What is DAM?

1. Introduction: What is DAM?

Digital asset management (DAM) refers to software for managing, maintaining, and providing digital content such as images, videos, documents, graphics, or audio files. This makes DAM an important component of product and corporate communication. Metadata and keywords help to structure content and support users in their search for the right digital assets. Modern DAM systems have also evolved considerably, particularly in the areas of AI, automation, collaboration, and licence management. This blog article provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art.

2. Key Insights

Today, there are many answers to the question ‘What is DAM?’ – that's how broad the functional scope of modern DAM systems has become. This isn‘t surprising when you consider the various stakeholders who benefit from a DAM system. The typical use cases of a DAM system include:

• Image data maintenance: Basic image data tasks are performed automatically by modern DAM systems. This includes tasks such as importing, image data naming, and keywording as well as creating image derivatives. Derivatives are copies of media data that are prepared, manipulated, or stored in different sizes, cuts, and formats for different purposes. For example, the same product image is required in a different format on a website than on Instagram. A different image section is selected in a mobile online shop view than in a desktop view. Providing all these derivatives automatically not only saves resources but also ensures consistently high data quality.
• Brand portal: The provision of brand-compliant documents, central image material, logos, guidelines, and other brand elements such as fonts and colours plays an important role for many companies, especially when working with a broad partner network, the press, or sales partners. A brand portal ensures that trading partners as well as internal employees, external agencies, and graphic designers have access to current and consistent brand elements. This applies in particular to permitted logo variants, colour palettes, and fonts.
• Licence management: Companies often work with external image databases such as Getty Images or Adobe Stock, which offer licences for the use of images. In most cases, the permitted use of images depends on various factors such as the duration of use, the country regions for which the communication is intended, the scope of the target group of the planned communication, and the type of communication platform. Monitoring and compliance with these licensing regulations are essential in order to prevent unnecessary costs due to licence infringements. As the number of products, target markets, and languages increases, this task quickly becomes very complex and time-consuming. DAM systems such as Sharedien provide support with automated processes.
• Collaboration: Creative processes usually require collaboration between various internal employees and external parties such as photographers, graphic designers, and agencies. DAM systems have now evolved into collaboration platforms that not only effectively manage rights and roles but also facilitate project work with the help of intelligent functions.
• Integration: What is DAM for product communication? Quite simply, it’s an indispensable and integral part of the digital value chain. This is why integrations with neighbouring systems and applications play a key role in realising the added value of a DAM system. This includes software systems such as PIM, CMS, and e-commerce in particular, but also programs for day-to-day work such as Adobe Creative Cloud or Microsoft Office. The more integrated a DAM system is into day-to-day workflows, the more efficient internal processes become. This makes it all the more important to look for a solution with an API-first approach when selecting the right DAM system, as this is the only way to ensure that it can be seamlessly integrated into the entire digital ecosystem.

Tip: Due to the central importance of a DAM system, it is important to precisely document all relevant creative processes, including all stakeholders and connected applications, before implementation. Only then can the implementation project ensure that the software solution can realise its full potential and perfectly support product communication.

3. Why is a DAM important?

Product communication is an essential pillar of the marketing strategy for both manufacturers and retailers. It has a direct influence on sales figures and therefore on overall business success. At the same time, the demands on product communication have risen sharply in recent years. Product messages must be innovative, attractive, and convincing in an increasingly colourful and noisy consumer world. On the other hand, product advertising is taking place on a constantly growing number of communication channels.

This is especially true for companies that follow an internationalisation strategy and have to adapt their product communication to a growing number of target markets. Localised product advertising is crucial for sales success in new country regions, and this is not limited to the language. Product images must also be adapted to the cultural rules and customs of the different regions in order to maximise their impact on the target audience.

Another factor is the growing importance of personalised product messages. The better a consumer can identify with the offer, the higher the likelihood of purchase. For product images, this means that different personas should be presented with different image scenarios in order to increase the willingness to buy.

This means that the complexity of product communication is constantly increasing. Companies can only meet these challenges if they have implemented the right technologies and processes.

