In choosing a cloud-based digital asset management (DAM) software vendor, teams often focus on a features shootout. The vendor who provides the most features, at the lowest cost, wins. However, a crucial aspect that organizations frequently overlook is the alignment between their needs and their IT team's cloud provider preferences or requirements. Not aligning your needs with your IT team's cloud provider preference can slow down your ability to purchase or implement your preferred DAM software. This consideration is especially important when evaluating a vendor's ability to store assets in multiple cloud storage locations and how that storage might fit into your organization's tech stack. Opting for a vendor that is limited to a single cloud-storage or private cloud storage provider can significantly impact your organization's capability to preserve and safeguard your digital assets and digital content.
In this blog post, we'll explore the advantages of opting for a cloud-agnostic DAM solution and the importance of cross-provider backups using fixity to ensure the longevity of your digital assets.
The Flexibility of Cloud-Agnostic Solutions
For some, certain cloud storage solutions aren’t an option because they are either direct competitors, or their organizations have an existing enterprise data plan with another provider. So rather than filtering your DAM software search to vendors who can deploy in your required cloud service provider (CSP), a better option is to search for cloud-agnostic solutions.
A cloud-agnostic DAM solution offers a seamless integration into the cloud environment of your choice. So rather than settling for a sub-par DAM platform because you are tied to a specific cloud provider, you have the freedom to choose the platform that best aligns with your business and IT requirements, cost considerations, and geographical preferences. This flexibility also ensures that you can continue to use your existing virtual machines and operating systems without disruption to your infrastructure as a service or platform as a service models.
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Triple-Copy Storage
While most disaster recovery plans call for creating three back-up copies of assets, this practice falls short when working with a vendor who utilizes only one cloud-storage provider. Relying solely on back-up copies of digital assets stored within the same cloud storage provider leaves your assets vulnerable to potential risks such as data corruption, accidental deletions, or system failures that could affect all copies simultaneously. If all of your assets and backups are stored in a single data center, your organization is at risk of losing everything in the event of an outage, fire, or other catastrophic event. To address these challenges, a cloud-agnostic DAM solution leverages the power of multiple cloud providers. By distributing backups across different platforms like Amazon S3, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, you create a resilient and fail-safe infrastructure. This strategy mitigates the risk of data loss, ensuring that your digital assets remain intact even in the face of unforeseen events. Such a high-performing and cost-effective strategy not only improves security measures but also enhances your long-term data management practices.
The Role of Fixity in Asset Preservation
Fixity, in the context of DAM software, refers to the stability or immutability of digital assets over time. Fixity plays an important part in the preservation of archives and collections in both the corporate and cultural heritage worlds. Integrating fixity into your DAM solution involves regularly scanning assets to verify your digital asset’s integrity and ensuring your team is following digital preservation best practices. Embracing a cloud-agnostic DAM solution can allow your organization not only to ensure your individual backups remain safe in separate clouds, but also to allow for fixity checks across multiple cloud providers. This proactive approach ensures that your assets are preserved in their original state, guarding against any potential alterations or corruption. If corruption is discovered, your team can reconstitute the asset from one of your other cloud-storage backups. This level of real-time monitoring and version control contributes to a superior user experience while maintaining the integrity of your customer experience and machine learning processes.
Future-Proofing Your Digital Assets
A cloud-agnostic approach to your digital asset management platform, coupled with multi-cloud backup, provides a comprehensive strategy for preserving and protecting your valuable assets. This not only ensures disaster recovery in the face of unexpected events but also guarantees that your service SaaS and software as a service needs are met without compromise.
As you embark on the journey to select a DAM vendor, consider the long-term benefits of a compliant DAM solution with the flexibility to deploy in the geographical region of your choosing. That empowers you to select your preferred cloud provider and employs advanced techniques to safeguard your organization’s digital assets and history. Future-proof your digital assets today with a forward-thinking DAM solution that puts preservation at the forefront of its capabilities. To learn more about Orange Logic’s ability to store, backup and restore across multiple cloud storage platforms, schedule a call today!
