There is now a better way to create annual reports

TO WHOM SHOULD YOU LISTEN?

To whom should you listen? 1Gabri Krog Beazley 3Simon Brown Conran Design Group 7Marina Thomas Meggit 11Leif Skogstad Addison 14Our other clients 18 Contact details 20

The inevitable. Some don’t want to see it, even when it stares them in the face. Some are too afraid. Some just don’t have the vision. That doesn’t stop them voicing an opinion on it. Should you listen to these people? Others see things more clearly. They see progress making life better. They see the benefit of change. And they know that once it’s proven to work, there’s no way back. In the world of big annual and financial reports, that leap towards a better future is CtrlPrint. Leaders in both the field of design and communications and in big FTSE 100 companies across Europe have switched to our workflow service to make their lives easier and their reports better. CtrlPrint saves them time, stress and money. Should you listen to these people? We’ll leave that up to you. Here’s what some of them have to say.

1

There will never be a bigger plane built.”A Boeing engineerafter the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds 10 people.

“

2

UNIQUE IN THE MARKETGabri Krog Beazley

Beazley is a specialist global insurance underwriter which has established several A-rated Lloyds syndicates. In 2011, Beazley underwrote gross premiums of $1,712.5 million.

How were things before?It was too manual and labour intensive using Word. We produced numbers from the accounting ledger and had to manually input them, and then communicate the Word document to the design team who put it into Adobe Indesign, then we wrote on pdfs to make changes. We wanted to improve that.

3

What’s changed with CtrlPrint?There were less errors, better version control, tighter internal controls, more freedom, more ownership. Different teams with applicable knowledge could work independently working on the different sections – this improves the messaging. Before the comments on design all come at the end, when the executives saw it – that caused problems. This way they see the design and can comment on that from the start.

Overall? The turnaround time with CtrlPrint is much quicker. The online version went live on the day of announcement, that’s very rare, if not unique in the market.

4

The turnaround time with CtrlPrint is much quicker. The online version went live on the day of announcement – that’s very rare if not unique in the market.”

The change was justified, then?The proof was in the pudding!

“

5

When the Paris exhibition closes, electric light will close with it and no more will beheard of it.”Erasmus WilsonOxford professor

“

6

WE TAKE ON MORE BUSINESSSimon Brown Conran Design Group

Conran Design Group has a global reputation for producing high-quality branding and stakeholder communications such as annual reports, advising many high-profile multinational businesses, including Rolls Royce, Tesco and the National Grid.

Why CtrlPrint?I find competitors confusing, you can’t see the wood for the trees. With CtrlPrint I was very confident in a very short space of time – “that easy???” It just gave our clients more independence and more freedom, they don’t have to go through five stages to get one little change done.

7

Do you use it as part of your pitch?Yes – it’s a positive selling point going into a pitch – if we didn’t include it I think you could lose favour. It makes my life easier.

It eliminates a lot of grey areas… and a lot of grey hairs!”

What’s the benefit to you as a creative agency?The bottom line is we can take on more business. It frees up our time, it simplifies things for us, because CtrlPrint gives the client the independence they want. So there’s no calling us up to, say, change one figure on page 26… then you mishear, send back something wrong and you have to go through the whole thing again at a later date. Some annual reports have got 10,12 contributors – often they’re not collated,

“

8

you get three different proofs, sometimes these contradict – none of this can happen on CtrlPrint. It eliminates a lot of grey areas… and a lot of grey hairs!

Anything else?It gives you more time to focus on things that would normally catch you out, you can focus better on the project as a whole. It enhances your client relationship. Everyone we’ve used it with has always wanted to use it again. It’s got a very simple interface, it’s very simple to use, even if you’re not very computer literate. Tesco loved it for their annual report, for example.

Anything more?It’s better for the environment, there’s less paper, less couriers being used.

Last word?I’d highly recommend it.

9

The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.”Sir William PreeceChief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.

“

10

EASIER TO JUDGEMarina Thomas Meggit

Meggitt PLC is a FTSE-100 global engineering group specialising in extreme environment components and sub-systems for aerospace, defence and energy markets. It employs over 10,000 people worldwide.

