Avoid These 7 Mistakes In DAM Solution Implementation
Digital media is everywhere nowadays. As a result, digital asset management (DAM) is essential for better managing digital media.
In essence, DAM helps you do the following for your business:
- Find the right files
- Distribute files, AND
- Make sure that files are safe and secure
Now, when compared with a good digital asset management software, a DAM solution will help your business processes run smoothly, in regards to the following:
- Photo libraries
- Campaign management
- Brand management
- Distribution across multiple channels
- Catalog and magazine production
- Broadcast media
- Short-form media
However, DAM can be vulnerable to mistakes, when it comes to implementing it into your business. And, if mistakes are made (intentional or unintentional), then they can cause you and your business to lose time and money.
In this article, we’ll dive deeper into DAM, and the common mistakes that can happen when implementing solutions for your business.
Why DAM Implementation Is Important
DAM solutions imply that you make a plan from start to finish on how you’ll manage your digital assets. That means being able to evaluate your business’s current situation, while foreseeing the future, and understanding the following:
- The processes
- Specs, AND
- Key principles
Just keep in mind that there’s no perfect DAM solution on the market. Why? Because all businesses are different and have their own cases and issues. Having said that, functionality should be something to think about when choosing a solution to work with. Plus, learning about your business’s digital assets (especially the metadata, which we’ll get to later on in this article) is essential, so that you pick the right solution that will accommodate to them without any problems.
1. Audit existing digital assets
Carrying an audit of your existing digital assets will help you understand which assets need to be managed, allowing you to make informed decisions. Most of the time, they sit in your company’s folders unknown to many of your employees—along with being undervalued, poorly used, or never found.
As a starting point, try to analyze and understand the digital assets currently present and owned by your organization. Next, answer these questions:
- Where are these assets stored currently?
- What software do you use to manage it?
- Who is taking care of the process right now? Is there a team?
- Are all the employees aware of these assets?
- Do you have a labeling system for them?
Use this data to identify the gaps in your current DAM strategy. The idea is to troubleshoot the current system and create a new one that is more organized, automated, and secure.
This audit will help you understand what’s missing right now, what you need, and how it will help you. Don’t forget to record all these observations in a Google sheet as a track record that you can come back to if there are any confusions.
2. Not Making Comparisons Between Solutions
When something for something, it’s normal to compare and contrast two different things – the same is true for DAM solutions.
So, NOT comparing solutions can be detrimental to your business. Without comparing solutions, you’ll risk ending up with one that doesn’t benefit your business at all (or little, to say the least).
Plus, if you focus more on the bells and whistles of one solution, and ignore the “dull-looking” one, that can work against you too, because chances are, the “attractive” solution will do you and your business no good.
Worst of all, some salespeople will try to take advantage of you when you shop for a DAM solution. There’s a thing called the “decoy effect” as a means to sell the more expensive option to you. Here’s how it works:
- You’ll be showed 2 options to choose from.
- However, a cognitive bias will be issued by the salesperson, to where they portray Option A as the best solution out there, while depicting Option B as the “undesirable” solution (which might’ve been useful for your business to begin with).
- At the end, you’ll be left with Option A, which will cause issues for your digital assets, and your company overall.
With that in mind, opt for a DAM solution does the following for your business:
- Gives you extensive experience in designing
- Knows how to implement solutions, AND
- Great at deploying their products
For example, Filecamp helps you manage all your digital assets in the cloud by offering easy-to-use solutions. As a lightweight DAM solution, Filecamp isn’t as complex as other DAM solutions.
3. Buying Based Solely On Price
Believe it or not, there’s more to pricing than one might think, especially in regards to DAM solutions. While the price tag is more obvious, the value can be hidden somewhere even before you make the decision to buy on behalf of your business.
Say you want to go for a cheaper DAM solution. While the cheaper option may sound more appealing than the more expensive one, chances are you’ll be getting less value than what you’ve bargained for. Chances are, the “cheaper” option will turn out to be a dud that doesn’t understand your needs.
With that said, investing in a DAM solution is more than picking a solution – it’s an art in many ways than one:
- It involves strategizing for your business.
- It involves making decisions on the technical stuff.
- It involves establishing a stable agreement with the vendor, in regards to ongoing support and upgrades to your solution. AND,
- It involves how you want to customize the look and feel of the solution that you invest in.
These are some of many things to think about when choosing a DAM solution, which can ultimately determine how much money you’ll need to invest in it.
For example, Filecamp is all about saving you money on the best DAM solution(s). At Filecamp, you can rest assured that whatever you need from a DAM solution, we make sure that your choice is not only workable, but also affordable – no matter your business, and no matter your budget!
