This month we’re talking with Boaz Ashkenazy, a founder and principal with Studio/216 located in Seattle, WA.

Hi Boaz. Why don’t you start out by telling me about Studio216?

We’re a visual communications company that specializes in “storytelling” -  creating 3D animations, video and renderings to help design and market capital construction projects. The kinds of clients we typically work with are architects, developers, municipalities that are in the process of starting capital or construction projects.

How did you get started using Cozimo?

Our work requires a lot of coordination with our clients.  In past years, we got by using email and using some web conferencing products but it was all very inefficient. We really needed a way to combine the asynchronous and synchronous feedback and organize the whole process. We also wanted our clients to have a convenient tool that could support drawing and note annotations. Sometime the notes can be more important that the scribbles and in the past it was sometimes difficult to make sense of a lot of the feedback we were getting. Having everyone use the drawing and note tools in Cozimo keeps it consistent and clear.

You mention asynchronous and synchronous collaboration. How do you find yourselves using Cozimo most often?

Well my goal would really be to work as asynchronously as possible. It’s a lot more time efficient to let the client review the content internally and add notes on their own time. But there are also times when we have to talk through something together and it’s important to be able to get online and point things out. I used to spend a lot of time marking things up and making notes after having conversations with clients. Cozimo is much more efficient because now we can just make and share the notes as we talk. And whether the clients leave notes on their own or we work together it’s all recorded in one central location that I can share with the staff.

Are you using Cozimo often?

Absolutely – every day. It’s an indispensable tool for us now.

How do your clients like it?

They’re very pleased. There’s a bit of a learning curve but not a steep one. Once they get going they love it.

From a business perspective, has Cozimo proven to be cost-effective for you?

I would say that Cozimo is saving me 2 to 3 hours a day that I use to spend just collecting, interpreting and organizing client feedback for the production staff. It’s a huge time savings for us.

You’ve been using Cozimo now for over a year now. How have you found the reliability and support?

It’s great. What’s nice is that when I have a question or a problem I can pick up the phone or Skype and speak directly with someone on the product team. That was especially helpful when we were getting started. But, it’s been a while now since I’ve had to have any support.

This month we caught up with Annie Normandin, a producer with Frame Studio located Montreal, Quebec. FRAME starting using Cozimo less than three months ago and it has quickly become an integral part of their production workflow.

Hi Annie. Why don’t you start off by telling us about Frame Studio.

FRAME is a motion design and VFX studio that produces animated content for all types of applications. We do animated work for commercials.  We do visual animations and broadcast packaging for TV shows or documentaries. We’ve also done a few big projects for live events that used animated projections.

What type of clients do you work with?

We work mainly for ad agencies or production houses. Some ad agencies come directly to us for certain small projects and if it requires a shoot we’ll work with production houses. That’s the nature of the industry – we’re often collaborating with many different companies and freelancers on any given project.

How have you been using Cozimo?

We have two facilities – one located here in Montreal and the other one in Quebec City. So we started off using Cozimo primarily to help us manage our internal production workflow and exchange feedback. It’s a great communication tool for dealing with digital media and pretty much everyone in our company is using it now on a daily basis.

Have you been using Cozimo for client reviews?

More and more. We recently completed a production where we were working with a freelance director who was on assignment in Toronto. We used Cozimo extensively to manage the feedback loop and to hold online production meetings with him and other consultants.

What was the response?

Since we were previously working with FTP and email, it took a bit of an adjustment at first but once we got started people got very excited about it. Being able to watch and work together on a video through a web browser is very cool. In fact, I understand that you’ll be picking up two or three new customers from this experience.

So has Cozimo proven to be a cost effective solution for you?

No question. We’re using Cozimo more and more and the gains in efficiency are immense. It has absolutely made our feedback process faster and it’s also helped  us avoid mistakes because we can communicate and discuss the content visually and interactively. In this economic climate we have to be careful to keep our costs under control and Cozimo has definitely been a big help in that regard.

Pete Kane is the Senior Project Coordinator for Neoscape – a leading innovator in “Experiential Design Visualization”. Neoscape’s team of over 60 digital artists, designers, filmmakers, architects, and photographers in Boston and New York studios combine artistry with technology to produce unsurpassed results across a range of visual and experiential media. From 3D illustrations and signature films to marketing environment design, websites and print work, they offer a complete and integrated palette of creative services.

Hi Pete. Why don’t you start out by telling us about how Neoscape is using Cozimo?

Our primary use of Cozimo is to manage the review process of our deliverables. These include such items as 3d renderings, website designs, movies and videos we put together that incorporate 3D environments. We have two offices in Boston and New York so we use it between our two offices as well as outside of the office. If any of the creative directors are traveling they still have the ability to review the images and comments with the rest of the team.

Do a lot of people in your office use it?

Yes, quite a few. It’s really become a core tool for us. We use it now on nearly all of our projects.

How have the clients reacted to using it?

Very positive. Before we were mostly using email back and forth. The client would receive attachments from us, print them out, mark them up, scan them, and send them back. So using Cozimo is much easier for them.

