ci-book™ • Product development
System approach
Definition
The ci-book™ • Platform enables the web-based production of advertising and communication materials for different media and systems, which can be adapted to current situations, regional circumstances and individual requirements based on corporate identity specifications and in compliance with the corporate design.
Distribution
- The d-serv GmbH offers software development and IT services with a focus on web and cloud-based applications and solutions,
- has proven expertise in scalable systems and various software and cloud architectures,
- has existed at its core since 1999 and can draw on relevant know-how and practical knowledge through its many years of experience, and
- has been able to establish itself in the market for web-to-publish solutions with its ci-book™ • platform developed as Software as a Service (SaaS).
Customer satisfaction
- Customers remain for 8 years [Ø].
- The cost of acquisition is less than 5% of the first year's sales.
- The contract term is 3 years [Ø].
- Approximately 70% acquire additional products, applications or functions.
- Approximately 20% of recurring revenue is generated through additional services.
- The interaction time on the ci-book™ • Platform is 1.5 hours [Ø].
Award
ci-book™ has been honoured several times with the "Best of Online Marketing" award from the "Innovationspreis IT" of the Initiative Mittelstand. d-serv GmbH sees this repeated award as proof of the customer-centred further development of its product, and the experts on the jury were all in agreement:
"d-serv's software is innovative, practically relevant and especially suitable for medium-sized companies. [...] It is still one of the best solutions in the field of online marketing."
Return on Investment
- Payback of expenses, depending on the plan selected and the number of licences, after 3-12 months.
- Average 45% cost savings in the first year in comparison to desktop publishing solutions.
- Significantly lower acquisition and maintenance costs than comparable solutions on the market.
- Fixed predictable costs with significant reductions for term extensions of two or more years.
- Further reducible expenses for support services through the purchase of ticket contingents and the booking of training courses.
Licence models
Personal
- Up to 5 users
- 5 GB total storage space
- GDPR compliance
- Data centre in the EU
Applications
- Universal Editor
- Asset Manager
Professional
- Up to 50 users
- 500 GB total storage space
- GDPR compliance
- Data centre in the EU
Applications
- Template Transformer
- Category & Tag Editor • Templates
- Universal Editor
- Asset Manager
- Process Organizer
Enterprise
- Over 50 users
- 1000 GB total storage space
- GDPR compliance
- Data centre in the EU
Applications
- Template Transformer
- Template Inspector
- Category & Tag Editor • Templates
- Universal Editor
- Asset Manager
- Category & Tag Editor • Assets
- Process Organizer
- Font Controller
- Activity Reporter
- […]
USP - From the customer's point of view
Usability
ci-book™ offers an easy-to-learn user interface and information architecture that enables even less technically experienced users to quickly become productive without extensive training.
Scalability
ci-book™ is highly scalable and adapts to the requirements of companies and their employees, regardless of whether they are small, newly founded or large, established companies.
Collaboration
ci-book™ allows teams from marketing, sales and human resources to work together seamlessly, share data and give feedback in real time, increasing efficiency in the production process.
Customisability
ci-book™ has a wide range of customisation options - from compliance with CI/CD guidelines and branding of the platform to the integration of required workflows and connection of preferred service providers.
Security
ci-book™ utilises world-class security measures, including data encryption, access controls and regular security audits, to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of all data.
Cost reduction
ci-book™ significantly reduces the cost of hardware investments, desktop applications, system maintenance and IT overheads as it is provided and maintained entirely as a SaaS solution.
Support
ci-book™ is flanked by the d-serv GmbH support team, which is available to customers around the clock and ensures that all questions and concerns are dealt with quickly and professionally.
Evaluation and reporting
With its comprehensive analysis and reporting functions, ci-book™ provides in-depth insights into a wide range of data in order to make informed decisions and increase productivity.
USP - In comparison to the competition
API
Based on the know-how and expertise of the development department of d-serv GmbH, numerous interfaces for the import and export of data have been integrated into ci-book™ in recent years: From SSO to systems and applications such as DAM, PIM, ERP, CMS,TMS through to export for print, screen or databases in numerous formats such as PDF, HTML, XML & XLIFF, JPG, PNG, TIF, IDML […]
Approval Workflow
The ci-book™ • Process Organizer is used to define the desired processes, including their workflows and tasks, for general or specific templates and documents or publications based on them for approval, translation and proofreading.
Customizable Branding
In addition to the aspects of customisability, the ci-book™ • Platform Communicator can also be used to adapt other essential details in line with the brand so that companies can achieve a high level of identification with the platform for their employees.
Design Management
The ci-book™ • Universal Editor is the core application for editing templates, documents and publications. In the regular Edit Mode, texts can be edited and pictures - if permitted - can be exchanged and in the extended Design Mode, authorised users can adjust the design specifications and properties of templates.
Image Editing & Image Library
The ci-book™ • Asset Manager is used to manage media files, in particular images, which are to be made available to users for selection when editing templates and documents in the ci-book™ • Universal Editor. In addition, the ci-book™ • Asset Organizer provides a personal, user-specific storage area for media and image files, potentially also for other file formats that should not be available to all users. If a digital asset management system from another provider is already in use in the company, these could be successfully integrated via an (API) interface.
Printing Services Integration
With the ci-book™ • Pricelist Allocator, preferred (print) service providers can be stored with their contact details and price lists and allocated to individual templates respectively documents and publications based on them.
Templates
The ci-book™ • Template Transformer imports templates from Adobe® InDesign® packages and makes them available for (further) editing in the ci-book™ • Universal Editor. In addition, the ci-book™ • Template Inspector, comparable to the PreFlight check in the print sector, checks the Adobe® InDesign® packages to be imported and the fonts, colours, links and formatting used in them.
Product Lifecycle Management
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Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is an integrated management approach that covers the entire lifecycle of a product; from conception to development, implementation, evaluation, sales, provision, training and maintenance. PLM encompasses all processes, IT systems and data associated with the product.
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For d-serv GmbH, this approach is based on the following four areas:
- User Experience Design,
- Agile Development,
- Maintenance und
- Support.
1. User Experience Design
- User experience describes all aspects of a user's experience when interacting with a product or service in a specific environment and context of use.
- User experience design offers an established approach to product and service development.
- The aim is to create a user experience that is as pleasant as possible in many respects.
2. Agile Development
- Strict iteration at short intervals.
- Close collaboration with clients from different departments and at different management levels.
- Regularly recognising, recording and evaluating the client's initial requirements and new requirements during the product's lifetime.
- Regularly recognising, recording and evaluating the needs and expectations of the users.
3. Maintenance
- Technical safeguarding and further development of the entire product.
- Researching, analysing and evaluating innovations on the market; for example, AI.
- Identification and prioritisation of product and customer-relevant enhancements according to feasibility and cost/benefit ratio.
- Project coordination and implementation of customer-specific requirements and enhancements.
- Ongoing quality assurance and evaluation.
4. Support
- d-serv GmbH's support offers various services that enable the prompt introduction and smooth operation of the d-serv platforms.
- Support can take a leading or supporting role in the migration or transformation of existing data and in the integration of existing systems and interfaces.
- In addition, import and export formats such as Adobe® InDesign® or PDF files can be prepared and optimised.
- In addition to rectifying and clarifying technical errors/questions, advice can be given on compliance with certain regulations and on improving system performance.
- Support also offers training courses, which can take place on site or as a webinar.