A DAM system plays a very important role here, as the success of product communication depends more and more on visual elements such as images, videos, comparison tables, and other documents such as certificates, sustainability seals, or instructions for use.

So why is DAM important and what advantages does it offer?

• Effective product messages: A DAM system supports every product description and marketing text with suitable image and video material, thereby addressing the important visual level of communication. Products thus receive the necessary attention and can be more convincing in the competitive (online) retail sector.
• Reliable brand development: Brands thrive on their visual recognition value. This doesn’t just apply to the logo, though – DAM helps companies design their entire communication in line with their brand and consistently across all channels. This helps to build a strong brand in the long term, which also supports customer loyalty.
• High integration capability: Powerful DAM systems such as Sharedien offer a high level of integration capability, especially with PIM systems. Most DAM solutions even build a partner network with PIM providers to develop native interfaces that make integration even easier and faster.
• Fast go-to-market thanks to automation: Companies can only control the increasing complexity of product communication if basic data processes are automated. DAM solutions such as Sharedien, for example, automatically create all required derivatives and image data formats during the import of new data and make them available to the various output channels.

These are just a few examples of how a DAM system can create real added value for companies. In the following, we take a closer look at the use cases that a modern DAM system such as Sharedien can map today.

4. Areas of application for a DAM system

Find digital content quickly: Employees often waste a lot of time searching for digital content, for example for marketing campaigns. DAM systems offer sophisticated search and filter functions that, with the right metadata strategy, make digital content findable in no time at all.

• Automatic data maintenance: Automated data maintenance processes such as retouching images or keywording product videos save internal resources and increase data quality.
• Monitoring of licence rights: The use of images and video material is often limited by licence rights. Compliance with the permitted terms of use is important in order to avoid costly licence violations. Automatic monitoring of these licences saves not only a lot of time but potentially also money.
• Supporting collaboration: Creative projects are usually characterised by complex review and approval processes. In addition, a lack of access rights for external participants makes collaboration difficult. DAM systems such as Sharedien offer secure collaboration platforms for precisely these scenarios, facilitating teamwork with intelligent functions.
• AI integration: Artificial intelligence is driving productivity and efficiency in many business areas. It has long been firmly established in DAM and provides exceptional results for special searches such as OCR or AI search.
• More efficiency in day-to-day work: DAM systems bring the most added value when they are firmly integrated into a company’s digital ecosystem. Direct connections to daily work programs such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud applications enable tasks to be completed without any program changes or media disruptions.

Find out how OTTO is shaping the future of e-commerce with Sharedien!

5. How to implement a DAM system correctly: best practices

When implementing a DAM system, there are a few things to consider so that the solution can realise its full potential:

• Finding the right system: First of all, companies need to find the DAM software that suits them. In this blog article on DAM selection, we have summarised the most important selection criteria for you.
• Draw a process map: Before implementing a DAM system, all relevant processes must be fully documented, including all people involved and connected applications. This is the only way to clarify which integrations are necessary and how the data processes need to be organised.
• Record requirements for digital assets: Each communication channel has its own rules on how product images and videos must be formatted and cropped. These rules must be taken into account when configuring the system.
• Roles and rights: When setting up a DAM system, it is important to determine and clearly define the access rights and different roles of internal employees and external parties in advance. This speeds up the implementation of creative processes, campaigns, and projects and ensures maximum security and data protection.

Tip: Start small and grow fast! It is advisable to initially focus the DAM implementation on a few core processes in order to achieve initial successes quickly and transfer the lessons learnt directly and successively to the other business areas. Modern DAM systems such as Sharedien offer the necessary flexibility and scalability, allowing application areas to be expanded as required.

Due to the central importance of DAM and its integration into a wide variety of data processes, careful implementation and integration are essential for the success of the investment.  

6. Sharedien: The most important DAM features

Sharedien combines all these application areas in a cloud-native, high-performance, and scalable solution:

Digital asset management

Sharedien takes classic DAM to a new level. With its generic data model and state-of-the-art, flexible cloud technology, Sharedien supports companies of all sizes and complexity.

