Widen Releases 2017 Connectivity Report

MADISON, WI--(Marketwired - January 04, 2017) - Widen Enterprises, a leading provider of digital asset management (DAM) software, today released the 2017 Widen Connectivity Report. The research report finds that "connectivity" is more about human needs and less about the sheer use of digital tools. The findings also suggest that marketing software can best support connectivity by facilitating collaboration, access to information, and community among users.

Widen's market research team began to examine "connectivity" in an effort to better understand marketers and creatives who rely on the company's technology. The inquiry grew into a large-scale research project to explore the meaning, purposes, challenges, and tools around connectivity.

Widen surveyed 200 marketing, creative, and IT professionals in April 2016 and conducted one-on-one interviews with 21 participants between May and July 2016. The sample population included professionals from small, medium, and enterprise-size organizations representing ten different industries. Major findings from report include:

• 76% of interview participants indicate that the most successful collaboration happens in person.
• 62% of online survey respondents want to maintain work connections in person, but only 8% feel being connected means being together in a physical space.
• 71% of interview participants say they feel calm, confident, or engaged when they're connected at work.
• 8% of online survey respondents say the best way to achieve a feeling of connection at work is by learning new tools or techniques.
• 83% of online survey respondents say being connected to a professional community is "very" or "somewhat" important to their career growth and satisfaction.

"Our research rejected the notion that you can solve every marketing problem by adopting new software," said Nina Brakel-Schutt, Brand Strategist at Widen and lead author of the report. "Digital tools can help with specific connectivity problems like measuring the effectiveness of content or finding files and documents. However, connectivity really reflects an innate human desire to experience teamwork, empathy, and creativity with diverse groups of people. It's all about syncing personally and digitally."

The Connectivity Report is split into three main parts that address the human side of connectivity, collaboration as a core component of connectivity, and the pitfalls of over-connectivity. It also includes a special feature on the explosion of visual content. The report applies its research findings to a host of marketing issues including team structure, technology adoption, meetings, professional communities, productivity, content strategy, and much more.

In addition, the Connectivity Report offers case studies on teams that have cultivated connectivity in unique ways. For instance, the report examines how Bendyworks, an app development firm, began sending weekly "Know Your Company" emails with icebreaker-style questions so that coworkers could learn more about each other. Another case study looks at how marketers at ERDMAN, a planning, design, and construction company, started having monthly off-site "co-labs" that sparked creativity, collaboration, and original thinking.

"Connectivity encompasses not only human relationships but the increasing interdependence of objects, systems, information, places, and people," said Jake Athey, Director of Marketing at Widen. "Every new innovation will bring us back to core questions about human nature and the ways in which technology can support or hinder our deepest needs. Overall, the project made us optimistic about the future of marketing and the role that connective technologies can play in it."

To download the 2017 Widen Connectivity Report, visit http://www.widen.com/widens-2017-state-of-connectivity-report

About Widen Enterprises, Inc.

Widen is a content technology company that powers the content that builds your brand. Leveraging cloud-based resources, Widen delivers configurable, scalable, and cost-effective digital asset management solutions to help you easily store, search, and share your digital content. Organizations of all sizes use Widen's SaaS DAM solution, the Widen Collective, to streamline their marketing and creative workflows and make their content work harder. Widen is trusted by hundreds of thousands of users around the world at organizations like LG, Roche, Trek, Cornell University, New Orleans Tourism Marketing, the Atlanta Falcons, Red Gold Tomatoes, Electrolux, and Yankee Candle. To learn more about Widen, go to http://www.widen.com.

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