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Presentations
Presentation asset management is quickly becoming a problem area for organizations using presentations as a part of their normal business practice. Most reporting elements in any organization use them to provide updates, identify issues, promote new ideas and products and disseminate information. Sales forces, for example, use presentations extensively to convey product information to customers and partners. There is a wealth of critical business information contained in these slides. In most cases, it involves some of the best information available.
Organizations spend considerable resources preparing and developing presentation materials. These costs often go unnoticed because individuals develop their own materials. Time and effort spent is spread across the organization making it difficult to track development costs.
Unfortunately, most organizations do not have an effective system to manage, distribute and recycle these assets. Presentation materials remain trapped on individual computers or public hard drives spread across the organization's network and are not readily accessible as shared resources. As PowerPoint® files and associated media continue to proliferate, the problem grows larger.
Presentation Materials are Valuable
Presentation materials are organizational assets. They are containers for information and when managed efficiently, increase in value. The collection of presentation materials within any sizeable organization can be viewed as a database of information. As is the general rule with any database, the information contained within is only valuable if it is easily available when needed.
The total value of an organization’s investment in presentation materials cannot be estimated exclusively on the man hours expended. Presentation materials take years to collectively develop, with each new generation spring boarding from the last. Together, these materials represent institutional knowledge far more valuable than the man-hours it takes to create an equal database of presentation slides. Consider the loss in competitive edge an organization would incur if all of its presentation slides were taken away and it had to recreate them from scratch. This would amount to a huge loss in opportunity that would be staggering to calculate.
Thus, the value of an organization’s presentation materials is significant. The development is a fairly transparent cost, because there is usually no easy way to audit the effort that is spread throughout the organization. But the collective value, at least in most cases, is tremendous. As with any investment, it is advantageous to maximize return or increase the value. The way to increase the value of presentation materials is to increase their use.
The Problem
The problem is that presentation materials are not accessible from a central location so people who need them can access the information easily. Presentations are usually maintained by the people who created them. Anyone with the desire and interest can learn and use PowerPoint or a similar program to create their own presentations. This is a great benefit in many ways that offers considerable flexibility. However, it introduces some challenges: (1) collecting the materials, (2) making them readily accessible.
A Solution
Solve the problem of collecting presentation materials by establishing a central storage location on a public hard drive. Encourage presenters to save or copy presentations into appropriate folders under a main “presentations” folder. For remote presentations, establish a special email in box. From here, materials can be reviewed for inclusion in the central library. It is human nature to want recognition for things you create or accomplish. Recognizing presenters for their presentation contributions goes a long way. Have presenters contribute new materials and include a brief description and their name with each presentation they submit. Then, post their names along with the description so users can see who contributed the material. This generally has a “snowball” effect that results in good participation.
You can solve the accessibility problem by implementing a presentation management system. An automated presentation management system can help organize and make presentation assets available organization-wide. A web-based system gives presenters the flexibility to travel yet still provide access to their presentation library resources.
One such system is called Presentation Librarian™. It was designed to automate the storage and retrieval of PowerPoint® slides and associated media assets such as photographs, illustrations, digital movies, and sound clips. The system gives client users the ability to search or browse the graphical library, select slides and media files, and create new presentations on the fly.
Benefits
Implementing an effective presentation management solution provides organizations with a clear opportunity for a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The overall presentation development process is shortened and quality is enhanced. An effective system gives presenters an edge—the flexibility to react quickly and produce accurate, professional-looking presentations in less time. Consider the effect on the bottom line if a sales force could create presentations 25% more efficiently than its competitors.
A presentation management system also reduces man-hour costs in presentation preparation by allowing presenters to draw from existing materials instead of recreating them. Presenters can draw from a wealth of resources already created by others in the organization, saving valuable time and gaining access to knowledge outside their area of expertise.
Maintaining quality control over material presented is another benefit. A presentation management system provides control over materials distributed to the field or across the organization. By selecting from approved slides, templates and other resources in the library, presenters can be confident that they are using accurate and up-to-date information and materials.
Efficient, timely distribution of presentation resources is becoming increasingly important in today's fast-paced marketplace. An effective distribution system can shorten decision and selling cycles that often make the difference between winning customers or losing them to competitors.
Summary
The bottom line is that implementing a presentation management solution is a smart idea. Just about any solution you choose will provide some level of benefit. Choosing the right solution is important, but implementing it effectively, with management and user support, will ensure its success. As technology continues to evolve and presentation files continue to proliferate, most organizations will recognize the need and implement increasingly advanced solutions in an effort to gain an edge on their competition. In our view, the question is not so much whether to implement a solution, but when and how to do it.
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