John Horodyski

Having extensive history and education in the field of Digital Asset Management, John Horodyski approaches DAM from the perspective of potential—it’s not what DAM has done in the past that matters, but what DAM can do for each organization moving foward.

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

I am currently a Partner at Optimity Advisors where I lead the Metadata and Taxonomy practice for Digital Asset Management and IT Advisory and Business Intelligence. I have been privileged to work with some amazing organizations ranging from Media & Entertainment (Television, Video Games), Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) (Food, Fashion, Flowers, and more), Pharmaceuticals, Technology, Healthcare and Insurance.

How do you describe digital asset management to others?

DAM consists of the management tasks and technological functionality designed to enhance the inventory, control and distribution of digital assets (rich media such as photographs, videos, graphics, logos, marketing collateral) surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets for use and reuse in marketing and / or business operations.

How did you learn DAM? Any recommended sources?

I first learned about DAM during my graduate studies in university studying information science and archival studies back in 1998.  I knew then that DAM was the real deal, and an exciting place to be centered at the convergence of rich media content and discovery.

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

I always tell people that DAM is much more than just a technology acquisition and that it is not simply a project, for a project by definition has a finite beginning and an end. For DAM is a product or better yet, a program that requires ongoing and active strategic management, corporate vivacity, and evaluation to ground its purposefulness within the organization so as to direct its maturity and growth.

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

I love what I do. I would definitely be doing something involving content, marketing, managing information and working with people and organizations helping to solve their information problems. Or quite possibly, living it up as a global food critic, a mixologist on a tropical island or having fun with music or sports marketing. :)

What is your ongoing greatest challenge with DAM?

The greatest thing about challenges is that they draw us all together to work collaboratively and collectively for the greater good. For DAM does not live in splendid isolation; it is an opportunity for all groups, team, and departments in an organization to to work together and create a program for sustainable success. The challenge and the opportunity for organizations is to come together to understand the value of DAM as a single source of truth for their content and to then leverage that content for use and reuse.

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

DAM as an industry has evolved and matured well over the last twenty years and will continue to evolve with the rapid changes in technology, social media, and mobile consumption for consumer experience and engagement. With DAM, the power of metadata, content, access, use and distribution will continue to grow and be seen as the foundation for digital strategy work for all organizations.

What was your biggest mistake with regard to DAM?

I have no regrets, for everything that I have ever done, accomplished, failed at, etc. has led me to where I am right now and made me who I am. Don’t dwell on the past, only focus on the future.

What was your biggest success with regard to DAM?

See my previous answer.

What more would you like to learn about DAM?

I am a life long learner and love the new experiences gained from clients both new and old. Don’t accept mediocrity for there is always something new to learn and something to make better.

This interview originally appeared on DAM Guru on Mon, 24 Mar 2014. For more DAM News interviews, see the interviews index page.

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