Whether you’re retiring a platform, dealing with outdated technology, or looking to improve production efficiency, replacing marketing production software is a major decision.

These systems often connect product information, digital assets, catalog creation, and multichannel publishing. Moving to a new platform requires more than comparing features. You need to understand how the change will affect existing workflows, integrations, and production schedules.

Before choosing a replacement, consider these seven factors to help you evaluate your options, minimize disruption, and make a more informed decision.

1. Audit Your Existing Workflows

Before comparing software, document how your marketing production process works today. Identify the teams, systems, and tasks involved, from managing product information to final publication.

Look for bottlenecks, repetitive tasks, disconnected systems, and processes that depend on individual employees. Determine which capabilities must be preserved and where improvements could make the greatest impact.

This assessment establishes your requirements and helps prevent existing inefficiencies from carrying over into a new system.

2. Evaluate Product Data and Digital Asset Management

Accurate product information and approved creative assets are essential to marketing production. When content is spread across disconnected systems, updates can become difficult to coordinate.

Evaluate how replacement software manages product descriptions, specifications, pricing, images, and metadata. Can it integrate with your existing product information management (PIM) and digital asset management (DAM) systems, or consolidate these capabilities?

Consider how teams will access, update, and reuse content across publications and channels without unnecessary manual transfers.

3. Assess Adobe InDesign Integration

For organizations producing catalogs, circulars, and brochures, Adobe InDesign integration may be critical.

Evaluate how product information and images move into layouts, how updates are managed, and which tasks can be automated without limiting creative flexibility.

Ask providers to demonstrate realistic production scenarios. For example, can the platform update a product’s price or image across multiple pages without requiring designers to make each change manually?

Solutions such as the LAGO InDesign Layout Plugin connect product content directly with Adobe InDesign, supporting data-driven layouts and production automation.

4. Review Collaboration and Approval Workflows

Marketing production often involves merchandising, marketing, design, and production teams. Your replacement platform should make it easier for these groups to coordinate.

Evaluate how the software handles task assignments, corrections, review cycles, approvals, and project visibility.

Involve representatives from different departments in software demonstrations. Their feedback can reveal workflow requirements, collaboration challenges, and training needs that might otherwise be overlooked.

5. Confirm Publishing and Versioning Requirements

Does your organization produce multiple versions of the same catalog, circular, or marketing publication?

Regional pricing, localized content, languages, and product assortments can introduce complexity, especially when teams manually maintain multiple versions.

Document your publishing requirements and evaluate how each platform manages shared content, localized variations, and updates affecting multiple publications.

Also confirm compatibility with your required print and digital output formats. Learn more about catalog production software and how integrated production tools support complex publishing requirements.

6. Plan for Data Migration and Implementation

Replacing legacy marketing production software involves more than transferring files. Product records, digital assets, templates, custom fields, and system integrations may all require attention.

Start with a data audit to determine what to transfer, recreate, or archive. Identify relationships between product information, images, layouts, and publication templates.

Work with potential providers to establish a migration plan that addresses:

• Data compatibility and required integrations
• Implementation responsibilities and timelines
• Testing of product records, layouts, and publishing outputs
• Employee training and ongoing support
• Production continuity and contingency planning

Before going live, test representative production scenarios to confirm that critical workflows function as expected. Depending on your organization’s requirements, a phased implementation may help minimize disruption.

7. Consider Long-Term Flexibility and Support

Your replacement software should accommodate future changes in production volume, markets, publishing channels, and business requirements.

Evaluate configuration flexibility, integration options, support availability, training resources, and the provider’s approach to product development.

Consider the total cost of ownership, including licensing, implementation, migration, administration, and maintenance. A lower initial price may not represent the best long-term value if the system requires extensive manual work or additional tools.

Marketing Production Software Evaluation Checklist

Use this checklist to compare potential replacement platforms and identify gaps before deciding.

• Workflows: Have essential production processes and requirements been documented?
• Content management: Can the platform manage or integrate product data and digital assets?
• Design integration: Does it support Adobe InDesign and other required tools?
• Collaboration: Are review, approval, and task management capabilities sufficient?
• Publishing: Can it handle print, digital, localization, and versioning requirements?
• Migration: Are data transfer, testing, training, and implementation responsibilities clear?
• Long-term value: Does the solution offer flexibility, reliable support, and manageable ownership costs?

Choose the Right Marketing Production Software for Your Business

Replacing marketing production software is an opportunity to improve existing processes while preparing for future needs. By evaluating essential capabilities, testing real-world workflows, and planning your migration carefully, you can make a more informed decision and reduce the risk of production disruptions.

Comosoft LAGO brings product information, digital assets, collaborative workflows, and catalog production together in one integrated platform. From Adobe InDesign integration to multichannel publishing and versioning, LAGO helps organizations manage complex marketing production requirements.

Ready to explore your options?

Book a LAGO Demo to discover how the platform can support your marketing production workflows.