From logos to professional images to smartphone shots, chances are your company owns a surprising number of digital assets.
Fortunately, digital asset management (DAM) systems can help organize the images, videos, and graphic files to be easily accessed and shared with other regional offices or outside vendors. These systems can be cloud- or software-based and work like a library for your digital assets—storing them off your primary server and sorting them with custom taxonomy.
Here are a few reasons to consider taking on a DAM system:
- Graphic files take up space: Even if you’re on a cloud-based file system, graphic files take up a ton of space. Migrating to another platform frees up limited storage on your primary backup server.
- You have more digital assets than you think: You might be outsourcing all your graphic design projects, but if you manage any aspect of your own website, chances are you have videos, pictures, stock images, and digital resources at hand. Keeping them organized and easily searchable means you don’t have to be the art director to know what logo to use when.
- Many cloud-based systems adjust storage size automatically: No need to worry about running out of space—many companies offer plans that adjust as you add more content to your system.
- Multiple backups: Yes, you should always have at least one backup of your graphic files. DAM systems often double or triple file backups.
- Security: Don’t worry about your logos or licensed stock images being used improperly by colleagues. DAM systems can set permissions so only certain people can download or manipulate appropriate files.
- SharePoint is not graphic friendly: SharePoint was built to store documents, not graphic files. Trying to preview, select, sort, or move visual files is a clunky experience in SharePoint. Microsoft doesn’t offer a comparable cloud system for graphics yet, but a DAM system can make working with graphics a lot easier.
Your IT professional can walk you through the pros and cons of adding a DAM system to your company. Ask them if this solution is right for you.
By Prasana William