Product Update: What’s Driving Our Product Decisions?

Last year, Leonardo set out to start developing a brand-new content management and distribution platform. Committed to taking a customer-centric approach to product development, we began gathering customer feedback on our existing VScape Digital Asset Management Platform. The customer feedback that we have received throughout this process has given us the direction we need to ensure the end product meets the needs of our customers today, and in the future.  

In speaking with hotel chains and channels, the message is very clear: image distribution is just one piece of a much bigger puzzle. This was further validated by the conversations that took place at HEDNA LA in January that explored today’s content management and distribution challenges. 

“What we’ve learned is that travel suppliers need to manage media content holistically: collection, curation, storage, management, third-party distribution, internal sharing, and beyond. We are building a content management platform to address this need,” says Robert Tadman, our Head of Product.  

Here are a couple updates from our product team.   

Customer Needs Come First 

Every phase of our new product is designed to solve one or more customer needs. We continuously check in with our customers to get a sense of what is important to them and what the best solution could be. This includes reviewing our existing product and their current needs, as well as discussing what features they think they will need in the future. 

Evidence-Based Design 

We aren’t just designing based off current trends, but instead following in-depth conversations, and evidence in the market place. We call this evidence-based design. Personalization—a buzzword in the industry these days – is a great example. If you ask 10 people what personalization means to them, you will receive 10 different answers. So, we’re asking those 10 people, analyzing existing solutions, and designing based on where the evidence leads us. 

Modular Platform 

Building a brand new platform is a huge project. Rather than waiting until the entire platform is market ready, we’re building and releasing individual modules as they’re ready. This way, customers see value sooner and we can pivot if needed. As Naveen Nawaz, UX Design Manager,  explains, “Rather than thinking of everything upfront, we will let customer feedback and insights drive feature priority and direction”

Enriching Data 

At HEDNA, the big topic was data, and how much richer media data could be. That’s why we’re building solutions that will enrich every stage of content management—collection, curation, and distribution—with better data.  

Where We Are on the Product Roadmap 

We’ve started with the Media Library, which is a read-only media management tool that gives brands the ability to retain control of their brand image. The Media Library provides internal and external parties (marketing teams, agencies, and media) controlled access to view and download high quality, brand-approved hotel images.  

The Media Library’s development has laid the groundwork for attributes of the new platform. Following the launch of the Media Library, we’ll be building out full content management functionality, meaning the ability to upload, categorize, manage, distribute and report on images. From there, we will continue to iterate and release new modules of the platform.  

Want a sneak peek at the Media Library? Visit our Early Access page and sign up to receive product updates while you’re there.