What Enterprises Get Wrong About Label and Artwork Management, and How to Fix It

Most label and artwork errors are blamed on people. Someone used the wrong file, a reviewer missed a comment, or a regulatory change failed to reach every affected market.

Look a little closer, however, and there is usually a manual handoff behind the mistake. An artwork was downloaded from one system and uploaded into another, feedback moved into an email chain, or a new version was created without everyone knowing it existed. As a result, each handoff creates a small gap in control – which across a global enterprise that manages thousands of labels, can quickly lead to a serious compliance risk. 

We recently asked Veraciti™ experts Ed Briggs and Tear Hambrey about the labeling and artwork challenges they see most often. Their answers highlighted an issue that deserves more attention: many enterprises have digitized individual tasks without connecting the full process. Watch the full conversation below.

The handoff is where control starts to disappear

Tear identified manual processes, limited collaboration, and manual handoffs as some of the biggest challenges enterprises face when managing labels and artwork. That does not necessarily mean these companies lack technology. In many cases, they have several systems supporting different stages of the process.

Product information may sit in one platform, while artwork is created in another. Reviews happen through email or a separate proofing tool, approved files are stored elsewhere, and local teams maintain their own spreadsheets or folders.

Each tool might perform its individual job perfectly well, bringing a false sense of security, when reality is that the problem begins when files, information, and decisions move between them.mWhich version was transferred? Were all the comments included? Who approved the final change? Does the asset stored in one platform match the artwork being reviewed elsewhere?

A process can appear highly digital while still relying on people to maintain the links between disconnected systems. When those links are informal, traceability becomes patchy and errors become much harder to prevent.

Where should enterprises start?

Tear’s advice is to look at the entire process rather than focusing only on the final artwork. Follow one artwork from the initial brief and design stage through review, approval, release, and future updates. Pay particular attention to each point where a file, decision, or piece of data moves between people or systems.

Ask:

• Where are files downloaded, re-uploaded, or sent by email?
• How do reviewers know they are working from the latest version?
• Where are comments and approval decisions recorded?
• Can the business see who changed what and when?
• How would teams find every label affected by a regulatory update?

These questions reveal whether the process is genuinely controlled or simply held together by experienced people who know how to navigate it. That distinction becomes particularly important when label volumes increase, regulations change at scale, teams restructure, or a key employee leaves.
 

How Veraciti™ closes the gaps

Veraciti™ brings artwork design, content, assets, collaboration, approvals, and traceability into one cloud-based label and artwork management platform. Its value is not simply that it digitizes existing tasks. By connecting each stage, Veraciti™ helps teams retain the context, evidence, and control that can otherwise disappear during manual handoffs.

• Approval Workflow allows reviews to follow a defined, role-based process, with comments, annotations, decisions, and actions captured in a complete audit trail.
• Cloud Designer brings template-based artwork creation into the same controlled environment, helping teams connect design more closely with collaboration and governance.
• Where Used allows users to identify every artwork containing a particular phrase, symbol, image, or managed asset. When a regulatory change arrives, teams can understand its impact without searching through thousands of files manually.

Together, these capabilities help create a connected process in which teams can see how an artwork was created, reviewed, approved, and changed.
 

Stop digitizing tasks in isolation

Adding another tool to one stage of the process may solve an immediate problem, but it can also introduce another handoff.

Enterprises need to look beyond individual features and consider how artwork, approved content, decisions, and evidence move through the complete labeling lifecycle. If that movement cannot be followed clearly, the process is not as controlled as it might appear.

This is where Veraciti™ stands apart. Its capabilities operate as connected parts of one governed process, helping enterprises reduce manual intervention, strengthen traceability, and manage global labeling change with greater confidence.

This is the first article in our series with Ed and Tear. In the coming weeks, we will look more closely at AToM, Approval Workflow, Cloud Designer, Where Used, and the other Veraciti™ capabilities helping enterprises solve specific labeling and artwork challenges.

Watch the full conversation with Ed and Tear, or request a Veraciti™ demo to see the platform in action. If you're thinking about how to build that foundation in your labeling and artwork operations, Kallik’s label and artwork platform is designed to do exactly that. Get in touch to find out more by calling +44 (0) 1827 318100, emailing enquiries@kallik.com or filling in a form here.