What is a Digital Asset Management – A Detailed Guide

As per a study by Research and Markets, the market for digital asset management is set to grow 6x by 2026.

An increasing number of digital advertising solutions and internet usage are the reasons behind this sudden growth. Also, digital asset management systems can help you and your team can operate seamlessly and eliminate bottlenecks.

Without further ado, let’s dive in to understand more about these systems and why they are a must.

What is a Digital Asset Management?

Digital asset management (DAM) or enterprise asset management systems help you retrieve, store, share, track, manage, and organize digital assets in a central location. You can also use them to access files at any time and from any given device.

Moreover, they all offer security to protect all business files by regularly undertaking backups and syncing data. You can also use them to archive, automate, and streamline digital assets and for creative workflows.

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How Can Digital Asset Management Solutions Help Reduce Company Costs?

Did you know asset tracking solutions can help you save nearly $189,000 over five years? Be it lost files or improper file storage, both can make you lose out on money.

However, implementing a digital asset management system can help you save on resources and ensure smooth operations.

1. Reduce Workflow Redundancies

By enabling a complete repository of all digital content centrally, DAM can help you optimize the use of assets. This will help you facilitate team collaboration and reduce redundancies. This, in turn, will let you save money on backups and improve organizational efficiency.

2. Improve ROI

An enterprise management system lets you track the usage of assets through analytics. You can use this data to optimize designs, influence content strategy, and streamline business processes. Thus, helping you allocate resources better and improve return on investment (ROI).

3. Accelerate Production Cycles and Marketing Efforts

With digital asset management solutions, it will get easier to launch marketing campaigns and reduce the time-to-market. 

Also, your employees will spend less time searching network drives for lost digital assets.

With valuable data at your fingertips, you will be able to work with fewer resources and thus cut down costs significantly.

Things to Consider While Implementing Digital Asset Management

Before you implement a digital asset solution, you will need to understand how to use your assets and what they can do for you. Follow these steps to get started.

1. Outline Your Goals

The first step is to focus on the reason for implementing an enterprise management system. So, you need to define a strategy to create or acquire digital assets. This will also include a method for handling third-party licensing issues and version control.

If your goal is to improve your communication systems, you must learn about cloud communication trends. You will also need to do a cost-benefit analysis of using cloud-based communication assets. This will help you take the plunge and level up your communication.

At the same time, If your goal is to improve internal processes, you must learn how to use DAM software to manage your assets, inventory, staff, and other aspects of your business. It will help you improve accountability and undertake business expansion initiatives.

2. Does DAM Software Streamline Your Processes?

Now that you have your goals in place, you need to analyze your existing workflows. Once you have done that, you need to consider some of these factors before choosing a solution.

• How many users need access to your system?
• What is your projected growth? 
• Which hosting option works best for your organization?

3. Perform a Content Audit

Now, how can auditing your assets help you?

Well, it will help you get a clear idea of your assets, how they are being used, and why they were created/acquired. Moreover, this information will help you manage assets better and improve your content. Thus, resulting in a better return on your investment.

4. Understand Your Customer Journey

Another important aspect of implementing digital asset management solutions is to understand the customer journey. Moreover, it will help you translate business requirements into digital asset specifications. This, in turn, will help you measure, optimize, and achieve business goals.

5. Organize Digital Asset Lifecycle

The next step you need to know about an equipment tracking system is to organize the life cycle of an asset, and it can be done by following these steps.

• Create/ acquire the asset
• Verify that the asset was added to the system and eliminate any data errors
• Update, extract and enter metadata information
• Ensure asset retrieval is smooth 
• Export asset files, including all necessary components
• Store and archive large files in cost-effective long-term storage locations
• Distribute the assets

6. Integration with Other Systems

You might be using many systems and processes to accomplish your business goals. Make sure that your digital asset management software can integrate well with other systems your company uses.

7. Enforce Guidelines and Build Workflows

Now that you have purchased an IT asset management solution, you need to train your team and help them understand the software.

