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Introduction
ImageBank X, developed by Tampere‑based Mediasignal, is a cloud‑native digital asset management (DAM) platform built for marketing teams that want a tidy, self‑service workspace rather than a heavyweight enterprise suite. Users catalogue product shots, videos, design files and consent forms, search them with AI‑based similarity filters, and share approved assets straight to tools such as Microsoft 365, Sharepoint, WordPress, Shopify and PIM systems.
Everyday edits such as cropping a hero image, trimming a teaser video or applying house fonts run inside the browser via IMG.LY’s photo and video components, sparing teams from hopping to desktop software. That light‑touch integration lets ImageBank X focus on its core roadmap, access control, metadata governance and analytics, while still giving customers the quick fixes they expect in a modern DAM.
From Cloud Folder to Full DAM
During its early years, ImageBank X was a lightweight, cloud‑based image‑storage solution rather than a fully fledged DAM. A full rewrite three years ago turned it into a modern DAM with roles, permissions and API‑first integrations. That move unlocked significant growth mostly in Finland, Norway and Sweden with the first U.S. clients now coming aboard.
“Customers tell us they pick ImageBank X because it feels modern and costs a fraction of the enterprise vendors,” says Sales Director Joni Heinonen. “Keeping that promise means giving them all the core tools in one login.”
Why IMG.LY Made Sense
IMG.LY’s SDKs landed for four practical reasons. First, they dropped into the existing React front‑end in days, not months. Second, admins could preload house fonts and fixed logo placements so users could not accidentally break brand rules. Third, the business model matched ImageBank X’s mid‑market pricing, avoiding per‑user surprises. And finally, IMG.LYs editors felt familiar to non‑designers and enabled marketers to encode brand guidelines directly within the editor.
"…The placement tool in the photo editor has proven to be such a useful piece of tech. Especially with consistent placement. It’s so much easier. I can get it done in seconds, instead of spending 10 minutes trying to figure out the right placement based on the brand guidelines.”
This is important when, as Sales Agent Beck puts it, “Marketing loves brand books and sales never reads them. The editor’s constraints are the brand book.”
Creating Wow Moments During Demos
After the rollout, the sales narrative shifted. Heinonen notes
“A lot of the wow moments in demos now come from the editors.”
Prospects who might have hesitated over features they considered commodity, storage, metadata or search moved forward once they saw live editing.
On the customer side, design work sped up significantly. Beck gives a concrete example: creating branded PowerPoint slides used to take fifteen minutes in desktop software; users now finish the same task in roughly two minutes inside the DAM. Over the course of a campaign that difference runs into hours saved.
The editors also closed a branding pain point. Because each template can lock down colours, fonts and image placement, regional teams no longer improvise their own design language. “It’s like handing them a sandbox with the rules baked in,” Beck says.
Build Versus Buy - A Retrospective
Looking back, management is blunt about the make‑or‑buy calculation. Heinonen says: “ I do believe that it’s critical to understand that we don't necessarily have the manpower to do it ourselves..” By outsourcing the creative layer, ImageBank X engineers can keep their roadmap focused on AI, consent management and integrations with e.g. M365 and Shopify, work that directly differentiates the DAM.
Next on the roadmap
The company plans to add IMG.LY’s CreativeEditor SDK to bring template‑based PDF and print design into the same single login. That shift will move ImageBank X from straightforward DAM toward full brand‑asset management, putting competitors such as Papirfly and Bynder within reach.
Closing thought
Embedding IMG.LY’s editors cost ImageBank X a few days of engineering effort and no ongoing maintenance burden. In return the platform gained faster user workflows, a stronger sales demo and a clear path into bigger, template‑driven deals. For a mid‑market vendor that wins on simplicity and speed, that small decision continues to deliver outsized results.
Interested in bringing design editing to your product? Get in touch or start a free trial today!