Norway based Photo Editing Firm Cuts Image Processing Expense by 50%, and Increases its Processing Capacity to 3 Million Images per Annum
Situation
Our client was one of the best-known professional photo-editing firms in Norway. Established in 2003, the company was renowned for its exceptional real estate photography services in the major metro areas across the country. The client:
- Provided professional property photography, commercial photography, rental photography, floor plans and 3D visualizations. The firm also developed movies and online portals for residential and commercial real estate agents, builders, designers and architects
- Was looking for an offshore partner that would cater to the imaging needs of the industry, which have undergone a radical change since the earliest days of black and white photographs used in the MLS
- Sought an offshore partner with extensive experience in digital color images, slide shows and virtual tours
Challenges
The biggest challenge faced by an outsourcing partner is to fully understand the client's unique requirements and identifying its problem areas, as well as the client's goals and objectives. The challenges facing us were:
- To process 1 million images every year, which the client was unable to handle internally due to lack of resources and infrastructure
- To ensure high-quality of output so that the client did not have to spend time, money, and resources on maintaining quality checks
- To fulfill the client's need for skilled resources and consistent upgrading of software
Actions
To meet the challenges facing the client and to ensure their satisfaction with our services, we took the following steps:
- Creating a team of 5 well-trained FTEs (Full Time Equivalents) to execute image processing tasks and hiring additional experienced and highly-skilled staffers
- Ensuring the availability of adequate resources to meet the increasing volume of work within a quick turnaround time
- Appointing a dedicated supervisor to guide the FTEs in meeting client requirements
- Putting a dedicated client relationship manager in place to interface with our client and quickly respond to queries
- Using the latest software applications to assure the best photo editing results
- Driving our team hard to guarantee 99.0% error-free output
- Employing stringent privacy and security protocols to ensure secure VPN communications, relying on IPSec/ PPTP
- Using a complete array of security and protection systems to ensure that client data remained safe and secure with us: McAfee Enterprise suite for virus prevention and removal; HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System) and NAC (Network Access Control); gateway-level anti-spyware and spam filter for internet access and email server; a URL-filtering application for surf control; domain-level access restrictions along with a group policy; restricted Internet access based on domain authentication; a centralized server-based storage and a file system access policy based on user authentication
- Providing the Imaging Department with dedicated bandwidth of 3–4 Mbps for efficient 2-way data transfer to and from the client
Results
The client benefited immensely from our participation in the task, and gave us extremely positive and satisfactory feedback. With 40 high-end PCs using the latest upgraded application licenses, we were able to ensure that tasks were completed in time to meet the client's expectations. Our focused approach and actions resulted in:
- Huge cost savings for the client—our high-quality solutions saved between 40–60% on costs on a yearly basis.
- Expansion—our timely and dedicated work ensured that the client could focus on business and growth, without worrying about operational processes. They successfully merged with another leading real estate company, and their processing volume has increased to 3 Million images for 2012.
- Focus on core areas—our commitment to the growth of the client's business helped them save money, reduce time to market, and focus on their core business of real estate marketing.
