Has your organization been on the fence about investing in a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system? If so, you may be concerned about how much it would cost. Or, perhaps the task of identifying a system that fits your needs, implementing, and managing it seems overwhelming. Whatever your issues are, there are resources available to help you. Implementing a DAM system will save your organization both time and money and is well worth the investment.
As you may know, DAM systems are designed to store all of an organization’s digital assets. A digital asset can be marketing collateral, product shots, digital templates, or text documents. Not only does the DAM system store all these types of assets, but it also ensures they’re accessible and ready to use throughout the various stages of their life cycles. This means that a DAM can save an organization both time and money. In this article, we discuss five ways utilizing a DAM can help you realize these savings.
1. Streamlines Workflows
Implementing a DAM system requires you to determine how you’ll integrate it with the various workflows your organization already has. You may assume you should recreate your old processes in your new DAM system. However, it would be better to take this opportunity to review your current workflows and identify areas where your processes can be more efficient. For example, you might find that some departments are duplicating tasks to obtain the same result. Once information is added to the DAM system, it can be made accessible to all the necessary parties and you can eliminate this problem.
Since most DAM systems can be integrated with other systems and software programs this allows you to streamline your asset creation processes. This means that all the information created throughout an asset’s life cycle can be retained in ONE place—with the asset.
2. Reduces Search Time
How much time do you spend looking for a newly created asset? What about an asset that was designed two years ago? Do you ever seek help from other team members when you can’t find something? The good news is that a properly designed and maintained DAM system will reduce your search time down to just a few clicks. You can easily retrieve an asset even if it was created a long time ago. You don’t even have to remember where it was stored—just let your DAM’s search capabilities do all the work! If you start experiencing longer search times, you can just do some DAM maintenance and fix the problem.
You can design your DAM system to meet your organization's preferred search methods and ensure it uses your industry's terminology. The user experience of the system must be a top priority when designing it. The interface should feel natural to your users and be easy for them to utilize. Reduced search times will free up staff time that can be spent on other goals and initiatives.
3. Keeps Assets From Being Lost
What’s worse than spending an hour searching for an asset? Not finding it! When this happens, it often leads to other team members being asked to look for the asset or, in some cases, having to recreate it. Having to make an asset again may require additional photoshoots, review time, and revisions. This quickly wastes both staff time and money.
4. Gives Clients Access
We’ve already discussed how easily your employees will be able to find assets once you’ve implemented a DAM system. But what about your clients? How can it help them? The same way! DAM systems come with a variety of permission options. Permissions let you share only the information a specific user is allowed to see. This means you won’t have to worry about a client accidentally retrieving information or assets they’re not authorized to access.
Depending on the client, you may only want them to be able to find a specific asset or collection for review. Or you may want them to have the ability to search and retrieve assets. Whichever the case, DAMs typically have a variety of options for sharing assets, or allow you to create user accounts with specific permissions.
5. Avoids Misuse of Assets
Another major benefit of DAM systems is that they keep all the important information about an asset with the asset. These details include copyright and rights usage information. Along with permissions, this helps your organization ensure that no client or employee accidentally accesses or misuses an asset.
When the copyright or rights usage information is lost, it leaves the asset vulnerable. Users may not be sure how it can be used and may misuse it. This can lead to costly legal issues. Another scenario is that a valuable asset isn’t being used because its rights usage is unknown. This can lead to having to recreate it and cost your organization both staff time and money.
With a DAM system, you can customize permissions and settings to further support the copyright, ensuring the asset is being used appropriately. This saves your employees from spending too much time searching for the copyright and helps protect both your assets and your organization.
Conclusion
A DAM system ultimately saves your employees lots of time. As a result, it saves your organization lots of money! Because, as Benjamin Franklin said, “time is money.” If you need help getting started, contact Stacks! Our team can help you select and implement a DAM solution that meets your organization’s needs. Wherever you are in your journey, we can help!
