The travel agency Kuoni France decided to adopt a new photo management solution to streamline its production of publications. They did more than just adopt a tool: they also did a lot of work on indexing language.

The company Kuoni France has around 250 employees and operates under seven brands: Kuoni, Donatello, Scanditours, and more. The travel agency has to offer its customers a website and catalogues that are as engaging as possible. This is especially true because Kuoni operates in the premium segment, where expectations are particularly high. To meet these needs, Kuoni France uses a number of solutions dedicated to publishing and, in particular, managing the images it receives and uses. “We recently revamped our file management system for images because the tools we had been using no longer met our needs,” explains Guillaume Leprovost, e-commerce manager.

The company chose a new solution through collaboration between several of its entities: the IT department, the publishing department, the marketing department, and the e-commerce department. After meeting with several software publishers, they chose to go with Ephoto Dam, offered by the publisher Einden. The travel agency made this choice based on its needs for a solution in SaaS mode and for interoperability with the various content management systems (CMS) used by the company’s brands. The solution also needed to be compatible with the tools most commonly used for content creation (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign) and to allow partners (tourism offices and airlines) to independently deliver files without having to provide download links via email.

White IMAC computer showing a photo of the Kuoni France Group media library. Landscapes are in this photo.

Since Kuoni France deployed the solution in 2015, Ephoto Dam is now moving full speed ahead. Kuoni France’s communications, such as newsletters, are created with help from the software. “Ephoto Dam was integrated with our other production tools without a hitch and now the process for users to add photos to our product information sheets is totally streamlined,” observes Guillaume Leprovost. “Another advantage is that we no longer have any issues with managing copyrights thanks to our DAM system, which sends us alerts by email 30 days before the distribution rights for a photo expire.”

To illustrate its posters and flyers, Kuoni can draw from a database of around 40,000 media, including photos, maps, and other documents. However, accessing that database requires a lot of work on indexing language. File names, sorting, and directories must be perfect. That kind of work requires serious planning. As such, the travel agency turned to Einden for indexing support services. Einden assigned them an indexing project manager and a documentalist-image expert. This was a great choice, according to Guillaume Leprovost: “During the work on indexing language, we were able to make requests and express our needs. Einden understood them perfectly and delivered to us a solution that works perfectly. All that at a cost about 20% cheaper than other solutions…”

Screenshot of Kuoni's front office

Testimonial collected by Bruno Texier, Archimag