vjoonity 2019: New DAM from vjoon and K4 Version 10

December 10, 2019

• vjoon seven: State-of-the-art DAM platform presented for the first time
• vjoon K4 version 10: New Content Editor and WordPress module
• Practical experience: Exclusive insights from Adobe and integration partners

In November, international publishing and marketing experts met at vjoonity in New York and Hamburg to discuss current developments at vjoon and gain further insight into the company‘s product strategy. Andreas Schrader, CEO of vjoon, opened the conference with a keynote speech entitled “Time to Re-Invent”, covering the company‘s 30th anniversary, the 20th anniversary of K4 and InDesign, the founding of the US-based integrator, vjoon Inc., and the company‘s current transformation into a multi-product company.

Immediately after the introduction, Andreas Schrader presented a live demo of the all-new vjoon seven, a highly scalable, API-first platform for managing all types of assets. The next version of vjoon K4 was also presented in a live demo and scored particularly well with innovations for content first strategies and publishing via WordPress. The agenda was rounded off by exciting presentations and practical reports from Adobe and vjoon integration partners, which focused on topics such as user experience and the cloud.

vjoon seven: Highly scalable and state-of-the-art DAM platform

As well as a complementary product to K4, in addition to being a standalone product and independent application stack, vjoon will offer seven as a platform for the central management of assets. vjoon seven manages content using sophisticated metadata management that takes all current standards into account. Assets can also be assigned to specific users for editing, and the workflow can be controlled via an asset status. vjoon seven also has a lot to offer in the area of connectivity. Adobe InDesign, InDesign Server, InCopy, and Office applications including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are already integrated, and users can work with familiar applications directly from within seven. Easily configurable rights management controls access and protects sensitive data or even entire areas. vjoon seven is a highly scalable, multi-tenant platform and can therefore be used ideally across all business organizations, including publishers, agencies, and all corporate markets.

vjoon seven and K4 are already deeply integrated and update each other. All content from seven, including metadata, can be used in production with K4. Rights of use are controlled directly from seven. In addition, vjoon seven can be used as a digital archive with the possibility of repurposing after the production of various publications.

“K4 customers in particular benefit from our new DAM platform because the integration with vjoon K4 is unique and extremely efficient,” says Andreas Schrader. “Managing and exchanging assets between a DAM and vjoon K4 has never been easier”.

The stringent API-First principle in vjoon seven affords that such a broad range of extensions is available right from the start. Via a REST API, all functions of the platform can be accessed and their functionality greatly expanded and adapted to individual requirements. The platform provides decisive advantages to users, including that on one hand, they’re able to compress their schedule of time to market for new applications and functions, while on the other hand, they’re able to integrate seven within their already existing system stack.

vjoon K4 Version 10: New Content Editor and WordPress integration

The latest K4 version also scored several highlights. For example, the compatibility of K4 with the latest versions of InDesign, InCopy and InDesign Server was announced at the beginning of November in New York, almost simultaneously with its presentation at Adobe MAX in Los Angeles.

The new Content Editor and the integration with WordPress offered major highlights of the new version. The Content Editor in the browser is perfectly aligned for Content-First and WordPress content, and also offers optimizations in the collaboration of teams. Users now also benefit from track changes and comment functions in the digital channels. In collaboration with WordPress, users can expect a real preview of their online content rendered by WordPress. The new K4 WordPress integration is offered via the WordPress plugins module, allowing vjoon to maintain and update the module independent of K4. This distribution will allow customers to streamline their WordPress maintenance, saving time and money, while allowing vjoon to offer agile updates to the Web CMS integration.

Practical experience: Exclusive insights from Adobe and integration partners

Various exciting presentations rounded out the extensive program of vjoonity. Ingo Eichel from Adobe EMEA presented the latest developments in design and experience business. vjoon integration partners SNAP Innovation from Hamburg and Flux Consulting from New York presented various customer projects in which vjoon K4 is operated in the cloud under AWS. Joe Bachana from DPCI in New York provided deep insight into the introduction of the K4 system at “The Florida Bar”, where deployment via the cloud-based Microsoft Azure was employed. Detailed information on this customer project can be found in our blog.

Closing get-together: Pleased guests and exciting conversations

Whether in New York or Hamburg, guests and the vjoon team concluded the conferences in a comfortable atmosphere, with relaxed conversations, drinks, and delicious hors d-oeuvres. Guests were able to take along many new ideas and inspiration for their business – and the feedback of the guests to the vjoon team also offered several different starting points and proven-successful strategies across the customer base.