The DAM Pig And The Complexity Poke
Kevin Groome, Founder of Pica9 has recently written a feature article entitled Confessions of a DAM Vendor. Being on the sell-side of the DAM industry for over two decades, Kevin has seen the rise and fall of various trends and tactics, and in this candid post he reveals numerous confessions in an attempt to dispel commonly perpetuated myths and “clear the air”. Covering a wide range of DAM issues from controlled vocabularies, architecture, governance, adoption, metrics and integration, the article focuses on the often subtle chain of events and poorly advised expectations that can cause long-term issues, and ultimately, a drop in the performance and ROI of your DAM system. On the subject of user-friendliness and creative operations, Kevin highlights the issue of vendors skirting around complexity for fear of alienating their customers:
“In many DAM pitches that I’ve had the privilege to attend, this complex (and fascinating!) topic is often passed over in just a few moments, as the salesperson waves her or his hand and refers brightly and optimistically to automated asset conversions. When customers press for more details, the most common response is a suggestion to take the conversation “offline” so that the larger group doesn’t get lost “in the weeds.”” [Read More]
On addressing the problem of user adoption:
“When it comes to adoption, most DAM vendors like to talk in terms that I can only refer to as “gross.” That is, we tend to focus on gross numbers without acknowledging that some forms of adoption are more important at one phase in the journey and other types of adoption are vital later.” [Read More]
The article also delves into the subject of DAM performance, and how most vendor claims are based on insufficient data or flawed methods of gathering metrics, yet are nonetheless presented in the hope that their customers, already suffering from information overload, will simply take the numbers at face value.
“So what can we do, as vendors, to make amends? Here’s a suggestion. We run a series of performance-benchmark tests on the most common transactions about three months after system launch (long enough to have a good sense of what the most common transactions actually are). Then, we re-run those tests monthly and share the results with the clients.” [Read More]
Overall, a refreshing and enlightening look at the DAM industry from an insider’s perspective.
Share this Article: