Methods To Improve DAM Adoption

CMSWire are running another series of DAM-related articles this week (and next, I believe). The focus this time around is more practical stuff about how to get more out of the technology, as opposed to the comment and opinion feature series they have run.  There have been a few good items which are worth drawing attention to and I will endeavour to do that over the next few days.

One example is by Jody Vandergriff  of WebDAM (who are now part of Shutterstock) and her contribution: 5 Steps For Company-Wide DAM Adoption.  The five points are:

• Assemble a team of DAM champions or ‘cheerleaders’ (to use Jody’s expression)
• Communicate early and often
• Decide whether to use a gradual or overnight transition strategy
• Carefully choose your metrics and never stop measuring them
• Monitor user behaviour and consider integration with other solutions

Here is the last one:

“Even if 100 percent of your staff adopts your new DAM platform from day one, that probably won’t last forever. Keeping up adoption requires regular follow up to figure out what’s working and what’s not. Following metrics is important, but you can’t stop there.  For long-term success, you need to pull up a chair and watch how users work with the DAM system. Make note of where people use workarounds and other clues about adoption. Sitting alongside your team and engaging in their day-to-day use of the DAM platform will help you optimize your plan and drive long-term adoption.  Also, take opportunities to connect your DAM platform with other software like product management or creative platforms. Integrated software is easier to adopt — users have one less place to log in, one unified username and password to access several systems and key data is synched between systems. Integrating software is a great way to make your product sticky for users.” [Read More]

The style of the article is evidently not going to be everyone’s taste, but I’ll put that down to ‘cultural differences’ and if you look at the actual points, they are all valid and reasonable ones which I would not argue with.  I have seen some of the other WebDAM articles by different authors and while they do work as ‘content marketing’ items, I think they ought to allow the boss more free reign to write some more DAM education related materials as it is clear she grasps what is involved with a typical DAM implementation exercise.  As a DAM industry commentator, that is the type of material I want to read (and I suspect most of their existing and prospective users also).

One observation I have made about some other information articles is that they have a degree of similarity with chapters from David Diamond’s DAM Survival Guide book (which was published two years ago).  I don’t think this specific article was a rip-off from that book, but a few other items I have read elsewhere are clearly ‘inspired’ by his work.  I always recommend that anyone planning to embark on a DAM project should read as much as they can about it first and with that in mind, you could do far worse than obtain a copy (in addition to reading all of the CMSWire articles in this series, of course!).  I should not pass up an opportunity to mention Elizabeth Keathly’s DAM book also.

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