Jade Jourdan

 

Jade understands that one of the biggest challenges with DAM is getting up to speed on a new system, so the rest of the pieces can fall into place on a successful implementation.

What companies/organizations have you worked for as a DAM professional? What was your role at each?

I currently work at Edwards Lifesciences as a Senior Digital Asset Specialist. I manage the DAM system containing source files for marketing projects, as well as product images, corporate images, video and company logos.

Before working at Edwards Lifescieces at I did some asset management with regards to design projects and advertisement designs at The Orange County Register.

How do you describe digital asset management to others?

Basically as a librarian for marketing materials that are kept online.

How did you learn DAM? Any recommended sources?

I have attended yearly DAM conferences. Particularly the Henry Stewart DAM NYC conferences have been helpful. Real Story webinars are valuable, as well as other DAM companies that have webinars.

What’s the most important thing for someone new to DAM to understand about DAM?

For me I find the importance of archiving and that nothing should be discarded. Every asset should be able to be retrieved. Old assets are often needed for historical reference.

If you weren’t doing DAM as a career, what would you be doing?

I really love digital asset management, but if I was not in this field I would be managing a graphic design department.

What is your ongoing greatest challenge with DAM?

One of the greatest challenges and digital asset manager faces is the transitioning from an old system to a new system. Getting trained, training users, selling users on the new system, this all takes time and patience.

What is your vision for DAM? What will it look like in 5 years?

I believe it will become necessary for every company to have a DAM system. And, the systems will be improving and work more smoothly. Ease of use will be the biggest improvement I see in the next five years.

What is your biggest mistake with regard to DAM?

Probably would be that I had to learn a lot about DAM in a short amount of time to be productive in my position.

What was your biggest success with regard to DAM?

Getting up to speed with our DAM system. Learning about DAM, metadata, taxonomy as well as learning about the business units and products at Edwards. Very challenging first year, but learned a lot and am successful at managing the DAM.

What more would you like to learn about DAM?

I like to keep up with DAM innovations. What the trends are, where improvements can be made…what industry professionals are saying about where the industry is headed.

 

This interview originally appeared on DAM Guru on Mon, 23 Mar 2015. For more DAM News interviews, see the interviews index page.

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