Your digital assets are extremely important if not essential to your company. When you consider letting someone else manage there are things that you need to consider before making this important decision.
Are my assets safe?
Redundancy everywhere! More than having 2 copies of each asset, but each integral piece of hardware needs redundant components. Does the datacenter have redundant power with generators & UPSes and redundant internet connectivity? Your customers are global and may not know that there is a weather event at the datacenter. They shouldn’t need to. In addition to redundancy, there needs to be change control of configurations and core components. In case something goes wrong – you need an undo button.
Is it going to perform?
So you’ve got a few thousand assets now. But you are exploring some new ventures that could increase that 10-fold in a year and hopefully exponentially after that. Is the solution that you buy now going to work in 5 years – or will you need to go shopping again? That may entail migration costs. It’s got to be fast – not just now, but in a few years when you have more assets in the system. Ask to query large archives! Are the search speeds that you expect in the SLA? SLA’s are a valuable tool – make sure it fits your needs How do you know that performance is good and that SLA’s are met? Monitoring. The vendor should know when – or even before you have troubles and act accordingly.
Can I get help when I need it?
Who does the support for the product? Is it employees of the company – or is the support of your outsourced DAM outsourced itself? Most people want the support as close to the company as possible. Additionally most people want immediate solutions – or at least immediate recognition of the problem or request. What are the staffing hours of your DAM vendor? Your vendor should have a vested interest in your success. If you shine, they shine. And more importantly – if they shine – YOU shine.
Alan Whitten
Operations
Email: awhitten@MerlinOne.com
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