How to Deal with All Your Digital “Stuff”

The more your business grows, the more digital “stuff” it acquires. Logos, templates, documents and images quickly become cumbersome to manage and store across emails, drives and file servers. As brand assets become harder to access, the less often they are used. The less they are used, the more diluted your brand becomes. So how do you keep all your internal resources at everyone’s fingertips, company wide? Digital Asset Management (DAM) is the answer.

So What’s a DAM?

A DAM is an internal system to store, access and manage any and all brand material or business function documents. A well designed DAM can bring together all rich media elements and documents to a central location where users can login in to retrieve the material necessary for completing internal tasks. Having all of these elements in one place increases efficiency, security, user experience and brand growth. Fast access to this material isn’t just important to big brands, a business with just 30 employees can save $6,000 a year with the right DAM. (source) So now the only question left is, where do I begin? Here are the 3 things your should ask yourself when considering a DAM solution.

What Kind of Stuff?

What file types will you need to host on your DAM? This question that will help you hone in on what purpose your DAM will serve. Will it mainly be an HR tool for new hire material, time off requests and expense forms? Or will it be a marketing tool to access logos, imagery and videos. Or maybe your need a mix of the two. Determining what types of files you will need in your DAM will be reflective of your intentions for it. Once you lay out what types of files you would like to include, you can begin to map out who will need access and general organization. Once you have a general idea of what kinds of files you must decide what file formats they must be in. Do you want pictures to be .jpg or .png? Should documents be PDFs or Word docs? To maintain a well managed DAM you must set standard for your material and stick to them. Your brand assets hold your brand's value and the DAM is the bank. A brand that is consistent and well-managed builds the businesses worth up to 20% over a business with a weak brand. (source)

Who Needs What Stuff?

Now that you know what internal materials you want to be hosted in the DAM you must consider who should have access to these materials. Once a user logs in should they have open access to all the content, or only materials specific to their department? Documents containing sensitive employee information should only be accessed by HR employees, and access to company financial records should be restricted to stakeholders and the accounting department. Defining permissions for all users keeps the material together in a central location while still remaining secure.

Once you have laid out who can access existing material, you will need to decide who will be able to add new material. Think of your DAM much like a bank and in order to keep it consistent, you need to know who is depositing what. Selecting admins for each department is an easy way to break up the management of the DAM and keep each department focused on maintaining their own material.

How Much Stuff?

Now this might sound like a terribly broad and impossible question to answer, but making a reasonable assessment of how many files you would need to include and how big these files are is essential information to discuss with the agency you have selected to help you build out your DAM. A DAM for a large amount or files of varying sizes will need to be designed much differently than a DAM for a few core, very large files. When setting up your DAM you need to be aware and realistic of how much material you have currently, and expect to have, in the coming years. Ultimately the DAM should promote growth, and easily evolve with the increased needs of the company. Building out a DAM with future growth in mind will help to minimize unforeseen costs and growing pains. While there are a number of out-of-the-box solutions a customized DAM will best serve your brand and business in both the immediate and distant future.

Need help figuring out your DAM solution? Let’s talk!