No matter what industry you look at, the average company has at least 100 terabytes of data stored in its file system. That’s 830 million pages of text. 15.6 million photos. 1.2 million hours of audio files. Or 38,000 hours of video presentations.
So, it’s no wonder that companies quickly outgrow their basic onsite file systems. Digital assets start getting lost in an abyss of nested folders. Duplicate files across all version histories run rampant. Team members spend countless hours each week unsuccessfully tracking down assets and then recreating them from scratch anyway.
Fortunately, innovative digital asset management (DAM) systems can save you from that inevitable scenario as your company grows. The earlier you make the switch, the better, too, although there’s no bad time to level up your approach with DAM software.
What is a digital asset management (DAM) system?
A digital asset management system is a specialized software program designed to help you organize all the digital content used by your organization. The systems typically streamline file sharing and collaboration as well.
Truly innovative digital asset management software goes beyond DAM functionality to provide full file management solutions. You can then store all your digital files in the cloud to keep them safe and secure yet wholly accessible to your team members.
What are examples of digital assets?
Digital assets are all the digital content you use to efficiently run your business, promote sales, and track performance, such as:
- Meeting agendas
- Spreadsheets
- Slide presentations
- Reports
- Documents
- Video content
- Web pages and blogs
- Landing pages
- Product demos
- Case studies
- Podcasts
- eBooks
- Tutorials
- Images
- Graphs
- Charts
- Logos
- Business cards
The type of data assets you have depends on what your company does. Drone photography companies will have images, videos, and other creative files, for example. Accounting firms, on the other hand, may only have a Google Drive full of spreadsheets and other documents.
The assets used by your team members depend on their departments as well. Marketing teams will generate branding assets, ad material, and spreadsheets galore while management may focus on meeting data and reports.
What are the benefits of a DAM system?
When it comes to your company’s success, easily retrievable, up-to-date digital assets make all the difference. With a digital asset management platform, you get all that and much more, bringing all the following benefits your way.
1. Keep digital assets secure
Across the business landscape, over 90% of local networks remain highly vulnerable to data breaches and other cyberattacks. Despite that stunning figure, it’s actually quite easy to get out of harm’s way.
To do that, you need to set up your files in a secure cloud-based DAM environment. For the best results, make sure the platform offers multiple layers of protection down to the user level, including 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) and Single Sign On (SSO).
2. Consolidate tech tools
Today’s employees use more programs than ever before to complete all their duties each workday. In fact, on average, workers switch between 13 apps about 30 times every single day. All that switching around makes it difficult to prioritize tasks, reducing productivity across the board.
DAM software can help by combining all the features of asset management, file management, and collaboration tools into one single platform. Your workers can then easily find, share, and comment on files without having to switch between multiple applications.
3. Collaborate and share without duplication
As your digital assets support your operations, they’re passed from department to department for storage in their own folders. Each file may get changes made here and there, quickly allowing version control to go straight out the window.
Sophisticated digital asset management systems allow users to add items to their personal Collections without duplicating the files. So, you can effectively stay on top of version control, keeping your digital assets perfectly aligned with your brand every step of the way.
4. Repurpose your content
Excellent pieces of content shouldn’t only be used once and put away forever. Unfortunately, that’s far too often the case, resulting in content creation teams starting fresh every time. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
With all your digital assets stored in DAM software, your marketing team can repurpose all your best content again and again. By using the visual search system to find their starting pieces and then get busy with their repurposing efforts.
5. Maintain brand consistency
Proper brand management starts with consistency in your internal and external work. Your messaging must remain the same in all you do so that your mission, vision, and values guide the way to success.
For ultimate brand consistency, you need to have a precise data governance system in place – and using digital asset management software is a fantastic way to do that. Your employees can effectively work within that framework to complete their duties while keeping your branding on point.
6. Minimize asset waste
The average employee spends 2.5 hours searching for info, including documents and other digital assets in the company’s file system. Far too often, the assets they’re searching for never get found either, resulting in the need to recreate the works. Duplicating the work takes up 20% more time, too, which leaves much less time for new content creation.
DAM systems can stop that cycle in its tracks by making it quick and easy to search for the right digital assets every time. Thanks to its effective search capability, you’ll get to enjoy much less asset waste and better employee productivity overall.
7. Streamline workflows
Workflows come to a screeching halt as employees endlessly dig through complex file systems in search of the right asset for the job. The resulting decline in worker productivity prevents jobs from getting done by the deadline and potentially wreaks havoc on your competitive advantage.
DAM software with file management capabilities helps prevent the halt in workflows with its effective AI tagging system. The custom categories prime the visual search system for excellence, so your employees can track down the right assets at a moment’s notice.
8. Improve collaboration
If your teams use multiple apps every day, communication likely lands across the board. Missed messages quickly become the norm, which means ineffective collaboration at every level of your organization. The problem undoubtedly only gets worse when looking at collaboration between different departments.
To improve collaboration in one bold move, you need your team members to operate within a digital asset management platform. This innovative system allows them to create and share file collections, tag certain assets as their favorites, and even comment on the files to improve communication companywide.
9. Track asset usage
Do you know which digital assets get used most often to support your marketing efforts and other operations? Are you aware of which employees use key assets to complete their job duties? If you’re still in the dark about those things, it’s time to move into modern times with a high-tech DAM platform.
Innovative DAM software comes with advanced features such as workspace usage trackers and user reports. You can see which digital files support your operations most plus how your users move through the workspace day to day.
10. Save time and money
Embracing the power of digital asset management software provides a big boost to your overall brand intelligence. You’ll gain the ability to store, distribute, and control your creative files better than ever before. Truly streamlined workflows will follow, resulting in better employee productivity and less asset waste.
All that adds up to big time and money savings for your brand. Your bottom line will improve as a result, helping your company grow and thrive through the years. The benefits will only improve as your company grows, too, since you won’t have to worry about a bloated in-house file system weighing you down.
What do you need to look for in DAM software?
To get all the benefits of asset management software, you need to look for a system with:
- DAM and file management capability in a single platform
- Secure cloud-based DAM functionality
- Single Sign-on and 2-Factor Authentication
- A high-tech yet intuitive user interface
- Drag-and-drop addition of new assets
- Ability to add unlimited users to the workspace
- Set variable user permissions and access rights
- File version control capabilities
- Visual search results with dynamic filters
Beyond all that, look for an asset management solution with a free tier offer. You want to be able to check out how the system works before fully investing in the switch. That way, you don’t waste time and money trying to find the best digital asset management system for your company.
How do you implement a DAM?
Once you find a cloud-based DAM system that works for your brand, it’s time to integrate the system into your operations. You’ll need to start by moving all your digital assets to the new central location. If you’re using a file management system like Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive, look for a solution that allows you to easily import your files to the new DAM solution. With AI tagging enabled in the system, you can ensure your users can easily search for the assets they need right off the bat.
After that, you’ll want to:
- Plan how you want to organize your workspace
- Upload or import your files and tag them so they can be searched for
- Create user teams within the DAM software
- Add your users and set their roles
- Start collaborating
As long as you switched to a DAM system with an intuitive interface, visual search, and other advanced features, your employees will undoubtedly adjust to the new approach in no time. Using the DAM software will soon become second nature, resulting in great improvements to your operational efficiency.
If you’re ready to start seeing the benefits of digital asset management software, Stockpress is here to help. As your leading DAM solution and file management software all in one, we make it easy to get started for free. Sign up for FREE and get 5 GB of storage plus the ability to add unlimited users from the start.
