhelming...we were just happy to have a search function! We quickly got up to speed with the different ways Canto could bring efficiencies and shorten processes for our production team. Since then, Canto keeps providing updates and new functions that we have benefitted from.
I don't think we would change our evaluation process. We spent three months internally mulling over many metrics and did several demo sessions. This process made us feel good about our decision at the moment and Canto has over delivered on expectations.
Canto Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Yes - User ingest and credentials
Content ingest
Training
Revisions and Tweaks
Soft launch
Department launch
Content ingest
Training
Revisions and Tweaks
Soft launch
Department launch
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation - Awareness, training, and any steps you can take toward mass adoption by general users when launching is worth it in medium to large companies.
- Lack of a central 'librarian' from our team caused the implementation to last longer than expected
- Covid19 struck a week before launch so we didn't have the in person feedback we desired to take care of bugs on our side
Canto Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
No - The system is so intuitive and offers great functionality that our team can achieve what it sets out to do with the system without much oversight or support. When we do need assistance or clarity, we usually have answers to questions within 1-3 days. Our team size and budget did not have us interested in premium support and haven't had issues to ask about it.
At the beginning of our implementation we had several questions around user categorization and status. I sent an email and our account manager jumped on the phone and walked me through the answers to every question. Very helpful team and genuinely want to help us succeed.
Using Canto
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- search function reads file name, all tags and more associated with each piece of content. Pretty basic stuff, but a huge step forward from our last system
- sharing items, albums or folders full of content is very easy and ready to go across multiple platforms
- uploading new content is quick and intuitive, out team adds all the time!
- Dialing your preferred default view takes a bit but is worth the time
- As an admin, sometimes the settings palettes can be difficult to navigate or return to because there are so many. A frequently used settings shortcut would be nice
- We do wish the STYLE GUIDES function was more widely available, I believe we only got one 'use' for this and we have 10-20 across our brands. The overall interface and setup is not very customizable. Needs to be redesigned and more robust.
Yes - Yes, they have a web based mobile interface. No app for mobile. They do have a desktop app, Canto Connect, that is helpful for bulk upload and Collection viewing.