How To Find The Right Presentation Management Software

When weighing up the software options for managing your marketing collateral, there are a few things to consider. The majority of purchasers who come to us looking for help are already using a combination of shared drives, users' hard drives, and a generic purpose Cloud storage solution. This can mean their process for managing, sharing and re-using presentation slides is fragmented and inconsistent. It doesn't have the kind of technical rigour required to make sure users receive content updates on time, every time, to help companies stay compliant with the kind of material they are showing, and to maintain brand consistency. It's no wonder people start shopping around for a more coherent and foolproof solution.

One of the biggest questions to consider is whether to go with a presentation management software solution that is self-hosted - one that sits on internal company servers and is entirely controlled by the company whose content it houses. Whilst the argument for tighter control may seem appealing, the perception can often be a false one. Getting started can be cumbersome, with more internal coordination, project planning, expertise, resources and lead time to launch required, not to mention training. Implementing a self-hosted content management system requires internal IT expertise to regularly update software, apply security patches, run backups and generally administer site maintenance. If this is not done promptly and as a matter of course, it can actually lead to greater risk of security breaches and vulnerabilities, as well as creating compatibility issues with later releases of affinity software such as Microsoft PowerPoint. Rather than adding to security vulnerabilities, deploying Cloud-based Software as a Service can actually enable companies to keep pace with security and software updates without thinking about it or lifting a finger. It's all part of the service. This, of course, makes it quicker and more effortless to get up and running. That means Marketing teams, for example, can simply log in and start using Slidebank without relying on their corporate IT teams to implement setup.

A second question that is often put to us is what are the benefits of signing up to a service such as Slidebank over building a bespoke system internally to manage PowerPoint slides? The answer to this is a simple one. Building a presentation management system is an incredibly complex, resource-heavy and expensive operation. The time it takes to design, build and test the system and then to launch and embed it within the organisation far outstrips any benefit that might be produced. We started building Slidebank a long time ago, and it is a process that is never finished. We are continually optimising, refreshing, stress testing and strengthening the system for the benefit of all our users, and the latest version that we are running is always the product of many years of learning. It is almost impossible to replicate this kind of focus and dedication within internal teams, where a content management system may not be a core focus. The great risk is that, as people move on internally, the knowledge of the product goes with them, and what started out as an expensive but valuable investment, can quickly become not fit for purpose if not fully maintained and kept in a state of continuous evolution. Simply put, at Slidebank, we've done that work for you so you don't have to.

At A Glance - the benefits of a Cloud-Based SaaS Solution for Presentation Management

See all Slidebank features