How to Choose the Right Digital Asset Management System
Ever wondered how your organization can streamline content operations, unlock new revenue streams and boost efficiencies - all at once?
Choosing the right digital asset management (DAM) system is your key to all these benefits, which is why it’s a decision you shouldn’t take so lightly.
The deal is this: The right DAM system will not only efficiently manage your digital assets from one central archive (what we call a “single source of truth”). It will also efficiently align with your company’s future goals and unique needs.
In this article, we discuss how to choose the right DAM system, the challenges that come along with it, key steps and some common pitfalls to avoid.
In this article:
4 biggest challenges when choosing a DAM system
Main steps to choosing a DAM system
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
Implementing and adopting a DAM
DAM implementation success story: How Dura-Line uses DAM to deliver cohesive content experiences
Conclusion
4 biggest challenges when choosing a DAM system
In order to reap the biggest benefits of having a DAM (like having all your digital assets organized in one place, efficiently located with metadata and shared securely) - you must make sure your system fits your organization.
Beyond just being a match, here are the biggest challenges when it comes to choosing a DAM system:
Needs are complex: Every single company, no matter their size, (if it's medium-sized or enterprise) has different needs and requirements to take into account. All based on factors like their industry and current digital infrastructure. The right DAM needs to meet all these needs in the most effective way possible, to be worth the investment.
Range of use: More often, companies realize the true potential and key applications of DAM when it’s too late. For example - a system that’s thought to benefit one department or team can probably have much broader organizational benefits, which unfortunately are overlooked.
Integration and ability to scale: The DAM system you choose needs to be able to integrate harmoniously with your existing systems. Plus, it needs to be able to scale to your future demands, technological advancements, not to mention your growing amount of digital content.
Aligning with stakeholders: Making sure that all your relevant stakeholders are actually taken into account during the entire decision-making process can be daunting - but it’s crucial that it’s done right for a truly successful DAM adoption.
What are the main steps to choosing a DAM?
Once motivated to choose the right DAM, it’s crucial to know the steps on how to do it.
Here are 6 key steps that can help you get on the right track:
Understand your company's digital maturity: What do we mean by “digital maturity”? Basically, assessing what your current organization’s capabilities are when it comes to digital asset management. How digital content is organized and shared across departments. And what does it want to achieve by implementing DAM?
Define your company’s clear requirements and vision: This next step is all about setting up a clear and cohesive outline on what the company wants the DAM to solve, plus, how the DAM will strategically fit into the organization’s broader strategy.
Consider all relevant stakeholder needs: Next, it’s recommended that you include key stakeholders from different teams and departments to make sure the chosen system actually meets cross-departmental needs, and not just a handful.
Choosing vendors and requesting demos: Talk to several vendors to find the systems that meet your needs. Focus on hands-on demos that show how the system works in real-life situations, which will help you better evaluate its effectiveness.
Implementing and testing: Our fifth step (and tip) is to choose a vendor that meets your strict criteria during the initial demo phase. After that, set up a pilot project with real-world scenarios and examples to thoroughly test how well the system works.
Plan for long-term adoption: Make sure that the system you choose is able to scale alongside you (and the growing amount of content you produce). Planning for a more long-term adoption and implementation of your DAM involves support, training and continuous assessment of what kind of impact the system is making on your company.
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
When choosing your DAM, there’s a few pitfalls that can derail the process altogether.
Here's our best practices on how you can avoid them:
You underestimate the scope entirely: A lot of companies realize the true potential of the DAM too late. If you envision its use across multiple departments (as well as different external and internal teams), you’ll be closer to a higher ROI than before.
There's inadequate stakeholder representation: Oftentimes, the buying committee is limited to top management or IT employees, which neglects input from other important end-user groups. The solution is to expand the buying committee altogether. Include reps from all potential end-user groups to ensure decisions reflect your diverse organizational needs.
Poor timing of vendor demos: Here, the main challenge is that your vendor demos come too early. The solution is to wait to view demos until you clearly understand all your DAM requirements, helping make sure that you focus on the features and capabilities that matter the most.
All in all: If you’re aware of these pitfalls before you start looking at which DAMs you’re most interested in, you can guarantee a much more streamlined and comprehensive DAM selection process. One that aligns with the specific goals of your organization.
Implementing and adopting a DAM
So, if you’ve followed the steps to choosing a DAM, and (hopefully) swerved away from the main pitfalls, implementing the right DAM should be a breeze.
However - implementing DAM is just the start. Ensuring wide-spread adoption and integration into your employee’s everyday workflows across the organization is, naturally, the ultimate goal.
At its core, this involves:
Solid training and continuous support: Continuous training sessions and robust support systems are crucial to guide your staff to successfully adopting and embracing the new system.
Consistent feedback and iteration: We suggest encouraging consistent feedback from all employees and user levels - and that you always strive to refine the system to meet your evolving needs as they come along.
DAM implementation success story: How Dura-Line uses DAM to deliver cohesive content experiences
Dura-Line is a leading global manufacturer of telecommunications solutions.
In 2020, as part of a digital transformation, they went ahead and implemented our DAM solution (alongside a new PIM system and CMS) to streamline their overall marketing efforts.
Thanks to this integration, the marketing team, although small, was able to perform at the level of much larger teams. All by simplifying content management across multiple digital channels and ensuring better brand consistency.
Our DAM became a central hub for Dura-Line, “a single source of truth”, allowing employees to easily access critical sales and marketing materials. Plus, supporting a powerful visual selling strategy with the most current and up-to-date product images and videos.
The result? A huge boost in efficiency of the sales teams, empowering them to do what they do best - closing deals faster and improving overall customer experiences with more accurate, detailed visual aids of the products in use.
Conclusion
To sum up:
Choosing the right DAM for your company is crucial if you want to boost the efficiency of your content operations, be successful with omnichannel marketing, and, at the same time, and unlock new revenue streams.
In this article, we’ve outlined the challenges, steps, and common pitfalls in selecting a DAM system that aligns with your organizational goals.
Plus, as shown through Dura-Line's success story with our DAM, choosing and implementing a robust DAM system can truly transform a company’s marketing efforts and empower sales teams.
That’s why authentically committing to this process is key to make sure your DAM investment supports your company's growth in the future.
Interested in learning more about how our DAM can benefit your business? Book a demo here.
Questions from buyers:
