Reasons Why It’s Important To Have An Effective Digital Asset Management System
Trouble retrieving the right content? Do you squander most of your working hours to manage access to the media files to get them reviewed for marketing? Or do you constantly contemplate the right background color for the logo?
In today’s fast-pacing world, most organizations acclimatize themselves to countless innovations that spring up every other day to enhance performance and amplify productivity. In a realm where content media is the dominant and leading player: builds brand integrity, and generates leads on various media channels, organizations have shifted their focus to developing content in different forms.
However, with a significant volume of digital files, it’s easy for organizations to lose control of the assets disseminated throughout the media chain. And although organizations have been seeking help from emergency solutions, also known as file storage servers – Drive, WeTransfer, or Dropbox. Unfortunately, doing so builds pressure on storage servers and adversely influences network access and information security.
Thus, the software industry introduced a cutting-edge technology named Digital Asset Management (DAM) system to come up with a solution. A DAM system is a modern technique to organize and store digital media and retrieve them when required. However, to be specific, it is primarily a library for digital capital, such as images, podcasts, animations, graphics, or videos.
Here are some overriding reasons why you should consider investing in this worthwhile technology and incorporate it in the workplace:
Reduce Asset waste
Organizations rely on several storage solutions to store their digital assets. According to a 2020 study, 51% reported they use the organization’s server, whereas 32% mentioned local storage. Some organizations may even utilize physical drives, which aren’t secured enough to be accessed. And this makes things convoluted and increases the probability of misplacement of assets.
Nonetheless, with an effective DAM system, businesses can store and manage digital files at a centralized location. Thus, this eliminates the need to switch back and forth between storage options and recreate the misplaced content.
Organizations can consider a digital asset management best practices guide to develop a clear-cut and consistent strategy for implementing this technology. The handy guide establishes a framework for selecting a DAM solution, how it works, and best practices for optimizing it.
Streamline Workflow
The benefits of DAM systems become even more evident once organizations work with the outside business network, i.e., the external partners. Some of these may encompass agencies, press, and freelancers – all operating in different time zones.
Constantly answering queries about content can be a stretch-out process with the likelihood of errors and misplaced emails. However, with an efficient and password-protected DAM system, organizations can store digital assets in one centralized place with no duplicate or lost files. And therefore, organizations can expedite how they work with their external partners.
Moreover, brand materials often undergo various stages of development – each needing endorsement from clients. A digital asset management system allows organizations to view the asset’s status, check client reviews and feedback, receive revision updates, and remain apprised of the further actions in the workflow.
Maintain Brand Consistency
When employees save the media files on work servers, more often than not, various copies get generated across the local storage. And this is how the subpar and outdated content formats end up in different folders.
It’s relevant to note that maintaining brand integrity is the greatest challenge for most organizations. Even more so when employees interact with potential customers and target audiences on numerous media platforms. All it takes is a low-quality and incorrect picture uploaded online to sabotage the brand’s integrity and cripple customers’ trust in that brand. However, a DAM platform serves as a central hub. It enables organizations to keep their digital assets fresh and share them with the entire team of employees or freelancers.
Not only this, but it also allows organizations to limit access to legacy assets. This way, businesses can prevent the unintentional publication of media files, thereby upholding a positive brand image. Also, a DAM system saves brand managers from performing unwanted tasks such as repeatedly sharing files with team members. In turn, the managers can dedicate the better part of their day to bringing additional value to marketing campaigns.
Strengthen Security
It’s nearly impossible to determine who can access digital files such as images, presentations, audio, and videos sent through emails. Nevertheless, an effective digital asset management solution allows organizations to practice advanced control over their internal assets and maintain tighter security.
A DAM system allows users to define access levels and establish different permissions. In addition, new features such as single-gateway hosting and encryption protect the brand’s assets from thievery and unauthorized access. Thus, employees with the necessary credentials can view the brand materials only. Organizations can even deactivate the option of deleting digital access by utilizing the security module.
What’s more? A few DAM solutions allow its users to write expiration dates along with the brand assets and links to make certain no one gets access to confidential data beyond a specific timeframe. This way, brand managers can attain peace of mind in knowing that brand materials are safe and secure.
Improve Search
Searching for the appropriate media file in a drive or a physical server amidst the sea of all digital files takes substantial time.
While it’s relatively simple to find a specific phrase or word from the large stack of data; however, searching images, graphics, and animations isn’t that straightforward. These assets have an endless combination of colors and many more factors. Thus, making it exceedingly challenging to scour them. And that’s why more often than not, employees resort to opening up each file and reviewing them, which isn’t the best way to utilize time.
However, rather than questing for the file in the work server, a lightning-fast search can help teams find the files they want immediately. Therefore, implement a DAM system to conduct advanced searches using a broad array of filters such as keywords, metadata, AI tagging, custom-tag, and auto-tagging. And this, in turn, frees up considerable time for teams to produce more valuable content.
Final Words
All the more so, in today’s digital realm, most people work remotely and collaborate to get their work done. Given the current work environment, an effective DAM solution could be the right fit for every business. It helps boost employee productivity, facilitate processes, enhance traction, and ramp up efficiency. Therefore, choose a DAM system that fulfills your business’s needs and has across-the-board buy-ins to reap the full benefits of this scalable solution.