What’s the difference between Digital Asset Management and file management?
Digital assets work a little differently. Digital assets tend to have layers of metadata created by different contributors, which managers can use in Digital Asset Management solutions for cataloguing and discovery. Files such as Word, Excel, PDF, CAD, and other files tend to use naming conventions as their primary form of indexing and discovery. With Digital Asset Management, AI can also identify and tag content, with visual recognition as another discovery form. A DAM allows Images and videos to be quickly and easily reformatted and repurposed across multiple departments and projects, requiring entirely different access and management tools compared with other file types.
How does digital asset management work?
The easiest way to understand the difference between File Management and Digital Asset Management systems is to use an analogue metaphor.
File management systems are like filing cabinets. Everything is ordered and filed in folders. Discovery is challenging if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for or where to look.
Digital Asset Management works more like a library. While very much systematic, you can also start a discovery process without a specific file in mind. Like a library, you can begin with a content type, theme, or format, then keep drilling down until you find something that visually captures your eye. This multi-layer, intuitive and visual discovery process makes discovery faster. It also allows for more cross-usage of assets for more departments and roles.
Why is every organisation now hunting for a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution?
DAM solutions have the power to store, share and organise all digital content in a secure and centralised location. DAMs allow you to get more out of your creative files, such as images, videos, and other media, by ensuring your team can find, share, and optimise your digital assets in real time. The practical benefit of this easy but secure access is that your teams can achieve more in less time, utilising many of the assets already in your collection.
More targeted investment in digital asset creation
Many organisations waste time and money recreating images and videos simply because the assets are too hard to find. Digital Asset Management makes your valuable digital assets more easily discoverable. A DAM also allow you to develop reports by user. asset and purpose, helping you better plan your investment in creating new digital assets.
Internal and external management of digital assets
Historically, Digital Asset Management solutions focused on meeting the needs of internal users in an organisation; that has changed now. With remote working and the need to manage external user groups better, the best DAM solutions have evolved to provide secure, user-approved access to images, videos and brand assets across a more diverse group of internal and external users. The key to implementing a DAM solution successfully for internal and external use is managing and monitoring specific rules for user groups.
