Post-Launch Care: Ensuring a Successful Rollout of Your DAM Program

Change is difficult. Even when the change is positive, shifting from a familiar way of doing things to a different, more complex one is jarring for most people. This is particularly true for how people perform their work. Many of us have likely found ourselves facing the challenge of presenting a new process to our co-workers. This can be a nerve-racking experience because the known, even if it’s an inefficient workflow, is often more comfortable than the unknown, even if it’s well-planned and organized. 

Many organizations face this exact dilemma when building and launching their digital asset management (DAM) programs. Rolling out a new program is a monumental step for any organization. It promises to streamline operations, enhance collaboration, and safeguard valuable digital assets. However, the real work begins after the initial launch. 

When planning your launch, it’s important to remember that first impressions are lasting. If your end users, who may already be resistant to a new way of working, don’t have a positive experience that immediately shows them the benefits, they may not adopt the new system. 

In this article, we'll outline the key activities involved in rolling out a new DAM program. At Stacks, we refer to this set of activities as “Post-Launch Care” and regularly support brands in executing these vital steps in their DAM journey. If you’d like to learn more about how Stacks can help you successfully roll out your DAM program, contact us today!

Establish a Detailed Governance Strategy

The first step in rolling out your new DAM program is to develop a clear and detailed governance strategy. In essence, this specifies how your organization will maintain, grow, and improve the DAM program on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. A well-defined governance strategy ensures that your DAM program is managed effectively and continues to meet the organization’s needs. Without it, the program will slowly fall into disrepair and begin to resemble the previous way you managed your digital assets. 

Defining a governance strategy keeps your DAM program healthy and provides a structure within which your users can confidently interact with digital assets and use them to achieve their goals. Below are a few tips for developing a DAM governance strategy.

Identify Tactical Tasks

List the specific tasks required to maintain and improve the DAM system. This includes administrative tasks like regular data audits, metadata updates, and system performance checks. Your list should also include daily and weekly tasks such as asset enrichment and ingestion, user management, and front-end improvements. Stacks recommends building a living document where all these tasks are listed and defined. 

Assign Roles and Responsibilities

Designate the individuals or teams responsible for various aspects of the DAM program. Clear role assignments help ensure accountability and streamline workflows. It also prevents anything from falling through the cracks and thus avoids creating problems that will need to be addressed later. One best practice at this stage is to track how long each task takes to complete. This ensures that no one is overwhelmed by the number of DAM-related tasks they're responsible for. If this is the case, it may be time to consider growing your DAM team, either by hiring new staff or partnering with a third party, such as Stacks.

Regularly Update Your Roadmap

Continuously review and update your DAM program roadmap to reflect new goals, user feedback, and technological advancements. Keeping the roadmap current ensures the DAM system remains aligned with organizational objectives. If the tactical tasks you outlined and assigned prevent issues from arising, the roadmap ensures that the DAM program is growing and evolving to meet new needs.

Engage and Educate Your End Users

The success of your DAM program heavily depends on how well your end users understand and use the system. If users are confused about how to use the DAM system, they’re not likely to use it. This means your brand would fail to take advantage of the security, centralization, and accessibility a DAM program can provide. 

If users make an effort to use the DAM system but lack proper training, they may inadvertently create problems and reduce the ROI as well. Here are some ways to engage and educate them effectively to avoid both scenarios. 

Conduct Comprehensive Training Sessions

Organize interactive training sessions tailored to different user groups. Ensure these sessions cover both the basics and the advanced features of the DAM program, enabling users to fully leverage the system's capabilities. These training sessions should be conducive to open discussion and questions. To facilitate this, Stacks recommends breaking user groups into smaller sessions to ensure people feel more comfortable participating.

Create Accessible Resources

Develop easy-to-understand guides, video tutorials, and FAQs. Having these resources readily available helps your users find answers to their questions quickly and use the DAM system efficiently. Typically, this documentation\ consists of a single, comprehensive user guide along with a series of shorter guides tailored to specific use cases or roles within the DAM program.

Foster a Supportive Community

Establish a user community where individuals can share tips, ask questions, and discuss best practices. This not only helps in resolving issues promptly but also encourages continuous learning and improvement. Activities involved in creating this environment may include DAM office hours, lunch-and-learns, and the establishment of a helpdesk.