We’ve Answered Your DAM Questions

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

There were a lot of great questions in our last digital asset management webinar on User Adoption and we’d like to share them with you, along with their answers.  As always, the webinar recording and slides are available for download here.  As you can tell from the questions, User Adoption is an important topic that many organizations struggle with.

Q:  How many people need to be on the DAM team?

A:  It isn’t really about the number of people but rather who is represented.  If your DAM is just for the Communications team, then you may only have a couple of people on your DAM team.  But if you have an enterprise implementation across teams, you will want to include representative from each of those teams.  Especially if you have geographically dispersed teams, it is important to include their feedback.

Q:  When you talk about gathering feedback and integrating it back into your digital asset management system, what kind of feedback are you referring to?  We have a vendor that we work with for our DAM and can’t easily make changes to the software. (more…)

Why folder structure isn’t enough

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

I was talking with a prospect the other day and he was explaining why an FTP site with a folder structure of company photos, product shots and marketing collateral just ain’t cutting it anymore.  Like so many of the organizations we talk to everyday, this is the current state of his digital assets.  Partners, vendors, and geographically distributed teams access the FTP site to browse the folder structure, find what they need and download it.  Sound familiar?  I’m sure to many of you it does because we hear this EVERY-DAY!  It never ceases to amaze me how many corporate giants are still operating in this way.  I could go on for hours explaining why this is a colossal waste of time – no search capabilities, lack of security controls, no way to preview before download, no track-ability, lack of accountability, no way to monitor or communicate usage rights, etc, etc, etc.

But the prospect said it best with this analogy…

“You know when you go to a friend’s house, and you need silverware, and have to open every single drawer to find a fork… and your friend is like, ‘Isn’t it obvious which drawer the fork would be in?!’ But, if it were your house, you would put the silverware in a completely difference place, so no it is not obvious! That’s what browsing a folder structure setup by our US headquarters is like for our partners in Asia.”

Awesome.

Jump on the DAM Bandwagon: Best Ways to Promote your WebDAM

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Jump on the Digital Asset Management BandwagonYou don’t need convincing – you’ve been enjoying all the advantages of WebDAM for some time. But sometimes, it’s not so easy to get everyone else to join in and get excited about digital asset management. Ok, so maybe DAM is not as exciting as the latest drama on the Bachelorette, but it does improve workflow, save time, and benefit your whole organization. If only your colleagues knew everything you knew about WebDAM, there’s no doubt they’d love it just as much as you do.

So, your mission is clear: spread the word and advocate to your colleagues about WebDAM and how they can and should use it.  After all, the more your DAM is utilized, the greater value it will bring across your organization.  We’ll get you started with just a few simple pointers:
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Breaking Down DAM (Digital Asset Management) Distribution

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

digital asset management distributionPartners, distributors, media outlets, web producers, ad agencies, publishers—all of those groups depend on your digital media every day.  How do you manage these needs? Surprisingly, many companies—both small and large—have no process in place to manage these requests, resulting in project delays and bottlenecks.

This process is known as digital media distribution and is a key component to digital asset management. A DAM’s core functionality includes managing, searching, organization and archiving assets, but what happens when you’re inundated by internal and external requests? (more…)

Top 5 ways digital asset management in the cloud protects your ASSets

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

If your digital assets are not secured in the cloud, they’re susceptible to threats both online and in the real world. It’s essential to be proactive about security; after all, you earthquake-proof your home and stock water and emergency supplies in case of a disaster, right? Digital assets should be considered in a similar manner. Here are our top five ways DAM in the cloud protects your assets.

1.   Mankind vs. Mother Nature

Earthquakes. Tornados. Tsunamis. Those natural disasters and many others fill up too many of our headlines these days, yet they’re a reality we all have to live. Natural disasters have no sympathy for your digital files, and if they’re stored in a single place locally, just a few seconds could wipe out years of valuable information. With a cloud infrastructure like WebDAM, data is housed on redundant servers geographically spaced apart. This protects your data against natural disasters, as damage at one data center won’t affect one across the country.

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What’s the DAM meaning?

Monday, January 31st, 2011

DAM & CMS acronyms can get overwhelming, so we’ve created a list of the most popular ones.

CM Content Management
A system used for organizing, managing and editing digital content.

WCM Web Content Management
A sub-set of CMS used more specifically as a web application for the managing, editing and storing of HTML content.

ECM Enterprise Content Management
Content management within an enterprise which provides the necessary tools, methods, skills and strategies needed to manage, store and edit the company’s digital content.

MAM Multimedia Asset Management
A sub-set of digital asset management, which more specifically entails DAM with multimedia content. (more…)

Digital Asset Management for the Enterprise

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Corporate TeamAs digital asset management is becoming more and more integral for corporate marketing teams, companies of all sizes are adopting DAM systems. With the explosion of digital content, the need for digital asset management goes beyond marketing and creative teams and can impact corporate-wide workflows. From content generation to delivery, digital asset management is at the core of the digital supply chain, spanning departments and even divisions within a company. When deploying DAM for the enterprise, there are several key features to consider. These considerations apply regardless of the deployment model: SaaS, licensed, or in-house system.

What is Enterprise Digital Asset Management Software?

Simply put, enterprise digital asset management software is (more…)

You know your company needs a DAM when…

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

• Your digital files currently reside in drawers.
• You find yourself asking your colleague to pass the external drive.
• Your electronic delivery method of choice is FedEx.
• Your policy on copyright is: If you can find it, you can use it.
• It takes twice as long to find a graphic as it does to create a new one.