The DAM vendor landscape: What the buyer should know
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ords: digital asset management, database, cataloging, object repository, hybrid, file folder, customization, integration, licensing Abstract There are over 90 different vendors with various types of systems, architecture, and applications. They all have an aggressive sales approach and glitzy marketing information to convey why you should choose them. This paper’s main focus will hopefully shed light on the basic DAM categories, an inside/in-depth peek into these categories, the common pitfalls of DAM, and what to look for before deciding on a vendor despite their claims. The majority of research for this paper comes from first-hand experience, user groups and forums, and end-user interviews. To help understand what DAM is all about, a basic DAM primer is included. The importance of evaluating a vendor’s Statement of Work (SOW) is outlined in brief here.
INTRODUCTION TO DAM
Irwin Marcus, Marcus Technology Inc., 254 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019, USA Tel: +1 212 582 6811 Email: [email protected]
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Each year, our society generates growing amounts of digital content. This content can include page layouts, high-resolution image files, audio clips, video, marketing collateral, cover art, logos, photographs, legal contracts, etc. Organizing, archiving, and accessing these digital assets across the enterprise can quickly become an overwhelming task. The basic premise of digital asset management (DAM) is the organization of these digital media files so that authorized individuals can quickly find, retrieve, and physically locate them. It also enables the systematic reuse and reexpression of these digital assets, allowing organizations to stimulate new business models and open up new revenue streams. Now hundreds of participants including sales, marketing, production, publicists, advertising agencies, and on-demand printers can take advantage of DAM system capabilities. The next logical next step in the DAM evolution was for vendors to add specialized capabilities to streamline the workflow process
by offering a collaborative environment. Now instead of just using DAM as an archiving medium after content had been created, DAM can add value earlier in the creative process. A good example of this is the bridge between the publishing process workflow technology and a DAM system (see, for example, Figure 1). Another hot area of current DAM development is the method of distributing and updating web content. Automated deployment systems can be used to automate the delivery of the latest product and/or brand image modifications throughout the organization and authorized partners. These automated systems, sometimes referred to as ‘‘deployment engines,’’ use business rules to trigger actions. A typical action might be the deployment engine examines asset metadata fields to determine if the asset should be transformed and pushed out to an agency, printer, the web, a portal, e-devices, or simply an FTP site. Logic rules can get quite complicated depending on the audience — see Table 1 for an example.
JOURNAL OF DIGITAL ASSE
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