Once you understand what DAM is, the logical next question is, “So what?” What kinds of benefits does DAM bring? Does it make my life any easier? How does it solve the problems that are most important to me?
Finally, what kind of return on investment does it bring? Below, we outline all this information and more. When you’re done reading, you’ll see the true impact of digital asset management at work and have the tools to make the case for it to your team and the decision-makers at your company.
As always, if you have questions, concerns, or need help getting started, contact Stacks today or check out more resources on our blog. So now you have an Idea of what DAM is but to fully understand its power you have to understand the questions DAM seeks to answer, the problems it aims to solve, and the ROI it can provide.
Questions DAM Aims to Answer
Where do our digital assets live?
You and your team must figure out the best way to store your files in order to make accessing and searching for them as simple for your organization as possible.
How do I find our digital assets?
Once you have determined the location of your files, you’ll want to determine the process for easily searching them. Organizing your assets intuitively and educating your team on how to locate them is key to streamlining your workflow.
Who has access to our digital assets?
The final major consideration in the digital asset management process is ensuring your files are secure. Deciding who can access, share, and edit your files is vital to maintaining the integrity of your brand.
Problems DAM Aims to Solve
One ‘Source of Truth’
- Are your assets spread across multiple servers, systems, and platforms?
- Is there one person that everyone goes to for help finding assets?
Bring your assets together into a “Single Source of Truth” that eliminates siloed teams and ensures that the right people have access to the right assets when they need them, without having to ask John to find them
Find the ‘Right’ Asset
- Does your team have to scour through a mountain of duplicate files to find what they want?
- Are you having to pay to recreate assets that have gone missing?
Maximize the value and lifespan of your assets by creating standards, processes, and workflows that put assets that already exist to work across the company
Unify and Align
- Do different departments or users name files differently?
- Is your organization all on the same page about how to look for and share assets?
Ensure that searches bring the desired result, branding stays consistent, and permissions are followed by standardizing how your company talks about, organizes, names, tags, and looks for assets
The ROI of DAM
The costs associated with improperly managing assets are many. Not only does wasted time and lower-quality content hurt the bottom line, but the reproduction of assets and time spent searching for them can add up.
Other Costs
- Redoing product shoots for “lost” assets
- Content approval and editing
- Opportunity cost of employees searching for assets instead of doing their real job
- Copyright, trademark, and licensing permission disputes
- Improper branding
- Purchasing increased storage to house unorganized assets
Calculating ROI
How can you quickly quantify the need your organization has for DAM? This number can be vital to communicating why investing in DAM is necessary for your leadership team and decision-makers. Below, we've offered an example of how to generate a number to see the "Cost of Doing Nothing."
The Cost of Doing Nothing =
The average amount of time it takes your team to find a specific asset
1.5 Hours
x
The amount of searches each of your team members makes each month
20 Searches
x
The average hourly rate of your employees who search for assets
$32/Hour
x
The size of your team
5 People
=
$4,800/Month
$57,600 / Year
