DAM Systems!

As companies grow, the amount of assets grows with them. The difficulty of organizing them increases. Different departments/groups use their own methods of file naming convention, labeling and organizational structure to house their valuable assets. Technology companies took notice and have started developing platforms and software to capitalize this challenge.

Some provide better solutions than others. This post is my 🔥 hot takes 🔥 on the ones I've worked with in the past as a system admin, digital asset librarian and manager (experience are based prior to end of 2023). I am not a developer and I do not have behind the scene knowledge. My recommendations can be found below 👍👎. 

Here is a list of common features clients look for in a DAM system:

1. Search by Keyword and Filters
2. Organize / Collection / Metadata
3. Gatekeep / Permission / Share
4. Report

Bynder - A good system with many useful out of the box solutions; it has a clean brand forward UI design. Desired features can be expressed to account managers and be considered for future roadmaps. My experience with this system is the oldest so they most likely won't be applicable to their latest version.

BrandMaker - A basic system with potential once more features are fully realized. UI design is simple and clean. Desired features can be expressed to account managers and be considered for future roadmaps. 

• It has the ability to use auto generated tags. Accuracy needs improvement.
• It incorporated search within each menu which is user friendly especially filters and tags tend to grow continuously.
• Some functionalities are made available to users but they don't work appropriately. Such as marking an asset being used in particular project (project management is another module the company provides) in the DAM but doesn't show up in the project management module.
• It lacks administrative tools to make adjustments and corrections to metadata.

BrandFolder - A great system with many useful out of the box solutions; it has a clean visually pleasing brand forward UI design. Desired features can be expressed to account managers and be considered for future roadmaps. 👍This is the one I would recommend to use 👍.

• Along with the basic features listed above, it has useful tools for admins to make changes and correct user errors efficiently. Example, consolidate or correct tags with multiple spelling (Smiling and smiling).
• Since DAM systems lean heavy on visuals, much like the ones listed here, it too lacks the ability to view assets simply as file data. Think of the detail views in Windows or Mac. When naming conventions are followed, one of the best way to weed out errors is through sorting through details without the need of any image thumbnails taking up monitor real estate.

Adobe Experience Manager - A deep and complex system with huge potential. It has brand name recognition backed with little development resource. 🚫I do not recommend this for any organization unless they plan on spending millions and years of development 👎.

• Search is its best attribute with keyword search and filter search methods. Other systems have caught up to this and have made better iteration of this combination.
• It has many out of the box solutions users look for but sadly they don't work well. Common things I've heard from users are the system is very clunky on both functionalities and its UI.
• It has a lot of potential but it requires a lot of development time to get it to work.
• Support team is slow which affects communications and requires a lot of follow up creating back and forth.
• Latest iteration, AEM Cloud, maintenance update may be made across for all clients who use this cloud based system. Example, client A requested an updated to a feature that they had a problem with or an opinion on how it should function for their particular use. A change is then made across the entire system which now affects client B's process.
• Knowledge base is vast, convoluted and outdated. There are articles upon articles to help you understand the system and how to use it but it is often written in technical terms and structure. It is so dry you will be dehydrated after a few articles. Some of the information is outdated because changes are made fast and furious. My guess is no one can keep up with the changes to make updates to their documents/articles.

What is Digital Asset Management?

Digital asset management is organization assets to improve visibility, discoverability and distribution throughout a company; extending their value for a longer period of time.

Majority of the my experience with digital asset management, marketing is often the largest stakeholder. This has to do with marketing's need to create various types of marketing material to push a product or an initiative throughout the year for both external and internal purposes. Weekly campaigns will push the limitation of teams that create them and systems that store and distribute them.

I often compare digital asset management to warehouse management (which I've done) because if you don't know what you have in your inventory, resource may be spent unnecessarily to acquire what you may already possess.

ROI is often talked about in the digital asset management conversations. Maximizing the use of a given set of assets. Leveraging assets from campaigns in yesteryears.

Digital asset managers and librarians are tasked to keep up with the paste. Organizing existing assets, working with marketing/brand managers/creatives to prepare and receive new creative assets that are in the pipelines, coordinating with web and software developers on distribution of creative assets and troubleshooting system functionalities and improvements that are needed are some of the responsibilities of the digital asset management team.