4. Not Thinking About UI
User interface (UI) is what you’ll first encounter as a user, or even in a DAM solution demo. While having a strong UI is just as important as your business needs, it can still cause problems for when you’re choosing a solution to begin with. In fact, looking at UI first can bring about cognitive bias, or the “halo effect” which is when first impressions influence how you view a product as a whole. The halo effect tends to cancel out further information on a solution, which could’ve been useful in figuring out how you want the solution to work for you.
That’s why, you’ll need to consider UI as a function for your site. How you want the UI to look depends on the DAM solution that you choose. Remember: Users should be able to actually use your site, not just marvel at appearances. With that said, you’ll need to consider good user experience (UX) design, which goes hand-in-hand with UI.
5. Consultant Or Pitch-Based Buying
Buyers tend to be suckers for things that “look good” and “sound good.” However, if something looks good and sounds good, will it work good? This is something that can affect your buying decision, because many consultants and vendors with give you a pitch that looks and sounds good, but won’t give you a clear answer of whether or not a DAM solution will work for you.
First, vendors will present you with a polished demo of what they believe is the best DAM solution for you. While all of this may sound flattering to you, what they WON’T show you is how effective that “hailed” solution will be for you. So, be sure to focus on how that solution will be effective in use cases. To do this, ask shortlisted vendors to show how their solutions work for any specific use case that you have in mind. This strategy lets you make good comparisons between solutions, while avoiding over-buying or selecting an inferior solution. Remember: It’s not about the bells and whistles; it’s about the quality and effectiveness.
6. Not Looking At The Metadata
Metadata – as defined by Filecamp – is data within data, where you’ll find it in its rawness, and in context. As a contextual part of the main data itself, metadata shows you the following, upon further inspection:
- Data type
- Elements
- The size of said elements
- Source location, etc.
But too many times, metadata is neglected in software; and businesses run the risk of missing out on information that could’ve been useful to them in the beginning. Such problems include:
- Not collecting the correct metadata
- Not collecting metadata at all
- Not understanding the benefits of metadata
- Not seeing how complex collecting metadata can be
- Not managing how metadata enters your DAM system
- Insufficient metadata
- No structure for metadata, and so on
As you can see, these are some of many problems in metadata collecting that should be considered before investing in a DAM solution. That’s why it’s imperative to know what assets you have and how to do the following for them: identify, organize, and describe.
Since metadata is your DAM system’s greatest asset, it’s important to provide structure and organization for such valuable information. When you identify and document metadata, you’ll be able to categorize and organize assets, and then format them seamless for all applications that your company uses.
7. Buying Based On “Authority Bias”
Finally, you never want to outsource your buying decision, when it comes to investing in a DAM solution.
Authority bias implies that you’re buying through outsourcing. In fact, authority bias is where you favor an expert’s option more than your own. This is risky, because while working with a knowledge consultant is recommended, it gives the ‘expert’ more of the buying power which is supposed to be yours. In other words, experts don’t know you – the person that has the digitals. That means that no one knows your digital assets but you.
With that in mind, it’s safer to buy a DAM solution based on your preferences. Don’t let the experts make the buying decision for you.
Conclusion
As you can see by this vast exploration of DAM solutions, digital assets management is – and should never be – treated as a one-time thing. It’s not a temporary project that your IT or marketing team must tackle. In fact, there’s more to DAM than what meets the eye.
Without adequate DAM practices, your business will unintentionally lose files, costing your brand much time and money. And, consumers who would normally flock to your brand will cease to be, and your reputation will go down the drain. This has happened to many companies, and has caused the lost of production within said companies.
Remember: DAM solutions allow your marketing and sales team, along with consumers and partners, to seamlessly and securely access and distribute successful digital assets. So, to recap, be sure to do the following to avoid mistakes in DAM solution implementation:
- Have a plan to buy and implement the right DAM solution.
- Compare and contrast different DAM solutions.
- Look at more than pricing when shopping for DAM solutions.
- It’s not just about UI; it’s also about API.
- Don’t settle for a “looks good, sounds good” mentality.
- Study your DAM system’s metadata.
- Avoid authority bias when shopping for solutions.
Strong digital asset management requires plenty of research and consideration before you decide on buying a solution. By avoiding the 7 common mistakes that were discussed in this article, you’ll be able to find the right DAM solution for your DAM system without going overbudget, and without sacrificing quality and effectiveness. Again, it’s all about finding the best solution – one that’s helpful to you and your company.
We wish you the best of luck! 😊
Elizabeth Hines
Share this Post