Knecht Reisen AG
Premium quality and process automation in catalog production
The automated system is used by 30 employees from Product Management, Marketing and the Data Department to manage over 500 travel offers to around 30 different destinations worldwide. The solution has made the work of the internal agency and product managers, who also work in sales, much easier. Today, they produce all catalogs in better quality with fewer resources and have more time for creating offers and sales.
Many advantages
Convincing appearance, efficiency and relief for employees
Before the introduction of myPUBLISH, catalogs were largely produced manually. Not only was the process unnecessarily complex and error-prone, it also entailed considerable manual coordination work. In addition, the layouts of the various catalogs had to be laboriously created in InDesign, and these became very inconsistent over time.
The desire for a new quality of appearance with a standardized image of all catalogs as well as greater efficiency and a reduction in the workload of the responsible employees were the decisive factors in evaluating a new solution for the existing processes. In addition, all offers were to be recorded centrally in future and the product managers were to be able to process their products independently from initial creation to placement in the catalog.
Solutions for every need
myPUBLISH seamlessly integrates various modular software solutions into a central platform. Knecht Reisen thus realizes an intuitive publishing portal with the best user-friendliness and minimal support effort for users.
Central image and media database
myASSETS is the flexible digital asset management (DAM) within the Knecht Reisen solution. The product managers maintain all images and maps of their trips directly in the system, while the marketing department adds further images. The system not only forms the basis for catalog production, but also becomes the central image source for the connected websites.
Integrated travel planning from A to Z
Product managers maintain and manage their trips in the Product Information Management (PIM) system myCONTENT: Services, prices, day programs and excursions, hotels, short and detailed descriptions and much more. With the help of the preview, content can be checked and corrected directly in the catalog layout during creation. Once checked and approved, the trips can be planned for future catalogs.
Automated catalog production
In the database publishing tool myCATALOG, the production managers organize the content and select the appropriate templates. The system then places the planned trips and creates the finished print files based on native PDF technology. In this way, 95 percent of all pages are created fully automatically at the touch of a button. The remaining pages are created manually and uploaded to the system. The system checks text lengths and image quality, creates tables of contents and travel calendars and outputs even complex travel catalogs within a few minutes.
Nadia Imbaumgarten, Knecht Reisen AG
Head of Marketing & Events
«Our agency’s workload has been massively reduced, the product managers need significantly less time to maintain their offers, and thanks to the increased efficiency, several catalogs could be planned and implemented simultaneously without causing delays.»
Vanessa Hägeli, Knecht Reisen AG
Product Manager Southern Africa
«The new system is a great relief. All products are uniformly available and can easily be used for the next catalogs. You just have to adjust the price and the date and that’s it. If a product needs to be replaced, it’s also child’s play. You no longer have to take everything in your hand and redefine it.»
Thomas Peller, Knecht Reisen AG
Leiter DTP & Produktion
«A big thank you to n c ag. The communication worked well and the flexibility and support were great. We always received good advice and support, even with questions and uncertainties.»
Rapid introduction and continuous increase in efficiency
As part of the introduction of the new system, not only were all production processes automated, but the templates for the new catalogs were also developed and standardized and the design elements and maps for the trips were redesigned. The experts at n c ag ensured that the new system was pre-filled with over 500 travel offers using an automated import process . The introduction was accompanied by a dedicated project team from Knecht Reisen and n c ag, which was fully focused on the project and was able to solve all challenges promptly and competently. As a result, the project was completed in less than six months and under budget.
Today, over 30 employees use the system and plan 12 catalogs, which are created almost fully automatically. Thanks to the new templates, the catalogs meet the highest design standards, they present the brand in a uniform way and still allow all the necessary flexibility. After the initial changeover phase, everyone was quickly happy to leave the manual process behind. Now they can maintain their trips and catalogs continuously and independently.
Now that all products and templates have been maintained in the new system, the process will become even more efficient from year to year. Only the changes from the previous year need to be entered, then the new catalogs can be created at the touch of a button. And planning is already underway: The next step will be to link the system to the websites. In future, all travel information will be displayed online and the French catalogs will also be produced using the solution.
About Knecht Reisen
Knecht Reisen is the fourth-largest tour operator in Switzerland and currently operates seventeen specialized own brands. Johann Knecht laid the foundation stone for today’s modern travel company in 1909 when he set up a haulage business in Brugg. Knecht Reisen has been operating its own travel agencies since 1961 and is currently represented at more than twenty locations throughout Switzerland. 100,000 customers entrust Knecht Reisen with their vacation planning every year.
We look forward to hearing from you
Mike Spoerri
COO, Key Account Manager
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