Did you experience any problems getting started with Cozimo?

Actually, it turned out to be a very smooth process. It’s very intuitive. The tools are similar to a lot of the applications people use. Even for our clients who don’t work with those types of programs, it was pretty self-evident how to use it.

Do you use the messaging system?

That’s a primary feature for us. Once we upload the files, we use the message board to notify the clients that the files are there along with any notes about those files that they need to be aware of. It’s great because while they’re looking through the images they can always just click on the message tab to see any specific instructions.

What do you feel is the greatest value that Cozimo brings to your business?

Its greatest value is its ability to keep the whole team up to date and on the same page. You have one repository where both the client and the production team can see all the feedback in one place. You don’t have 10 different emails with comments that are sent to different people and possibly lost or deleted. This is important because changes and development can easily be tracked within this one system. The client knows all his instructions are there, and I know they are going to be followed up on and that what we’re doing is correct. It really helps to avoid the type of errors that come from miscommunication. Since we’re always on a tight schedule, we just can’t afford to make those types of mistakes.

Have you been happy with the support you receive from us?

Oh yes, definitely. Whenever things have come up, you guys have responded very quickly and when we’ve made suggestions they’ve actually been implemented pretty quickly as well.

Thanks for the interview, Pete.

My pleasure.

Alexandre Renaud is the manager for professional and corporate services at National Animation and Design (NAD) Centre in Montreal, Canada. He’s now incorporated Cozimo as an integral tool to support the training programs he manages.

Hello Alexandre. Why don’t you start off by telling us about the NAD Centre?

The NAD centre is a major Canadian education centre offering high profile training for new media including 3D tools, compositing tools – everything that is related to digital imaging and video production. The centre has two major programs – one is our regular program with 80 full time students in 3D animation, visual effects & video games. The other – that is my department – offers professional and corporate services including intensive training, seminars and consulting services.

How are you using Cozimo?

Our business is to do training so our customers can learn to use tools for creating marketing presentations or design prototypes. In my department we do a lot of remote on-site training and we use Cozimo to provide support to our customers as they start out with their new projects. So Cozimo is really a teaching tool. It lets us review their work in progress and to make sure they are using the correct techniques. We’ve tried some other solutions but Cozimo is really the best because it lets us interact personally with the customers directly on the images and videos they are working on and everything is recorded right there for them to go back to refer to.

Do you have any good customer experiences to share?

We are using Cozimo now with a major corporate customer – Johnson & Johnson Design and Research Department – and the experience is going really well. I just finished a session with myself in one office, my trainer in another and the customer at theirs. We were all able to go through the video they were working on frame by frame, review it, make suggestions. Before Cozimo, we would never be able to offer this kind of support because they would have to come to our office and that would just take too much time. So, yes, they are very happy with this service. It’s very fast and easy to use.

Do you have any specific examples of how Cozimo has helped your business?

Actually, it’s enabling a new service and revenue stream for us – offering ongoing remote support and training. It’s going to be part of all our new contracts. Cozimo is great for this because we can interact directly with the customer and everything is recorded and tracked. Now our customers are getting service that is much more effective and valuable.

Mark Feldman is a partner at Petroff Partnership Architects. He’s started using Cozimo in his practice and recently shared his experiences with us.

Hi Mark. Why don’t you start of telling us a bit about Petroff Partnership Architects.

Well, we’re a relatively large architectural firm that started back in 1957. We now have 6 partners and 150 employees working in 3 offices – one in downtown Toronto, in Markham, Ontario and one in Shanghai, China. We do primarily larger commercial and institutional projects.

How are you using Cozimo?

We got involved with Cozimo quite early on in its development. Initially, we started using it internally to help us with our coordination and communication between our offices. The partners travel around a lot and because of our multiple office situation we really need to be able to direct traffic from anywhere. Cozimo has been a great help that way.

Was it difficult for you to adapt to using Cozimo?

No, not at all. Everyone here works on a computer so it was very easy to become fluent. Now we don’t think too hard about operating it – we just use it.

Have you used it with your clients?

I’ve been using it with clients a lot in real-time discussions when we’re on the phone and need to visualize the problem we’re talking about – we get on Cozimo and can work out complex problems in a much more direct way. The clients love it because it’s fast – we don’t have to go to meetings all the time. We are able to talk on the phone, get something done and get back to work. Speed of delivery is a big issue for them.

Specifically, how has Cozimo helped you business?

There certainly are time savings – less travel, faster meetings. But really the most important thing to me is that it saves mistakes. There was a specific situation I can think of where what the client said to us, and what he drew to illustrate his comment were two different things. If I hadn’t have seen it immediately, and clarified the intention we would have proceeded with the wrong assumptions. We avoided two days of potentially lost work and in this way Cozimo pays for itself many times over each month.

Have you been happy with Cozimo support?

Cozimo support has been excellent. I’ve made a number of suggestions that they’ve incorporated into the product. It’s been very reliable.

Thanks for you time.

You’re welcome.