ING Group – FRS Image Bank
The ING Group is a global financial institution of Dutch origin with 115,000 employees. They have 60 million customers in almost 60 countries. These include individuals and families as well as small and large companies, institutions and even governments. As a result, the ING Group offers a wide range of banking products and services. While banking is their core business, they excel in the field of insurance and asset management. Consequently the ING Group includes a number of leading brands, including Postbank and RVS Verzekering.
In 2002, we introduced a customized FRS MediaBank web-application within the Postbank for the management and distribution of brand images (logos, photos, PDFs). Because of the good experiences and the excellent hosting facilities offered by BSL, ING asked BSL to introduce the Image Bank within several other divisions.
Access anywhere, anytime
We delivered the ING Image Bank as a web-service, using Oracle. Since our FRS asset management software is designed for easy customisation, the Image Bank is a fully customised system. First of all, ING has a strong corporate identity, so we designed a user-friendly interface based on the ING house style. And by introducing the Image Bank, ING could immediately start managing all of their marketing material. This includes all campaign texts, PDF’s and images. As a result, ING employees and their creative partners can quickly create and distribute new material.
The entire Image Bank can be accessed using any web browser. So authorized users can access the ING Image Bank anytime and anywhere via their favorite browser. Designers, creative consultants and photographers can easily add images, page layouts and illustrations. Furthermore, the ING content managers can check and enrich the content by adding descriptions and keywords using a custom designed asset management application. And with the integrated search technology from Autonomy K2 (now HPE IDOL), all information in the database can be automatically categorized and indexed. Due to this feature, users can find content at lightning speed.
“Modifying FRS and adapting it to the exact requirements of the ING represented a challenge. Furthermore, as other members of the ING Group adopted the image bank, they asked to introduce their individual house styles. As a result we had to create multiple interfaces using a single database. Due to our experience, we could offer a unique product to each organisation in a cost-efficient manner. Also our tried and trusted FRS multimedia modules meant that each update was delivered quickly.”
At BSL, you have come to the right place for…
Flexibel management
Innovative BSL technology ensures that data and user management is possible from almost anywhere in the world. So ING’s business units can each individually manage their assets. And system administrators can change group and user rights, wherever they have access to the internet. As a result, the ING Image Bank offers a user-friendly way to manage a complex system, while at the same time offering enormous flexibility. Flexibility that makes it possible to share ING designs, images and campaign material with third parties, such as design bureaus, photographers and printers.
Fast search technology
By using Autonomy search technology, all information in the database can be automatically categorized and indexed. So users can find content at lightning speed. Autonomy offers many possibilities for smart search queries. As a result, users can search with so-called ‘wildcards’, or combine search terms with AND / OR / NOT. Therefore by using advanced search technologies and a user-friendly interfaces, users can quickly and easily find the desired results.
User-friendly software
At BSL, we strive to develop user-friendly applications. During the design and development of the ING Image Bank, much attention was paid to ease-of-use. And this included making it easy to customise search results for each user. For example, they can choose how many images are shown on each page. We also keep the screen displays simple, and use icons to access more information about each image.
We’ve got a great track record developing image databases, and online multimedia archives. The ING is just one example of us delivering a solution that can be easily integrated within the existing production workflow. Let us help you to manage your digital assets. Get in touch – no strings attached!
