A Case Study:
Convert-It!, Tag-It!, and Route-It! allow designers to focus on creative tasks.
Client Description
A Southern California apparel company with a unique style and emphasis on skateboarding, surfing, music, and “fun”.
Business Problem
Product Designers wanted to be able to use their beloved Adobe Illustrator and nothing more. Data was being handed off to a data analyst to be re-keyed into business systems taking way to much time and creating vulnerability to errors in data. This company needed a way to reduce labor costs while keeping designers happy.
E-Spec Solution
The implementation of E-Spec’s Convert-It!, Tag-It! and Route-It! allowed designers to remain in Adobe Illustrator and trigger a workflow by tagging AI files with pertinent metadata as they are saved, automatically converting copies of the AI files on the fly to a format their business systems can understand, and delivering the copies to two waiting business systems behind the scenes. With these tools the company was able to automate some very manual tasks and reduce errors.
“We were able to re-assign a data analyst thus reducing the overall labor costs of the product design area. Our number one goal was to keep our designers in the tool they use most—Adobe Illustrator. This lead to an overall increased satisfaction rate for our designers.” – IT Business Consulting Manager
Having originally implemented the solution with Gerber’s WebPDM product development system, when the decision was made to switch to Innovative Systems’ Full Circle ERP product, E-Spec was able to redirect the movement of the images on the backend without changing the process for end users.
Technologies Used
- E-Spec Convert-It! for Adobe Illustrator
- E-Spec Tag-It! for Adobe Illustrator
- E-Spec Route-It! for Adobe Illustrator
- In house developed web service API for custom business database and Full Circle ERP
Business Benefits
- Labor reduction allowing data analyst that had to re-key information into 2 business systems to be reassigned
- Fewer clerical errors
- Increased job satisfaction for Designers
- Increased performance of image and data creation