The pitfall of EasyCatalog: when knowledge disappears and processes grind to a halt

Gepubliceerd op

2 May 2025

Many content creators are familiar with and experiment with EasyCatalog to create their catalogs faster. It makes sense: the idea of linking data directly from Excel or a PIM to InDesign is appealing. Faster layout, fewer errors, less copy-paste.

A common situation

You may be familiar with this:

Once upon a time, there was a colleague—a designer or marketer—who introduced EasyCatalog to our company.

Investments were made in training and licenses. Scripts were built and the link to the data was established. Automatic formatting was now a reality!

But… business evolves, and adjustments to the data are needed. There is demand for more personalization, more publications, the data changes, etc.

The specialized, trained colleague has since left the company, and fellow designers are unable to understand this technical setup.

Just when things need to be scaled up, everything comes to a standstill again…

What started as a smart investment turned into a technical bottleneck.

Why EasyCatalog often fails in practice

Designers want to design and are trained to do so. Although EasyCatalog does not require scripting or programming, it can be challenging for non-technical profiles to utilize its full potential. Conversely, most IT colleagues do not want to get involved in marketing (design) processes.

No continuity in staff turnover

EasyCatalog is often used as a tool to lighten the layout work for a designer (and nothing more than that). This knowledge is then lost when the employee leaves the company. If, after the experimental phase, no knowledge transfer is organized involving IT, data management, and designers, the investment will not pay off as a fully-fledged business process that everyone can rely on.

Not scalable without additional configuration

Every new publication or modification to existing publications requires templates to be adapted. This in turn requires technical setup, validation, and maintenance. This is where designers often drop out when scaling up. Creating templates is part of their area of expertise, but reintegrating them technically with the data is considered frustrating.

Limited support and updates

You pay for the license, but not for future maintenance or optimization. Support is limited to keeping the license up to date with new versions of Adobe. This is important, as it often provides new possibilities and advanced functionalities, but again, this is not a concern for the average designer.

The solution: full automation with continuity

At Catena Company, we have been working at the intersection of ICT, automation, technology, and creative applications since 2006. We know both sides. The most commonly used ICT systems, the ways in which data is accessed, the structures used by data or production managers. This should help (and not hinder) content creators within marketing teams to set up processes that enable fully automated layout while still allowing creative freedom to produce ‘on-brand’ publications.

That is why we developed our Dynamic Data Publishing Suite (DDPS):

A comprehensive automation solution that brings together data, visuals, and templates—without technical complexity for content creators, with ease of use and continuity for marketing teams in mind:

Ease of use: Our solution is designed for marketers and designers, with no technical knowledge required. This allows teams to focus on creative and strategic tasks.

Continuity: With the DDPS, there is no dependency on specific employees. After setup and configuration, publications are automatically formatted. Thorough changes (different data sets, new PIM, etc.) are implemented by Catena Company, while changes to templates can be made by content creators.

Scalability: Adding new templates and links to various data and content sources is easy and requires minimal technical effort. When rapid scaling is required, Catena Company can assist in providing new templates.

Support and updates: DDPS comes with ongoing support and regular updates, ensuring that the software remains up to date and secure at all times, without any unexpected costs.

What you gain with DDPS

Continuity: No more loss of knowledge when someone leaves.

Scalability: Add new publications without additional complexity.

Calm among designers: They are refocusing on the visual, not the technical setup.

Production proof guarantee: The customer pays not only for development, but also for continuous optimization and maintenance.

Predictability and budget certainty: Customers know exactly how much they pay per month/year, which simplifies budgeting. No surprises: Costing on an hourly basis can lead to unforeseen costs, while a subscription model offers stability.