When Is the Right Time to Invest in Digital Asset Management?

Timing is everything. Whether you’re asking for a promotion, initiating a serious discussion with a friend, or making a significant lifestyle change, acting at the right time is crucial to achieving the outcome you desire. The same applies to implementing a digital asset management (DAM) solution for your brand or organization. 

In this article, our aim is to help you identify the key signs that indicate your organization may need a more robust DAM system. As a team of DAM managers assisting brands in successfully establishing and maturing their DAM programs, we know the signs to look for.  

Defining DAM for Your Organization

Before we discuss when upgrading the digital asset management program at your organization is necessary, let’s define it. DAM is a crucial combination of people, processes, and platforms that efficiently organize, store, and distribute digital assets. 

For some organizations, it’s a central source of truth where all final assets are stored and easily accessible to the right people. For others, it’s a fully integrated ecosystem of tools that work together across the entire digital asset lifecycle, from creation to archiving. No matter where your organization falls on this spectrum, determining when an upgrade is needed is important. Understanding the signs that one is required allows you to plan more effectively, lay the groundwork for investing in DAM, and set clear expectations for what’s next. 

5 Signs That It's Time for a DAM Program Upgrade

For those organizations without a DAM program, it’s likely that it’s already time to implement digital asset management. In its most basic form, this simply means having a system and tool in place to organize and secure assets, making them more accessible to the right teams. 

If this doesn’t exist in some form already, begin investigating what it could look like for your brand or contact Stacks. We specialize in helping brands avoid common pitfalls when getting started in DAM. Click the button below to reach out to our team. 

What Does DAM Growth Look Like?

A “DAM upgrade” doesn’t look the same for every organization. As we mentioned earlier, digital asset management is made up of people, processes, and platforms. Any combination of these pillars of DAM could be what's worked on, improved, or changed to better meet the needs of your organization. 

For example, you may have the right platform, but new workflows and expanding business operations could require expanding your team and investing time in implementing new processes that better accommodate the current needs of your end users. 

Conversely, the change needed may be technological. Suppose your brand recently shifted to a video-centric marketing strategy instead of static advertisements, but your current platform lacks features specific to managing video assets. In that case, it may be time to look for something new. 

For some organizations, the necessary changes are process-related. Reorganizing assets and users, refining metadata taxonomy and permissions structures, or adding new platform features and integrations can all help grow a program and meet new requirements. 

Just like DAM programs and the brands they serve, implementing or expanding a DAM system is different for every industry and organization. Contact Stacks today if you’d like our team to provide recommendations on changes that would best serve your users while minimizing costs and headaches. 

1. You Have a Large Volume of Diverse Digital Assets

If your organization does marketing of any kind,  you’ve likely encountered a situation like this: you're putting together a new webpage, social post, advertisement, or campaign graphic. You recall that a photoshoot was conducted earlier in the year, but since you weren’t involved, you have no idea where the photos are stored. You reach out to several co-workers for assistance, hoping to avoid relying on AI, stock imagery, or whatever is on your computer—but no one can help you. 

Now, imagine this issue across dozens of teams, time zones, departments, and marketing initiatives. Without a centralized system, employees waste valuable time searching for assets they know exist but can’t find. Even organizations with a well-established DAM program can encounter challenges as the types of assets they manage and the channels they use become more complex. This might be a sign that they need to reevaluate or enhance their DAM program. 

A large volume and diversity of assets puts strains not only on storage capabilities and DAM platform features, but also on the people tasked with managing the DAM program, creating and governing workflows, and ensuring that everything stays organized. 

2. Multiple Teams Handle Assets

A key factor to consider when evaluating changes to your DAM program is complexity. Simple problems require simple solutions, but as the needs of your users become more layered and complex, the capabilities of your DAM program must also scale. This isn't necessarily a one-to-one relationship; while creating an intuitive, dynamic, and simple experience for users is critical, it's equally important to address complexity when it arises. 

One central area of complexity is identifying who the DAM program serves. In other words, who are your end users? How many different places are assets coming from or going to? Different teams require distinct workflows, metadata, and DAM capabilities, along with attention from staff dedicated to the DAM program and additional, custom training resources. 

When several departments use digital assets, coordinating their efforts can be challenging without a unified DAM solution. Marketing, sales, and design teams may use different storage systems, leading to version control issues and inconsistent branding. 

3. Industry Regulations Are Not Up to Date

Certain industries face strict compliance requirements for data management and security. A DAM system ensures that digital assets are stored, accessed, and distributed in accordance with current legal standards. This is particularly crucial for sectors like healthcare, finance, and government, where data breaches can result in severe penalties.

As regulations change, your processes and (potentially) your platform must as well. Be sure to keep tabs on which regulations relate to your DAM program and what changes may impact the way you organize and secure digital assets.

4. Workflows Are Inefficient

If you have an existing DAM program, you likely have access to some degree of data regarding just how efficient your workflows are, how often the DAM system is used, and what kind of value it generates for your organization.

We recommend that every organization develop a “DAM health score” to evaluate whether or not the DAM program is delivering the expected return on investment. This number is comprised of key performance indicators (KPIs) and can be developed manually or by using statistics available in your DAM platform. 

Your DAM health score is worth paying attention to regularly since it can act as a diagnostic tool for identifying when changes to your DAM program are necessary. It also helps determine the cause of an issue and, thus, the ideal solution. To learn more about building a DAM Health Score, check out the article linked below!