Content hub

Thanks to its high level of integration capability, Sharedien acts as a central data hub for the entire organisation. All output channels and data recipients are reliably supplied with high-quality digital assets.

Brand portal

By centrally providing brand elements such as logos, fonts, colours, images, videos, and brand guides, Sharedien enables companies to ensure brand compliance.

Digital rights management

No more legal costs due to licence infringements: Sharedien supports marketing teams in effectively monitoring and complying with licence rights thanks to automated digital rights management.

Workspaces

Efficient project management and simplified collaboration thanks to Workspaces: benefit from automated approval and review processes, intelligent role and rights management, as well as helpful project tools such as Kanban boards and centralised document storage.

AI-driven DAM

With innovative AI functions such as AI Search or OCR, you can speed up your DAM processes for greater efficiency, higher employee satisfaction, and improved data quality.

Get to know Sharedien here: Live demo and presentation of the most important functions

7. The most important use cases of DAM

Use case 1: Asset search

The number of digital assets is constantly increasing and it isn’t uncommon for companies to manage data volumes in the billions. This makes it all the more important to make asset searches as simple and intuitive as possible. Innovative features such as AI Search and OCR boost the efficiency of marketing teams when compiling campaign material.

Use case 2: Creative projects

Many different parties are often involved in campaign planning, including external parties such as agencies or graphic designers. A secure and effective collaboration platform not only ensures smoother review and approval processes thanks to workflow automation but also helps the team to keep an eye on deadlines, milestones, and project goals at all times.

8. Measuring success: How to evaluate the effects of DAM

Companies are regularly faced with the question of what the implementation of new technologies has ultimately achieved. The effects of DAM can be precisely measured using the following key performance indicators (KPIs):

• Reduction in time-to-market: The time it takes to launch new products and campaigns can be critical to success – especially in markets where there is high competitive pressure. The faster a product reaches the point of interaction with potential customers, the greater the sales potential.
• Higher productivity: Faster retrieval of digital assets, the automation of workflows and data processes, and the integration of DAM data processes into daily workflows lead to a measurable increase in work efficiency.
• Lower licence costs: Digital rights management monitors the permitted use of licences and can therefore provide timely warnings of licence violations or licence expiry. This can effectively avoid legal costs.
• Higher conversion: The success of product communication depends to a large extent on the visual realisation of product messages. If DAM and PIM work together perfectly and deliver convincing product experiences, this can have a positive impact on the conversion rate in digital commerce.

In addition to the directly measurable KPIs, there are a number of other added values that are more difficult to quantify. These include, for example, higher employee and partner satisfaction or the long-term strengthening of brand identity.

Would you like to find out how best to measure the success of DAM in your company? Talk to our experts!

9. Common mistakes when introducing DAM

As great the potential of DAM is, a lot can go wrong when implementing the system. To prevent this from happening and from ending up with a simple file system, avoid the following mistakes during DAM implementation:

• Purely an IT project: Many companies still make the mistake of driving digitalisation projects from the IT department. DAM is a prime example of the fact that these projects must be located in specialist departments because this is where the actual requirements and networking with other data processes come together.
• Mapping the status quo: Modern DAM systems offer many innovative functions and integration options that harbour enormous potential for efficiency gains and improved product communication and campaign preparation. However, many teams make the mistake of only mapping the status quo during implementation, thus missing an opportunity for sustainable development of data processes.
• Incomplete requirements: A project as centralised as DAM must involve all relevant perspectives – this includes stakeholders as well as output channels and peripheral systems. Even though the selection of the right system and its implementation can be challenging as a result, careful conceptualisation is crucial for the sustainable success of the project.

10. Conclusion and recommendations for action

What is DAM? DAM can be a real superpower for marketing teams provided they use a modern tool and ensure the right implementation and integration into their digital ecosystem from the outset. Careful planning and continuous monitoring and optimisation of DAM usage contribute significantly to the investment security of DAM.

Want to know more?

Our DAM experts will be happy to answer your questions – get in touch now!

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