Empowering the proofing process James Houston
Technology can provide a number of solutions to keep you, the client, in control of your project. But like most solutions, picking the right one for your circumstance is crucial.
Introduction
The proofing process is often the most intensive part of the corporate reporting project. Following months of work crafting the message and creating a compelling design for the project, the proofing process commences when the shell of the document starts to get populated with copy and finishes with the 'pass for press' for printed reports and the 'go-live' for websites. During this period, the resources of the client and the resources of the agency are working most closely together. Strict timetables, increased narrative, more authors, the location of commentators and decision makers, the number of proof stages, the resources of setting and reading all collide to provide a cauldron of pressure that can 'make or break' a project.
Historically
The solution used to be quite simple. Fewer businesses were global so decision makers were less geographically challenged. The speed of the proofing process was dictated by the delivery method - often using postal services. The responsibilities of auditing did not apply to the narrative. Documents had far fewer pages. Competition for attracting capital was less intense, so the quality of the narrative was arguably less important. This meant predominantly historical performance based documents which were the responsibility of the Finance Director to pull together. As such, the project could be run with little involvement from outside the finance function.
The new scenario
There are a growing number of voices that need to be heard in the dialogue provided by the Annual Report. Authors and commentators from a range of disciplines from the Chief Executive, Company Secretary, Investor Relations Officers and Marketing right through to external advisers located in different time zones, around the globe, need their perspective communicated, so the responsibility on the individual who takes ownership of the Annual Report has never been greater. To add to that pressure, schedules that allowed for contingencies don’t appear to exist any more - so what can technology do to help?
Project portals
E-mail was a great way to send assets when broadband became readily available. However, it is only really helpful for 1-2-1 dialogue when sharing assets. When many people are involved in a project, to have an inbox full of e-mails of updated and amended files being copied in to each person in the team becomes clumsy and dangerous, with far too many opportunities to be looking at the wrong version of any file. Project portals allow all the assets for any project to be kept in one secure place, with only the latest files available for review, whether they are pictures to share with the designers, copy being shared by authors or typesetters or timetables for the project. Dialogues can be shared with the right people and you can drop in, in your own time, to check on the status of your project. These portals can also help manage the projects by sending out automatic reminders based on the timetable to the appropriate people involved at each stage. Again, 24/7 access from wherever you have Internet access is very useful for those who are substantial travellers.
Online mark-up
This tool is one of the simplest and easiest to introduce and is therefore a quick win for most projects. It involves posting up a central PDF to a website that can then be marked up by multiple commentators simultaneously from any location and in any time zone. All commentators can be informed electronically that a new proof has been posted, and how long that proof is available for comment. This solves two major headaches for the project owner - how do I get copies out to all of the commentators, get them back on time, collate all the responses onto one copy and return it to the agency? This tool saves an enormous amount of resource for the project owner.
Desktop sharing
There are a number of different software solutions that allow you to share a desktop with a creative or typesetter. These are often useful to overcome a specific problem where you might want to try out a number of different design or layout ideas with a limited amount of time. Particular issues can be overcome prior to a proof being released, so can save significant amounts of time and resource.
Authoring systems
For some client teams, the ability to have greater control in the proofing process is compelling. To have the ability to amend the master file at any time and generate your own proofs, so that you are not waiting for an agency to be able to allocate resource to a project, can be a huge benefit. Most systems can be designed to suit the skill-level of the user. Some software may allow text changes only with little control over the creative elements of the project whilst other solutions can allow full access to all elements of the job, but this inevitably comes with a greater responsibility.
This all seems very positive, so are there any downsides in adopting this technology?
Project portals come with very little downside, perhaps only to those with a fear of technology - there is a log-in prompt after all!
To mark up a proof online, there is a short learning curve of a few minutes to develop some basic skills. There is still a responsibility for the decision maker to close off discussion comments left on a proof.
Desktop sharing is a useful tool to dip in and out of. Only a poor connection speed can negatively affect the experience, and it’s not really a sensible solution for heavy text amendments that would be better served by a proofing stage.
Authoring systems are only appropriate in the right circumstances. Managing expectations and competencies between the client and the agency is really important when profiling the level of access to allow into the document. If the competencies of the client are not correctly profiled, then the level of access to elements within the job may not allow the client to perform the amendments that they wish to make. Also, if access is opened up too far, then there could be opportunities for the design and layout to be compromised. Choosing when to inherit the proofing process is also a consideration. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, we would not suggest that the client takes control until at least after the second proof.
The Jones and Palmer approach
Jones and Palmer are committed to finding the best ways to interact with our clients. We innovate by taking the ‘best of breed’ software and integrating it into our systems. However, it is not just the choice of technology that is important, it is refining the work flow around the project team and their preferences that helps to create a seamless process. Whatever proofing options our clients choose, we offer full support through the process.
Jones and Palmer have a full suite of proofing and authoring tools to help you with your project. We would be delighted to explore the most appropriate solution for your requirements. We want to provide you with a more pleasant journey through the proofing stages. If you have a moment take a look at what our customers are currently saying.
If you would like to know more about Jones and Palmer and how we can empower your corporate communications please contact me.
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Jones and Palmer is focused on the development and delivery of corporate and investor communication media.
Established in 1906, Jones and Palmer has, for the last 40 years, printed annual report and accounts for public listed companies and currently has over 150 plc clients. We are the UK’s largest on-site manufacturer of investor websites and printed annual reports.