All you need to do is explain the system’s processes and goals and encourage a culture of shared responsibility. It is suggested that you assign tasks to specific users and build workflows to define the following operations:

• Obtaining files
• Attaching metadata information 
• Modifying/ renaming original files
• Organizing, cataloging, and tagging 
• Documenting the process in writing

Top Digital Asset Management Software for Small Businesses

1. Canto

A leader in digital asset management, Canto has helped 1000+ clients organize, secure, and share virtual brand assets. With 25+ years of experience in the asset management industry, organizations worldwide rely on Canto to centralize their media library.

Features

• Asset Categorization
• File Conversion
• Metadata Management
• Mobile App
• Reporting/Analytics
• Search/Filter
• Asset Library
• Asset Sharing
• Customizable Branding
• Version Control
• Workflow Management

Pricing 

Quote-based

2. Bynder

Are you looking for an easy and professional way to manage your digital assets? Well, Bynder can be your pick. Your team will be able to make real-time edits, get brand approvals, format channels, and file types, and simplify file sharing and storage.

Bynder also provides a centralized cloud-based portal for all company materials and messaging. With your company creatives a click away, you can easily look forward to executing your next big idea.

Features

• Access Expiration Management
• Access Revocation
• Asset Categorization
• Asset Library
• Asset Sharing
• Audio File Management
• Audio/Video Protection
• Brand Management
• Campaign Management
• Activity Planning
• Analytics/ROI Tracking
• Animation
• Approval Workflow
• Archiving & Retention
• Artwork Management

Pricing

3. Brandfolder

An industry leader in digital asset management solutions, Brandfolder lets you easily store, manage, share, and analyze assets across hundreds of formats. These include 8K videos, documents, images, and 3D renderings.

With best-in-class services, security, support, and scalability, Brandfolder has helped global brands create compelling and consistent brand experiences with unparalleled efficiency and speed.

Features

• Archiving & Retention
• Artwork Management
• Asset Categorization
• Asset Library
• Asset Sharing
• Change Management
• Collaboration Tools
• Customizable Branding
• Document Retention
• File Conversion
• Fulfillment Distribution
• Metadata Management
• Offline Access
• Project Management
• Reporting/Analytics

Pricing 

Brandfolder is available at $1600 per month

4. Widen

Widen is a leading digital asset management software providing a central source of information for digital content and brand assets. It is ideal for both mid-sized to large organizations.

Widen’s cloud-based solutions for marketing workflow and brand management will help you deliver an extraordinary customer experience.

Features

• Access Controls/Permissions
• Analytics/ROI Tracking
• Approval Workflow
• Archiving & Retention
• Artwork Management
• Asset Categorization
• Asset Library
• Asset Sharing
• Audio File Management
• Brand Management
• Brand Overlay
• Bulk Uploading
• Business Process Automation
• Calendar Management
• Campaign Management

Pricing 

Widen Collective pricing starts at $20000.00 per year

5. Mediafly

Mediafly is a comprehensive digital asset management and presentation software. It allows marketers and sales representatives to turn content into personalized sales presentations in just a few minutes.

Features

• 3D Objects
• Animation
• Audio File Management
• Collaboration Tools
• Content Delivery
• Content Management
• Customizable Templates
• Goal Management
• Media Library
• Meeting Management
• Offline Editing
• Offline Presenting
• Performance Management
• Presentation Tools
• Screen Sharing

Pricing 

Quote-based

Summing Up

Brands with digital asset management solutions are worth up to 20% more than their counterparts. With streamlined processes, personalized content, and reduced costs, enterprise asset management systems can work wonders for your business.

Have you tried out such a system? Share your experience in the comments below!

Rohit Rajpal

Rohit Rajpal is an accomplished writer and data enthusiast passionate about unraveling the intricacies of information and data. With a deep understanding of the subject matter, Rohit strives to simplify complex concepts and make them accessible to readers. Rohit’s expertise in the field and his knack for clear and concise communication make his blog an invaluable resource for those seeking clarity in the data-driven world.