DAM News Round-Up – 15th June 2020
A collection of recent DAM-related articles from around the web, sourced from DAM Federation member, Planet DAM.
Unlocking Competitive Advantage with System Integration
Andrew Lomas writes on a LinkedIn article about the potential benefits of systems integration. Andrew illustrates his thesis by drawing comparison with the way in which items can now be easily purchased from a smartphone because of the behind-the-scenes payments infrastructure integration that now exists which makes this all possible. He discusses some underlying technologies like Data Integration Services, Master Data Management and Customer Data Platforms. The article will be especially useful if you are unfamiliar with many of the concepts. Unfortunately while all this is commonplace in payments processing, it is currently still more aspirational rather than tangible when it comes to many DAM implementations, where the digital asset supply chains are still not quite as seamless as many users would want them to be. Nonetheless, the article is well written and makes some very valid points, in particular if you are in the process of trying to secure funding for Digital Asset Supply Chain projects.
Spark joy in your workplace with effective metadata
The Third Light blog has an item by Edie Mullen about effective metadata in the context of Digital Asset Management. A lot of this experienced DAM users will probably regard as a bit too basic and introductory in-nature, with that said, I thought Edie had succinctly summarised some of the issues more effectively than I have seen in many comparable articles. In particular, this sentence: “…even non-visual files can be lost in a system that the user navigates based on where a document is filed; the weakness lies in the differing thinking of the multiple individuals doing the filing.” (my emphasis).
Last Friday, I wrote an article about the different technologies and techniques that can be employed for duplicate detection in DAM systems. Very much like the point in the Third Light blog article discussed above, I note that one person’s understanding of what is meant by ‘duplicate’ can vary considerably from another and this can lead to some complex governance issues. As with a lot of topics in DAM, the technology can only take you so far.
Brand Portal Versus Enterprise DAM: Understanding The Differences
Julien Fauvel writing on the Wedia blog compares Brand Portals with Enterprise DAM. A lot of prospective DAM end-users are unlikely to understand that a difference even exists – and to be fair to them, there can be a fair degree of crossover. Julian covers a number of important distinctions such as the size of your organisation, how geographically distributed it is and your workflows (to name a few). This sentence is is a good summary of the fundamental issue: Ultimately, the difference between Branding Automation and Enterprise DAM is less than one of a software category definition but a continuum of capabilities.
John Hennessy, CRO for Elateral, has written an article about the control of digital assets when they are used outside a DAM (i.e. for production purposes). He compares digital assets to children and employs the metaphor to illustrate how digital assets can sometimes be misused or mistreated once they leave the parental home (i.e. your DAM). John examines two options for dealing with this: complete control and frameworks. The former being a model where everything has to be centrally approved and authorised, the latter a more flexible approach based on guidelines (noting that the second is likely to be more successful). I thought this was a skilful way to demonstrate different governance techniques and he makes some useful points that are worth reading.
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