Mass digitization has led to new ways of working and in turn new technology platforms to help us manage the ever-increasing amount of digital files that we have in our personal and professional lives.
The increased demand for remote collaboration and automation now calls for businesses to rely heavily on digital asset management solutions to maintain operational transparency, improve the use of digital content, and increase overall operating efficiency.
In 2021, the worldwide DAM market reached $4.7 billion, but estimates show that the market will grow quickly to $13.4 billion by 2027 – a compound annual growth rate of 19.2% from 2022 to 2027.
So, what are the important factors driving the market’s growth? Continued digitization, innovation, and mass adoption of cloud software and the accelerated adoption of remote and hybrid working caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
What Is a Digital Asset Management system?
A DAM system is a software-based solution that companies use to quickly store, retrieve, and utilize digital assets. While practically any media file format can be maintained by DAM software solutions, the most common digital formats include image files, video files, audio files, and documents (PDFs, word docs, spreadsheets).
The majority of DAM software solutions are cloud-based which provides better access to brand assets, is more scalable, and offers faster operational speed. How? DAM software provides a centralized and secure location to archive, categorize, and retrieve data. In turn, it can deliver the right information to specific people, in real-time.
Here’s a more detailed overview of why global teams and organizations are adopting DAM software with such urgency:
Optimized file storage
Unlike platforms like Dropbox, GoogleDrive, or Box, a DAM platform allows for one file to live in multiple locations without ever being duplicated. This can help keep file storage and storage costs down while reducing friction around finding, and using, the correct file. This is especially true and helpful when the digital asset management software allows for ‘file versioning’ – a practice that makes it possible for only the latest version of a file to be searched while ensuring that the previous versions of a file can be viewed and restored if needed.
Easy file access across teams
When it comes to finding, sharing, and most importantly, using digital assets remotely, DAM software can make the task infinitely easier. When set up in the right way, DAM software solutions give everyone access to the digital files they need, wherever they are and whenever they want them. This feature is especially important for organizations that work with a global team of employees.
DAM software can improve collaboration among distributed stakeholders by centralizing their assets and making them easy to access not just for those inside their organizations, but those outside too such as independent vendors, digital marketing teams, suppliers, agencies, and media partners.
A good DAM software will allow for in-platform collaboration as well as provide the ability for users to create shareable links to use with external collaborators who may need to access files without being added to the platform. An even better DAM will allow users to track these links, set expiration dates, and measure the number of times they have been accessed.
File access, based on permissions
File security and ensuring that files are used in the right way, by the right people, is incredibly important for organizations that work with multiple stakeholders and teams. With DAM software, users can create permissions on files and Collections according to the needs of the recipient/collaborator. Giving files or users permissions based on actions such as “view-only”, or “download-only” help DAM users control how and where their assets are used.
Decreased cost and time savings
Inefficient processes are a company’s most significant time waster – and time is money. Making sure that everybody is productive is the key to a profitable and streamlined organization. By using the right DAM software, entire organizations can easily find, use and share digital files of all types, whenever and wherever they need them.
Improved organization and workflow efficiency
According to a survey, 1 in 5 of 1,000 U.S. office professionals felt that “digging for files they need” is their top challenge for remote work. Another 58% said a quick search for files and documents is one of their top 3 concerns.
Metadata-driven DAM software solutions respond to this pain point. Metadata simplifies the organization and labeling of digital assets, making it easier for users to search and access digital files. How? Rather than remembering where a file was saved, users can quickly search using a combination of file title, description, and tags as well as file metadata such as file type, file owner, orientation, file extension, and more.
Aside from searching by metadata, assets in a digital content library can also be filtered according to status. For example, files can be marked as published, accepted, rejected, or under review (some platforms even let users customize statuses) so they can be identified more easily.
Experience the Stockpress difference
Stockpress is a cloud-based DAM platform that provides companies with flexibility and ease of access to digital assets. With Stockpress, users can manage, organize, share and collaborate on any file type, of any file size, from anywhere in the world.
Organizations, companies, and agencies will benefit from an unlimited user model with the ability to create unlimited custom roles and unlimited teams of users to make sure file permissions are managed based on the needs of the business.
Stockpress makes searching for digital files easier with AI tagging and file metadata that allows users to create organization-specific tags to speed up the process of locating and using files.
For those used to using file management platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Box, Stockpress offers an intuitive file-sharing alternative. While for those already used to Digital Asset Management practices, Stockpress provides a leaner and more nimble solution.
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