What Is The Reason Behind The Current Trend For Revolving Door DAM Implementations?
Earlier today, I published a feature article for DAM News on the topic of what has been described as ‘revolving door’ DAM implementations. In this piece I consider some of the deeper and more fundamental reasons why this is taking place and what factors have contributed to it becoming more of an issue than it perhaps once was a few years ago:
“In enterprise deployments, it is unrealistic to expect the organisation to change modes of working to adapt to suit the limitations of a niche solution such as Digital Asset Management. Instead, the platform itself needs to have the necessary flexibility to adapt to the needs of the users. Where products lack this, they are likely to quickly get found out and have to be replaced sooner than anyone expected. This is particularly distressing for the stakeholders, especially if they have only just purchased the product.” [Read More]
This is a phenomena which has become more prevalent recently at the enterprise end of the market where a DAM user will decide to ditch their previous DAM, go out to find a replacement and then within a relatively short period (usually less than two or three years) they will want to get rid of that too. In some cases, the client has gone back to the original DAM they ditched, in others, they have been required to look for a third vendor (and hopefully not a fourth).
A number of vendors have mentioned this effect to me. Usually where they were either the original supplier or the latest replacement, unsurprisingly few have wanted to confess to being one of the DAMs that got dumped. But it’s not just vendors beating their chests about seeing off weaker competitors; a significant number of consulting clients have approached me recently with troubleshooting assignments as a result of their latest DAM not delivering. Most appear to have regrets that they didn’t carry out the selection task adequately and a list of counterparties or stakeholders (both internal and external) who they perceived were guilty of leading them down the wrong path. I’m not going to judge them too harshly, this is a remarkably tricky type of software product to both select and implement successfully, a fact not aided by the sheer size of the field. It does illustrate, however, the benefit of having an experienced DAM expert on-hand who can give you some more informed guidance.
Share this Article: