This CRM Review examines Canto Cumulus.
Canto established the digital asset management industry and has been influencing it ever since. When Canto was founded in 1990, our first product Cirrus, was a flatbed scanner software for Apple Macintosh. Today’s flagship product Cumulus, was developed out of a specific need: Cirrus users needed a tool to manage the growing number of files created with scanners.
Cumulus was first released in 1992 and was awarded “Most Innovative Product of 1992” by Apple Computer. The partnership with Apple resulted in opening the Canto San Francisco office in 1993.
Milestones of the more than 20-year Cumulus history include cross-platform innovation in 1998, launch of the Cumulus Developer Community in 2000 (which has developed into today’s worldwide partner network) and the release of Cumulus Sites – a new Web publishing architecture – in 2010.
Canto has a long history of offering customization, training and ongoing consulting. In 2008, these activities were officially labeled Canto Professional Services. In 2011, Canto acquired the Linden-based company Vitras to focus even more on delivering customized services and tailored solutions to a growing customer base. In that same year, CTO and Canto founder Thomas Schleu was awarded with the Createasphere “DAMMY of the year award” for his positive impact on the success and growth of the digital asset management industry.
To offer more customer specific solutions and easy integration in existing systems, Canto launched the Canto Integration Platform in 2012.
A cloud-based deployment for Cumulus option has been available since January 2013.
Cumulus is the steward of an organization’s valuable digital content throughout its lifecycle.
Cumulus orchestrates various digital files into a cohesive hub while allowing users to access and distribute their digital content. Through Cumulus, users can collaborate to produce assets such as images, documents and videos both internally and externally. By instantly locating files, Cumulus increases productivity and reduces downtime.
Organize. Find. Share. Any file, anywhere.
Use Cumulus from a Mac, PC, web browser, or iOS mobile device. Run the Cumulus server on Windows, Linux or OS X. Mix or match platforms so users and IT get exactly what they want.
Automate workflows and encourage collaboration using built in tools. Cumulus and Roboflow work together to automatically sync catalogs with other locations such as FTP servers and “drop folders”. Processes like queries, categorizing, and file management become routine. Annotations and email notifications make review and approvals a snap.
Enter keywords, tags and phrases to find any file. Search via category browsing, keywords, customizable queries, or based on associations you define. Cumulus can track asset relationships, so that all files used in a particular layout or publication can be found and viewed easily.
Manage distribution of brand assets to ensure version control and adherence to corporate guidelines. Roles and permissions ensure appropriate access and track changes to designs. On-demand image processing and editing and watermarks further support the design process.
Add files in any format, from anywhere, and make use of the built-in metadata support for IPTC, XMP, EXIF and many more. Manage existing files with complete version control and roll-back history. Metadata templates, write-backs, and support for all common metadata standards and file types give users of Cumulus a vast array of tools to use. Metadata fields can be configured to appear as familiar interface elements such as text fields, buttons, and drop-down menus.
Integrate Cumulus with third party applications and systems to streamline your workflows. Add Cumulus functionality like tagging and cataloging into the software you use every day. Popular integrations include Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Office, Sharepoint, Woodwing, DropBox, and CMS and PIM systems.
While a DAM solution is a crucial investment to protect digital assets, so is determining how to effectively deploy the new investment. At Canto, we offer on-premise or in-the-cloud deployment options. Choosing one of these options depends on the asset location, use case and budget options. All deployment options include a year of product support to ensure the Cumulus DAM solution is running efficiently.
On-premise deployments are highly customizable for organizations that want to maintain and control their DAM solution internally. Our experts partner with internal IT teams to ensure deployment is smooth and effortless. Organizations looking to meet specific data storage regulations or seeking to integrate Cumulus with internal software find this deployment attractive. In addition, customers who concentrate on heavy production workflows find this deployment ideal.
With our cloud-hosted solution, our team will configure, customize and maintain the DAM solution to ensure it is running efficiently and is deployed quickly. Flexible, low upfront costs and no internal server structure are benefits of selecting this deployment option. Featuring access from any location or device, the cloud-hosted solution is scalable to maintain varying performance demands. Automatic updates occur seamlessly and digital assets are backed up regularly.
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