Marcom Portal Reviews

Pros

Marcom Central has created shorter lead times and more satisfied clients. Our non-marketing employees are able to create digital collateral on the spot without having to wait for design time, proofing time and the time it takes to get things scheduled. The system is user-friendly and intuitive. The system means we require fewer employee hours, benefits, etc. due to the automation of routine tasks. It has improved operational efficiency. Most importantly, multiple members of the strategic marketing & communications team have greater job satisfaction because they can spend their time doing more meaningful work rather than making routine design updates/changes.

Cons

Customizing the software to fit our workflow was one of our more difficult tasks, however, I look forward to the constant improvements the team at Marcom continues to create to make the user experience better.

Pros

I like that we can easily add products and how simple it is for our static products. It easy to add users, products and cost centers. The approval process for products is easy and intuitive. It's a localized resource that our users can use.

Cons

The back end of the product is fairly slow. It takes a long time to add products because of how slow it is at times. The reporting for the portal could be better. I know the Business Intelligence feature was created to solve for reporting.

Also sometimes we experience difficulty with customizable products. I feel like there's more options to build this out more based on the users needs.

Pros

The capability in a vacuum is awesome. It can do many things, and considers many scenarios that required as part of maintaining a businesses brand. I noticed at the last conference and even in conversations, the desire to listen and consider the challenges customers are facing with regards to system needs.
The recent hire of UX support is a tremendous step in a great direction to understand use and process and enhance from a user perspective.
I mostly enjoy the consideration of the system not just being POD, and instead, being a brand system, with needs for downloads, print, assets, guidelines, templates, videos, etc. This is where MarcomCentral can shine.

Cons

The capability in a vacuum is awesome. The product is better promoted than it performs. As the admin, planner, builder, and user, I see all sides. I can see what it can be but struggle with a system with an attitude. Some days, it is so great, and then something stops working or changes and all things go to hell. I need something I can be an ambassador for and believe in. The unpredictability of new releases, adding functionality, changing settings or altering things intended to improve can have unexpected and timely consequences. I can tell the fundamental system was conceived and built by techs, with limited UX exploration or user consideration.

Pros

I like the most that I can see the edits that I make to the platform live time and make minor edits, such as captions or thumbnail image easily. I like that I can pull reports to see who is ordering and downloading from the site.

Cons

I do think that there are little nuisances on the back end that add up to be quite time consuming, such as having to re-search for products rather than the search saving.

Pros

MarcomCentral did exactly what we expected. It helped us automate our design and printing process by creating templates that took the place of our one-off designs. We were at a point where every business card, in a corporation that had 5,000 employees, was created by one of our designers.

We had great support with our implementation team and customer service. They are constantly improving their product, which was great.

Cons

The templates are not "magic" nor could you expect them to be. The front-end was very easy for users, but the back-end needed to be set up by more tech-savvy marketer/designers.

Pros

There are always new features coming out and they really value our feedback to help with future innovations.

Pros

We loved the fact that we were able to customize our portal to our specific needs. This has grown to be a great tool to provide all of our marketing material to our network.

Cons

It takes some time to get use to the platform and the back end. Features and functionality are great although you will need training.

Pros

Lots of capabilities - far more than previous on-demand systems I have used.
Good, trustworthy reporting system.
Great relationship managers and team.

Cons

Long lead times to get products programmed.
Challenging to get edits or updates outside of strict FusionPro parameters.

Pros

Our users seem to like it and find it an improvement over old system.
The professional presentation and library setup for arranging and accessing collateral.

Cons

Issues in back office holding us back on realizing efficiencies:
As noted, troubleshooting fulfillment - order continuity/approval, invoicing.
Latency on system, at present, using Internet Explorer - a commonly used browser.
Lack of training on process; consistency with processes by vendor.

Pros

The thing I love most about this software is how easy it is to use. For someone not super-tech-savvy, it is so easy to set up products and display them in the catalog. It's user-friendly for our employees and customers too. They can easily navigate to whatever item they need without any issues!

Cons

The thing I dislike the most is the way we have to set up groups. It's not as easy as I'd hoped. It's a "this way or nothing else works" kinda situation.

Pros

Allows our stores to customize and print products with ease. Ultimately an one-stop shop for our users.

Cons

Setting up templates and adding products is very time consuming and clunky. We have had lots of mistakes and issues with our Fishbowl enabled items.

Pros

I like how the site is organized and the color schemes are set up to make the search process a tad bit easier.

Cons

Searching for an order numbers is a tedious, long winded process. From a user stand point there is a lack of accessibility to the back end (i.e creating customize-able templates). Recommended training to do simple tasks is extensive. Tech support can often times be slow to respond.

Pros

The powerful features it offers. The consumer has power to make things in a way they want and it's enjoyable to see that.

Cons

Random errors again. A simple explanation or a quick tip to try to resolve would be helpful. It's hard to keep the flow of work going when support can only help in that case.
More available customer support hours for those working in Central and East coast time zones.

Pros

I like the fact with planning the software can be customized to fit unique solutions. I also have a great Account Manager who makes time to assist whenever I have any issues and support our initiatives.

Cons

The application is not in any way instinctive but once learned it is very user friendly. I wish when the application has times out it would let you know before enter data only to time out once you're finished and left to start the entire process again.

Pros

Once the items are available on the site it is easy for our franchisees to use. We need a program that is simple and easy to implement. Once we get franchisees to use it they do like it as long as we rae offering what they are interested in.

Cons

Sometimes it takes too long to add materials to the site. Customizable pieces need to be added quicker. Once they are added that piece should be shared with the print vendor directly from Marcom so there is no confusion as to what piece was added and when it was added.

Pros

The ease of getting the information out to our users. it is simple tool and easy for our users to navigate.

Cons

No complaints here. We did have an issue with the amount of time that it took to upload large files, but that seem to have gotten better.

Pros

The platform is easy to use and constantly receives updates to increase usability and functionality.

Pros

I have found its variability and scope to be broad which is obviously a good thing for a large business with varying needs.

Cons

It is far too complicated and complex. It seems like there must be an easier way to store, display and edit information from an admin point of view. Some processes which should seemingly be simple (such as uploading documents and sorting them) are way too complex.

Pros

Clean, easy to use interface; can export data to commonly used formats; customisable.

Cons

Compatibility issues with some browsers - Flash doesn't always load when it should without prompting.

Pros

The software is able to have me reach a large number of my audience with very little work. The repetition of template creation has been vastly minimized

Cons

Not that fastest when trying to get around different areas on Marcom. Jumping between libraries and product templates get tedious when the pages take a while to populate.

Pros

This streamlines marketing processes that could previously eat up precious resources.

Cons

Some issues with ADA tagging on digital collateral exist but are being resolved