What prompted the change to CtrlPrint?We retendered the annual report and one of those pitching presented it to us. We realised that instead of racking up costs using typesetters to do every single minor amend we could use CtrlPrint and control it ourselves. So we went with them.

11

It’s perfect for us, we’re all control freaks!”

How has it worked out? It’s perfect for us, we’re all control freaks! We like to have control of the documents and that’s what it’s given us. It’s certainly saved us time. Before it could get really stressful, people wanted changes made and wanted to see them in their new form asap, but when you send it to typesetters you’re beholden to their timescales and other companies’ timescales and that caused us pain and stress… you were waiting nervously for it to come back. Now we can do it ourselves and print it out immediately. This way everyone else can focus on what they’re really there for, including the designers regarding the creative stuff and how it looks. For us this system is great!

“

12

Has it improved the final product?I would say it has in the sense that before there were so many minor amends that it was difficult to cover all of them – typesetters sometimes even made amends we didn’t ask for, and that can’t happen with CtrlPrint.

Does it help communication internally?Now the process is easier – we’ll debate content and just put it in, test it, which makes it easier to judge. We wouldn’t do that before because it was such a hassle.

Can you imagine life without it?If you took it away I imagine Richard and I would probably cry. I would never ever want to go back to how we did it before.

13

Everything that can be invented has been invented.”Charles DuellCommissioner, US Patent Office, 1899.

“

14

TIME SAVED, GREATER ACCOUNTABILITYLeif Skogstad Addison

Addison is one of the UK’s leading communications agencies, with a prestigious heritage in producing annual reports for the likes of Unilever, Heineken and BG Group.

What are the big issues with annual reports?It’s a labour-intensive and time-consuming process. It will never be an easy task: annual reports go to investors and analysts, and are full of crucial detail. Errors or even mis-steps can severely damage a company’s reputation and therefore its bottom line. These reports are 250 pages, and they take three or four months to produce, with as many as 19 people needing to edit the

15

document, people whose main occupation is not the efficient production of a document – nor should it be.

CtrlPrint helps with that?Using this system definitely makes the client’s life easier. Before you would agree on a number of proof cycles, which was labour intensive. I’ve seen account managers on the phone to clients for four hours at a time going through a document section. Previously, reports were marked up, often by hand, then scanned or delivered back to us. Now, CtrlPrint allows team members access to edit the specific sections relatable to their function, then upload the edited versions back up to the system. The first benefit is that you’re not tied to a cycle of proofs, so certain sections can go through 15 or 16 rounds of amendments if needed. The amendments can be made and approved within an hour, rather than waiting for the next proof cycle – so it consolidates the

16

process. The second benefit is in the time saved. The new system also allows for greater accountability. It gives improved control over the document itself, because all changes are tracked and the version history shows who’s made which changes when. This in itself helps to apply internal rigour.

Cost benefits?Addison assumes the cost of installing CtrlPrint and its InDesign and InCopy plug-ins on its clients’ systems, because the benefits to the overall management of workflow far outweigh the expenditure.

And the response from your clients?Not a single business, having used CtrlPrint, has then reverted to traditional methods.

“ The benefits to the overall management of workflow far outweigh the expenditure.”

17

SOME OF OUR OTHER CLIENTS

BG Group ASSA ABLOYBurberry AstraZenecaDebenhams Atlas CopcoExperian ElectroluxGemalto EricssonHeineken Ministry of FinanceHenderson Global Nordea BankING OriflameLadbrokes RezidorLloyds SCAMan Group SEBMC Saatchi SkanskaNational Grid SKFRolls-Royce SwedbankTesco Swedish MatchUnilever SJ (Swedish Railways)

18

Go back to not using CtrlPrint? I think I’d rather die!!!”Mari EdbergAtrium Ljungberg

Atrium Ljungberg is one of Sweden’s largest property companies, with a portfolio valued at 23.7 billion SEKs.

“

19

TO LEARN MORE PLEASE CONTACT:

CtrlPrintT 0203 651 2868marianne.young@ctrlprint.netwww.ctrlprint.net

Desi

gned

by

Kim

pton

Cre

ativ

e | W

ritte

n by

Sco

tt P

erry

Desi

gned

by

Kim

pton

Cre

ativ

e | W

ritte

n by

Sco

tt P

erry