What is DAM?

What is digital asset management?

DAM is short for Digital Asset Management. So what does that actually mean? Let’s break it down.

Assets are something that have value to your organization, so you want to manage, protect, and track how people are using them. In this case, they’re digital, so they can be photos, videos, 3D models, PDFs, logos, InDesign files, PowerPoint presentations… you get the picture, the list goes on and on...

As your organization grows, so does the size and complexity of the digital assets it creates. And while hard drives, internal servers, and even cloud storage tools attempted to be the modern day filing cabinet, today, management refers to more than simply storing and assigning permissions. Today, the entire asset lifecycle, from task assignment, creation and organization of digital assets, to review, approval, and delivery or distribution happen within a DAM.

Why does your organization need a DAM?

A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is essential for any organization dealing with a vast array of digital assets. It provides a centralized platform for storing, organizing, and retrieving digital files such as images, videos, documents, and creative files. Without a DAM, chaos ensues: files become scattered across various storage locations, leading to duplication, version control issues, and wasted time searching for assets. A DAM streamlines workflows by facilitating easy collaboration among team members, ensuring brand consistency, and enabling efficient asset distribution. Moreover, it enhances security measures, protecting valuable assets from unauthorized access or loss. In essence, a DAM is the cornerstone of effective digital asset management, promoting productivity, creativity, and brand integrity.

What does a common DAM use-case look like?

For many teams, a DAM is the starting point for all of their daily workflows. A task to create new marketing assets or to shoot new product photography or videos is created in the digital asset management system.

The creative goes about creating the requested materials in photo shoots or integrated asset creation tools and attaches them to their ticket, marking them as ready to review.

From there, people assigned with reviewing the project will get a notification and jump into the DAM to review the new assets, marking them up with reviews tools and leaving feedback in comments. In the case of photo and video shoots, teams will use the DAM to make selects.

Next, the creative is notified of revisions and goes about retouching the assets in various different integrated tools or even uses the DAM itself to make edits before resubmitting for final approval.

Metadata can be added to new assets manually or using AI tools to make the asset easier to find for future use, and generative AI tools can even help version this asset to give it new life by repurposing it further down the road. For product photography, product information can be automatically synced from an integrated PIM, or that data can be managed directly from the DAM. For museums or archives, external information is often pulled into the DAM from an external collections database and married to the digital assets.

If the created asset has digitals rights, or associated model releases, those can be tracked and enforced from the DAM and additional layers of permissions and security can be added to the asset.

When it’s time to distribute, a DAM can help streamline publishing your asset out to various social media, CMS or e-commerce platforms, as well as provide reporting around how your assets are performing.

Core Principals of Digital Asset Management:

Now that we've explored the intricate workings of DAM and its pivotal role in managing digital assets, let's delve into the core principles of Digital Asset Management and its significance for organizations.

DAM offers a centralized platform for storing, organizing, and distributing digital assets, ensuring easy access and efficient management across teams and departments. Its robust metadata tagging tools enable enhanced findability, allowing users to quickly locate the assets they need for various projects and initiatives.

Furthermore, DAM facilitates seamless collaboration by providing granular permissions and digital rights management capabilities. By defining permissions and managing asset rights, organizations can ensure that users only access assets they have the rights to use, thereby mitigating compliance risks and safeguarding intellectual property.

In essence, Digital Asset Management software streamlines workflows, enhances collaboration, and maximizes the value of digital assets for organizations of all sizes. With the right DAM software in place, businesses can unlock new levels of efficiency, productivity, and innovation, driving growth and success for their organization.

DAM Best Practices Checklist:

Now that you know what DAM is, here’s a quick list on what it takes to implement a DAM.

Establish Clear Objectives: Define clear objectives for implementing DAM software, aligning them with organizational goals and strategies. If DAM is going to help your organization, know what problems it intends to solve.
Involve Stakeholders: Engage key stakeholders from different departments to ensure that the DAM solution meets the diverse needs of the organization. Implementing a DAM that works for your entire organization provides you with the advantage of creating a unified asset repository.
Develop Metadata Standards: Create standardized metadata schemas and tagging conventions to ensure consistency and enhance searchability across digital assets. AI tagging will help you save time, but your organization should still have a well thought out metadata taxonomy, including synonyms.
Implement Granular Permissions: Configure granular permissions and access controls to regulate user access and safeguard sensitive assets. Tools with digital rights management functionality will go a long way in protecting your digital assets.
Provide Comprehensive Training: Offer thorough training and support to users to maximize your team’s understanding and utilization of the DAM software. If the DAM doesn’t work for your end users, it won’t work for your organization.
Regularly Audit and Update: Conduct regular audits to ensure metadata accuracy and relevance, and update permissions as needed to reflect organizational changes. Workflows should also be audited to ensure your team is getting the most out of your DAM’s ability to automate and streamline tasks.
Integrate with Existing Tools: Integrate the DAM software with existing tools and systems to streamline workflows and enhance productivity. Some functionality makes more sense to be included in your DAM platform, rather than an integration, so make sure your team knows which tools they’ll need natively and which functionality makes more sense as an integration.
Backup and Disaster Recovery: Implement robust backup and disaster recovery protocols to protect digital assets from loss or damage. Implement fixity to ensure assets are replaced in the event of mismatched checksum reports.
Monitor Usage and Performance: Monitor usage metrics and system performance to identify areas for improvement and optimize DAM operations. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your customer success manager to get new ideas for configuring your DAM.
Stay Informed and Adaptive: Stay informed about industry trends and technological advancements in DAM to continuously evolve and improve your DAM platform and strategy. Make sure you pick a future-proof DAM platform.

Now empowered with a clear understanding of what digital asset management is, and the best practices for implementing a DAM, your team is ready to hit the market and find a DAM Platform that can help you streamline operations, enhance collaboration, and maximize the value of your digital assets. To learn more about Orange Logic's Intelligent DAM platform, schedule a call.