How Modula4’s S3 Connector for Cumulus Helps Benefit Cosmetics Deliver Files Faster
Client: Benefit Cosmetics
Featured Products: Modula4 S3 Connector, Canto Cumulus
Benefit Cosmetics is an international beauty brand founded in San Francisco in 1976 by twin sisters Jean and Jane Ford. With 900+ beauty counters in traditional department stores, 56 boutiques, and 1,350+ Sephora locations, Benefit Cosmetics is a leader in the beauty industry, guided by the mantra “laughter is the best cosmetic!”
Challenge
Benefit Cosmetics was using Cumulus to manage their digital assets for their offices worldwide. Files needed to be distributed globally, including large image and graphic files for point-of-sale display. With more than 450 worldwide users, 75% of whom are outside of the US, the staff at Benefit were experiencing extremely long download times. As an example, it took almost an hour to deliver a 100 MB file to staff in Asia. Employee productivity and happiness were negatively affected by the slow download speeds, stalling the adoption rate of Benefit’s digital asset management system.
Solution
Benefit Cosmetics needed to dramatically reduce download times for their international staff in order to implement an effective DAM system. Benefit turned to Modula4 and their Amazon S3 Connector for Cumulus.
Amazon S3 is a scalable cloud-based service with data centers worldwide that allows for the storage and retrieval of photos, videos, documents, and other types of files anytime from anywhere. Marketing staff can choose to upload data to any S3 location worldwide, and users can download files from the data center closest to them. Now Benefit Cosmetics’ staff are never far from where the assets are stored, allowing them to quickly retrieve the files they need.
“After we implemented Modula4’s S3 Connector, the download times were vastly reduced for all of our worldwide locations. A large file that was taking almost an hour to deliver to Asia, now takes just over 3 minutes.”
— Steve Kent, Digital Asset Manager at Benefit Cosmetics
Results
With the S3 Connecter, the marketing team at Benefit Cosmetics can send their finished files to the S3 cloud, while storing work-in-progress files locally. This avoids needless storage and bandwidth costs.
Download times have been reduced in some cases as much as 10xs, and more than 65% of downloads come through the Amazon S3 cloud. The adoption of Benefit’s DAM system has also significantly increased. By reducing the time it takes to download files, employee productivity has increased and the use of Modula4’s Amazon S3 Connector has created a more effective workforce.
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