Why Creative Media Network Made The Choice To Go Cloud

Our Customers / August 22, 2017 / JD

For Chief Strategy Officer at Creative Media Network Edward Hölsken, the move to Daylite Cloud was a no brainer. He knew that by removing the server, his team could focus more on giving customers great service and less on syncing and updates. We caught up with Edward after the move to talk about his experience since moving to Daylite Cloud

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To start, tell us a little about Creative Media Network.

Creative Media Network is an Omni channel production agency born from a group of creative, e-commerce, retail, content and technology specialists. We work for global brands and marketing agencies to craft the best digital & offline work they need.

The business started in 1946 as a family business and grew into one of the leading content production agencies after acquiring Casper Lourens and Voici Design. In 2015 mediaBunker & GlanceMedia joined the team, as we share the belief that design, content, and technology are an integral part of today’s customer experience. In 2016 we decided to reposition ourselves as Creative Media Network.

If any of our readers wanted to talk to you about your services, how would they go about that?

For sure, anyone can contact us on our website and see our work here.

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So, you’ve moved to Daylite Cloud. Tell us, what’s different?

First of all syncing is way more solid. It’s quick, and we don’t think about syncing anymore. Self-Serve remote syncing was a struggle, but now everyone just works on their jobs. Even when there have been outages, which has been rare, it’s fixed super fast – like less than an hour.

Another thing made easier is updating. Before Daylite Cloud, the IT guys would have to manage updates on the server and had to make plans to avoid any issues like data not syncing. After we did an update on the server, they then had to chase people around to make sure they updated as well. With that gone, we are confident that the app is running correctly.

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If you had an IT team, what made you consider Cloud in the first place?

In our business, we manage various apps and services. On their own, the workload isn’t much, but when you add each one up, it starts to become a real time suck. Actually, before Daylite Cloud we were investigating options, and we had asked you if there was a Cloud version of Daylite. You told us you were working on it and when Daylite Cloud came out, I was so happy. I was one of the first in line to move and glad I did.

What types of things did you need to manage with Self-Serve and who managed that?

Our CTO was the one who did most of the work, but really a few other people including myself did a lot as well. For the most part, we didn’t have to manage much, updates, restarts and troubleshooting. As the business grew and we became busier, we didn’t want to manage it anymore and instead we wanted to spend our time on more important things.

CMN_4Do you have any examples of when managing Self-Serve cost you time?

One very memorable moment was when I came to the office and saw that Daylite Self-Serve wasn’t syncing. I noticed a bunch of other things weren’t working either, so I knew there was a problem on the server computer. Turned out the hard drive died, which we thought was not a major deal because we kept backups. It took two days to restore everything, and that was two chaotic days where we couldn’t get much done.

It was a real learning experience for us. A lot of small businesses don’t realize that while backups are great, the time it takes to recover is super critical. It’s not like, it’s super rare either. I bet you all of your customers have experienced something similar and if not now, they will eventually. You just can’t get away from the downtime.

Did you have any hesitation when moving?

For a business, you always need to be little cautious when changing systems because if you don’t think it through, you might make things worse. We knew exactly what we wanted, and Daylite Cloud made things work for the better. Some people worry about a subscription, but not having to manage security, or the server itself is what you’re getting. Knowing month after month, I will be taken care of is great.

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How was the process going to Daylite Cloud?

The migration went well, and we had no show stoppers. It finished in a single day and caused no major interruptions.

So overall a lot more peace of mind since moving?

I cannot understate how freeing it is not to have to think or worry about something. There was always some worry in the back of our minds about the server and all the baggage that came with it. Now that it is gone we can spend more time thinking about what we do. We open Daylite, do our work, and that’s it.

With Daylite, our information is always there, always works and is always up-to-date.

So your business has been on the move and growing for some time. with the recent addition of mediaBunker & GlanceMedia in 2015, How has the team managed the transition to Daylite?

Yes, we are now about 75 people strong, and you know, after the merge, a lot of the people were used to other CRMs that were more like spreadsheets and old Windows-like interfaces. They were impressed when I showed them how easy it is to link things in Daylite and how that helps you find things later on so much faster.

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Did they have trouble learning Daylite?

Not really, no. They needed some training and mentoring, but even then it was still an improvement. Daylite shows you everything you need and just that. With the other systems you see, what I call “Spead Sheet View” and website really showing you too much information. The more they use it, the more they learn.

So what kind of things do you do with Daylite?

We do a lot with Daylite, and I am always pushing for more, but we use Daylite to manage our agent and opportunities. Everything else in Daylite links to those two.

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What does a day with Daylite look like to you?

The first thing I do is check the calendar for an overview of my day. I can see my to-do list and meetings. Next, I go to the home screen and see all other due over due things and get a sense of how the next few days are.

As I am in management, I also need to review how everyone else is doing so I review our opportunities in Insight View quite a lot. I try to be very rigid with setting everything up correctly like Pipelines with stages, linking, and probability percentage. This way I can view the stats and see what the whole team is doing. Things like understanding who is creating the most opportunities, their status and category are things I need to be able to see.

And of course, whenever I get an email I can add it to Daylite quickly.

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What about your team? How do they use Daylite?

Our sales people are often on the go, and their work flow supports that. Right now they use Daylite to review things like who is linked to a particular project, the business they have done with them, the proposal and know what their stage is. That helps them come prepared and work with the clients without needing to review anything. Once they are done, they come back to the office and start adding any updates in the office.

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What would you say makes Daylite unique, and the reason you love it?

The interface is everything, which is funny because that is the CMN way. Being able to enter data, search for information quickly is key and why I really like Daylite. With that comes the Daylite Mail Assistant. We all use Apple Mail and found that other systems don’t integrate as well with it. I love being able to write an email and in a matter of seconds capture it and link it to contacts or projects or whatever it is related to.

If I had to start the process of searching for a new app, I’d choose Daylite again.

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Want to feel the freedom Creative Media Network and Edward Hölsken felt after moving to Daylite Cloud? Reach out to us and Go Cloud!

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