Digital asset management software, otherwise known as DAM software, is essential in today’s business environment. Not only is it key to organizing and accessing your digital collateral (ex. logos), but it’s also the key to keeping those assets properly protected. So, who uses DAM software? What kinds of companies? What size of company?
And, more importantly, should you be using DAM software?
In the digital age, old-fashioned file storage methods no longer cut it. Most companies – your companies – should or do use DAM software.
What is Digital Asset Management (DAM) Software?
Before we jump into who uses DAM software, let’s back up to the beginning: What is digital asset management (DAM)?
In a nutshell, DAM is your company’s method of storing, organizing, and accessing all your digital assets: documentation, images, audio, video, presentations, podcasts, animations, and any other digital or multimedia content. The goals: simple, rapid search, easy retrieval, and robust file protections (no more accidental deletions!).
At the heart of simple search and easy retrieval, plus required protections, there lies efficient organization and storage of digital assets. In other words, you want to automate your creative workflows, foolproof your asset archiving and backup, and have the option to track your company’s usage of each asset.
Want to know more? Read up on the benefits of digital asset management, best practices, and developing your company’s DAM strategy.
Why Do You Need a Dedicated DAM Solution?
Once upon a time, a long, long decade ago, companies often turned to internal servers for digital asset management.
Gone are the Dark Ages of DAM. (Thankfully.) Because chances are, your internal server is bulky, overcrowded and, worse still, disorganized. Worst of all, you can only access that server from inside the office. Working from home? No files for you! Away from the office with a sick kid? Can’t access that logo you need!
Long story short, even if your internal server is the best and prettiest internal server in the whole, wide world – and, let’s be real, it’s not; most servers have version on top of version on top of version, ad nauseam, for every logo, product, and file you have – it’s still an imperfect solution in today’s far-flung, connected world.
Digital asset management software pulls everything into one place: one central, cloud-based server that anyone [with permissions] can access.
Ok, So Why Can’t We Use Dropbox, Google Drive, or Similar Services?
It’s a logical question with a logical answer: Have a look at your Drive or Dropbox. How is it organized? In all likelihood, very similarly to your internal server or even your desktop.
One-dimensional folders house assets, which can only be filed in one place. (Unless you file duplicates, and what a headache that is.) Searching is difficult, if not impossible – restricted to file names and extensions. Permissions can be tricky, too, especially if no one in “asset power” is physically around to enable your access.
In other words, if there’s more than one person managing your company’s digital assets, then a Dropbox/Drive solution is simply too simple.
So, Who Uses DAM Software?
The short answer: Smart companies.
For just a moment, let’s ignore about everything we’ve already said. Here’s an illuminating fact to underscore it all: Marketers can spend 8 to 10 hours each week – sometimes more – searching for information or recreating lost assets.
Sixty-five hours – more than 1.5 weeks of working hours – completely misused, wasted on something as banal as sifting through poorly labeled, inefficiently filed digital assets. And that’s just one marketer. If you have several on your team, think of all the salary wasted on digital asset mismanagement – for many companies, wasted time spent searching for digital assets amounts to thousands of dollars per year.
So, who uses digital asset management software? To begin, companies that want to better utilize their human resources. Let your employees do the job you hired them for, rather than wasting job hours sifting through assets. Or, give your marketing coordinator a break. (It’s not uncommon for some to spend half a day fulfilling asset requests.)
Beyond that, companies use DAM software to relieve the load on their servers. Companies use DAM software to organize their assets for central access in every office (and home office). Companies use DAM software to centralize assets to ensure only the latest logos, latest product photos, and latest assets make their way into important marketing materials.
Bottom line: Companies use DAM software to better control and protect their digital assets.
Is My Company “Too Small” for DAM Software?
Unless you’re a party of one, then no. For companies from 5 to 5,000 (or 5 million) employees, digital asset management software can be the solution to a problem you only vaguely knew you had.
DAM software helps keep your digital capital organized, your file versions up-to-date, and your collateral – social media, marketing materials, and more – consistent and concise, across departments and channels. DAM is the solution.
It’s 2018. The world is digital. Your asset management should be, too. Download our white paper, The Business Case for DAM, to learn more, or book a meeting today to discover how MerlinOne can help you reign in control of your company’s digital assets, boost brand compliance, and improve your marketing and creative operations.
