A software company, Adobe, has announced that it has entered into partnerships with Mastercard and Meta to support creativity and productivity for small and medium business (SMB) customers.
The partnership is to create new automation and collaboration features across Adobe Creative Cloud and the Adobe product portfolio, helping small and mid-sized businesses modernize workflows while embracing new frontiers in creativity and productivity.
The partnerships will provide SMBs with special access to Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud (PDF and electronic signature solution). These were announced at the Adobe MAX conference, the company’s annual conference for creative works.
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Adobe explained that its purpose for partnering with Meta is to offer a training programme tagged “Express Your Brand”, which provides free education and tools to SMBs to grow their presence and visibility online. This included granting annual Adobe Express premium subscriptions to 10,000 Black, Latinx and Hispanic-owned businesses.
Through the Mastercard partnership, Mastercard BusinessCard and World Elite Mastercard for Business cardholders will get access to over 20 Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator and Adobe Express.
Claire Darley, Vice President, Digital Media GTM and Sales for Adobe, said, “Technology must help SMBs grow, not get in the way, millions of small businesses rely on Adobe technology, and our new innovations remove complexity, improve collaboration and automate repetitive tasks, so they can focus on creating customer-delighting digital experiences.”
In the digital economy, with the help of technology, SMBs can get equipped to work faster and smarter than ever before. New Adobe research found that nearly 70% of SMBs now depend on digital solutions to do more with less amidst labour shortages, and 77% say ongoing uncertainty has compelled them to look for new ways to collaborate.
New Adobe Capabilities
With the development from the partnership, new features on Adobe Express empowers SMBs, including businesses run by Adobe Express Ambassadors Maia Faddoul, Katie Kortman, Nikki McWilliams and Nelly Ruthenbeck, enabling easy creation of impactful social media posts based upon thousands of beautiful templates, which can be customized within the app or accessed within Adobe Fonts for blank canvas testing.
Content scheduling and color palette recommendations have been added, while new Adobe Acrobat integrations enable SMBs to design visually appealing cover pages, section dividers and more directly and easily within Acrobat.
Another feature is the Share for Review (beta), which allows users to share a version-specific link to a Photoshop or Illustrator file, and then automatically flow reviewers’ comments back into the app, eliminating the need to juggle between different tools to address all feedback. Designers can now choose to co-edit a live file with Invite to Edit or share a specific version of a file with Share for Review.
Also, AI powered by Adobe Sensei delivers new capabilities across Creative Cloud, simplifying and automating repetitive tasks in After Effects, Photoshop, InDesign, Substance 3D and more, enabling SMBs to efficiently and intuitively bring their ideas to life. Using Substance 3D, Australian architectural 3D rendering and animation company Binyan Studios is developing 3D assets for clients two to 10 times faster than ever before.
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New Document Cloud Capabilities In SMBs Marketing
Adobe also announced new capabilities for SMBs across Document Cloud and Experience Cloud, spanning applications including Acrobat, Commerce and Marketo Engage.
Adobe Acrobat introduced free web-based watermarking, cropping, redaction, OCR, stamping, certifying and page numbering tools to take quick actions on documents. Additional features include branded agreement templates with a company’s name, logo and custom URL. Conversion of any document into a web form; automated sending of one document to many people for e-signatures; and an option to send payments with e-signed agreements.
Adobe Commerce will enable SMB retailers to incorporate Walmart’s, PayPal’s and FedEx’s enterprise-grade solutions, enabling any merchant to offer an omnichannel customer experience.
Adobe Marketo Engage will add a new, entry-level automation package that helps SMBs automate and scale their marketing efforts, including quick start templates for e-mails, landing pages, forms and campaigns that SMBs can quickly edit and launch; cloning ability for campaign workflows; and tokens for emails, landing pages or campaigns will personalize the customer experience and lead to higher conversions.
Digitizing small businesses is a massive market opportunity for digital solutions providers across the globe. Last year, Adobe partnered with Mastercard for digital payout solutions.
With the help of the new e-signature powered by Adobe Sign, the new solution from Mastercard Send enables an end-to-end digital document workflow and accelerates the approval process and delivery of funds to customers.
