How Teams Transformed Their Creative Workflows with Digital Asset Management (DAM)

With constant demand for ever greater numbers of digital content, how to cut through the noise and get stand-out creative through the door, on time? Marketing campaigns, product launches, content creation—these renders, images, videos, and files come from every project whether or not they are relevant to the organization at that time, they are necessary for peace of mind and future work. Teams now turn to Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems such as Blueberry Solutions to help streamline their workflows, improve collaboration, and increase productivity. Here, we delve into how teams in different spaces have progressed their creative workflows with DAM and then outline the use cases alongside a set of the most popular DAM benefits.

What is Digital Asset Management (DAM) 

What is a DAM System?

What is a Digital Asset Management System? DAM systems are a single source of truth for all digital content where assets are easily retrieved, correctly tagged, and used consistently between projects and teams.

Blueberry DAM in action.

Key Features of DAM Systems

Centralized Repository: A DAM system creates a single source of truth for all digital assets. It allows for centralized storage, making it simpler, less risky in terms of duplication or loss, and a convenient activity to access digital content when another stakeholder requires it.

Metadata Management and Advanced Search: DAM systems come with strong search functionality and metadata and can help users find assets quickly via searches based on keywords, tags, and other criteria.

Version Control and History: When files are kept in brand asset management solutions, they track changes and version histories, so workgroups always have access to the latest approved versions of assets.

Collaboration Tools: DAM platforms allow for better collaboration, helping teams share, review, and approve assets in real-time.

Integration with Other Tools: Most DAM also plays well with other systems and projects too - things like - JavaScript, REST APIs, authorization, JSON, XML - oh my. This makes DAM a good partner in systems with other such content management systems (CMS), project management tools, or design software.

DAM is revolutionizing creative workflows

1. Better Teamwork and Collaboration

Case Study: Marketing Agency

Agency - A marketing agency implemented a DAM system to enhance collaboration across its widely deployed team. Previously, team members had to deal with version control issues and project delays due to miscommunication. DAM system: A single repository for all assets as well as tag and version information.

Results:

Better communication – You can share assets and leave comments quickly and easily, so you no longer need to go to email and get lost in the eternal thread of confusion.

Simplified Approval Processes: Processing automation streamlined asset review and approval, thus, projects moved forward on time as planned.

A 30% reduction in project turnaround times, allowed the agency to onboard more clients and generate more revenue.

2. Asset Management & Retrieval Workflows in Action

Example: E-commerce Retailer Case Study

With thousands of product images, descriptions, and promotional materials an e-commerce retailer struggled to handle it all. Their absence of a central system resulted in wasted time - and centeredly tracking down decided-upon assets. DDD denoted a complete breakthrough in their flow of work as a DAM system helped organize all digital content in a place.

Results:

Fast Asset Retrieval: Powerful search functionality and metadata tagging enabled teammates to find assets in seconds instead of hours.

Confident Branding: It secured the confidence of having all authorized and peer assets used across all channels to keep the brand message consistent

Less Redundancy: The retailer deleted duplicate assets, saving storage space and overall clutter.

3. Efficient Content Production and Delivery

Media Production Company Case Study

A media production company was looking for a better way to manage and deliver video content. The former was a multi-platform storage, editing, and distribution pipeline inefficient and overprone to errors. Through the implementation of dedicated DAM technology, the brand has centralized all of these functions via a single interface.

Results:

Smooth Workflow: Editing and approval of video content were now possible directly from the DAM, removing the need for multiple workflows.

Saves Time-to-Market: The direct path to all steps saved more time to both create and disseminate content which enabled them to react more quickly to the market.

Real-time Collaboration: Editors could work with producers and marketers to ensure a consistent content strategy.

Team members collaborating.

4. Superior Version Control And Integrity Of Assets

Case Study: Publishing House

This publishing house handles a high volume of manuscripts, design files, and marketing material, and this reliance on assets exposed them to risks around version control and asset integrity. Varying editions of the same paper proliferated, which would eventually muddy the waters and introduce numerous mistakes. A DAM system solved these issues by giving us version control and fine-tuned access management.

Results:

Historic veracity: The DAM system stored every modification in a full version history, so that only the latest versions were made available.

Secure Access: Granular access controls ensured that only allowed staff could make changes to vital assets - providing content protection.

Fewer errors: The publishing house saw an 80% reduction in errors in outdated/incorrect asset usage.

5. Scalability and Adaptability

Consumer Goods Company - Case Study

A global consumer packaged goods (CPG) provider requires a scalable system for digital asset management across brands and regions. The old system was outdated and did not scale with the volume of assets. Adopting a scalable DAM system helped the company improve its asset management practices.

Results:

Scalable Infrastructure: The DAM system managed the increased number of assets without performance decrease.

Global and Regional Content Management: The Company can easily manage and distribute localized content concerning regulations and relevancy.

Expanded Collaboration Box | Development Creatives: Teams in multiple locations could successfully access and contribute assets, and a renewed sense of global collaboration.

Pros of Updating Workflows via DAM

1. Increased Productivity

By automating several manual processes, such as asset tagging, searches, and versioning, DAM systems facilitate. It allows creative teams to spend their time on more important and high-level tasks, leading to higher productivity across the board.

2. Enhanced Creativity

By taking advantage of this library of digital assets, creative teams can find inspiration using existing content to brainstorm ideas. Access leads to [innovation and] creativity, and in the end, that gives birth to meaningful campaigns and projects.

3. Cost Savings

DAM systems save a lot of money by rooting out redundant assets, reducing the cost of storage, and minimizing errors. Faster project delivery, in turn, enables more efficient use of resources by companies.

Blueberry DAM helps reduce cost of assets management

4. Consistent Branding

Enterprises can employ DAM systems to see to it that only authorized and current assets are distributed over all channels, preserving brand uniformity and accuracy. This is very important in building and maintaining a consistent brand image.

5. Better Decision-Making

DAM systems come with advanced analytics and reporting features that let you drill into the details of asset usage, performance, and ROI. With this information, organizations can drive their creative strategies with data-led decisions.

What we can expect in the next generation of DAM

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

The introduction of AI and machine learning in DAM systems will help automate asset tagging, boost search capabilities, and enable predictive analytics. This will allow workflows to be further optimized and asset management to be more effectively conducted.

2. Enhanced Security Features

With the value of digital assets growing, DAM systems will develop sophisticated security capabilities. You can also use advanced encryption, user authentication, and access controls to protect the sensitive data.

3. Compatibility with future technologies

Coming up in the future, DAM systems will be able to integrate with AR and VR. Artist and creator teams would be able to effectively manage and distribute the best in immersive content using this integration.

4. More Personalization and Adaptability

DAM systems will provide more options available for customization and flexibility so you can create a DAM platform that matches your team, organization, and objectives. Through the new modular architectures and API integrations with several third-party tools, users will be able to integrate the most up-to-date toolsets and systems.

Summary

Digital Asset Management systems have revolutionized creative workflows in many industries, allowing management, organization, and distribution of digital assets between teams. Certainly, when implemented and managed correctly, DAM systems enable greater collaboration and more expedient retrieval of assets, improving content creation and enhancing version control which in turn fuels productivity, creativity, and cost savings. Moving forward, DAM systems will undoubtedly be improved in the future with each iteration of new technology, which will continue to improve their effectiveness, which means that businesses will only be able to compete in the digital era. Through a DAM system, creative teams can not only tap into their fullest forms while working but also set their projects and campaigns up for greater success.

Please visit Blueberry DAM free trial for more information.