• by Michael Leeds , May 3, 2013

We marketers are excited about the possibilities of Big Data -- the wealth of information that is generated and collected where our brands interact with shoppers. After all, it's human nature to be intrigued about a big new solution to an age-old problem. But there is a flip side: sometimes we resist looking inward for big, comprehensive solutions.

In branded communications we see this as the resistance of some organizations toward a tough analysis of their own processes and to the steps -- procedural or technological -- that could make those processes more efficient, productive and cost-effective. As we all know, change is hard.

But two trends we have witnessed in the industry are promising and instructive.

1. Consumer products and pharma brands are taking a serious look at the time it takes for artwork and printing projects to move through their own organizations before -- and between -- submitting to the agency. They are identifying where speed-to-market and cost-efficiency are being compromised.

2. Clients are starting to compare performance metrics across their own regions. They are using the data to devise best practices in collaboration among their divisions and with their agencies.

What these trends reveal is exciting: the removal of old barriers -- barriers between client and vendor, barriers between procurement and brand groups, and barriers between geographic regions within a company.

Internal analysis

Because in-house processes seem familiar and what happens to artwork when it’s at the agency is the “hidden” part, brands can get into the habit of putting more pressure on their agency partners to drive efficiency than they put on themselves, either demanding (and sometimes paying for) fast turnarounds or tacitly asking their partners to help them manage their own internal processes.

But there is only so much elasticity available before timelines, bottom lines and working relationships fray. The current trend is to take a hard look at internal processes and to engage a smart agency partner with deep domain experience in continuous improvement techniques for a serious and holistic assessment. After all, your partners have probably "seen it all" and will have valuable things to offer when given the green light.

These should include strictly analyzing measurable factors like cycles, reworks, errors, resource use, timing and budget -- and then implementing (or increasing) the formal “performance summits” that should happen at least quarterly between clients and their production agencies.

Here, with the help of workflow experts, KPIs are devised and revised, results are analyzed and concrete steps are taken to increase performance at the executional stages of the brand life cycle.

And this process can be augmented by many things, such as dedicated graphics workflow technologies that include performance measurement and official in-sourcing of process managers -- who, by definition, don't have time constraints or personal reservations about changing “how things are done.”

Cross-region analysis and collaboration

This sounds logical and intuitive, but it needed Internet communications and advanced data processing before it could bloom. Now, brands are leveraging artwork creation/production data to compare performance across regions and sharing best-practice solutions widely.

Key to this trend are performance metrics that make it easier to activate KPI-generated insights. For instance, the data generated automatically by graphics management technology can promote strategies to increase the right-first-time rate for artwork or to minimize rounds of changes. And these strategies are location-agnostic. For computer-based production processes, what works in the U.S. or Europe works in Asia or Latin America.

Similarly, cloud-based print quality management technology generates real-time print-run data and allows stakeholders worldwide to share synthesized data on print vendors. This has great potential to make smart sourcing even smarter, and to make brand expansion into new markets more successful.

Research has shown that brands often feel they were unprepared for expansion, yet wish they had entered a country sooner. This seeming contradiction makes a strong case for graphics workflow and print quality technology that can shorten the learning curve by gathering actionable data on internal processes and external vendors from Day 1 in a new region.

KPIs that measure and reflect the execution of production processes are vital to today's brands, which are architected for activation in multiple channels, geographies and media outlets. With the help of their production partners, brands need to break down traditional barriers and take a close look at their own production processes in-house and across geographies. It's not Big Data -- but it’s very valuable, and it’s big.