Solutions in action

Designer tool

Advertising and design is a highly competitive and fast-moving area of business. There's always pressure to meet deadlines and budgets, and expectations for creativity and production quality are rising as advertisers and consumers alike become increasingly exposed to sophisticated international media.

This small and innovative Christchurch-based advertising and design company has been using the Internet for several years now to source images to use in reports and brochures, exchange files and keep in touch with international design trends and developments.

For them, the Internet has provided measurable business efficiencies. For instance, instead of laboriously printing out colour copies and physically couriering them to clients for comment and approval they now send them electronically. It's much faster and a lot more economical.

Connecting to the Internet has also made it easier for them to source and take advantage of specialist or more price-competitive printing options offshore. The company's designers have sent high-resolution artwork for printing and finishing as far afield as Hong Kong and Italy.

Delivering hot properties

For businesses where service and responsiveness are everything, the Internet is ideal - something this successful real estate agency was quick to recognise.

An early move to adopt Internet marketing and communications tools has paid off with a rapid expansion in business. The Internet helps the agency to list new properties quickly and efficiently. And they can begin presenting them to the public almost instantaneously, without the costs and delays of printing flyers, brochures or booklets.

Email has also played an important role and quickly become a preferred way for this agency team to build relationships with clients. They not only use it to respond to client requests more quickly, they use it proactively in sending property details, including pictures, straight from the listing system to hot prospects.