Until quite recently, digital asset management (DAM) systems were niche products used primarily by entertainment and media outlets. But with the rise of the Internet, and the unprecedented use of rich media by companies large and small alike, these systems are attracting attention from many quarters. If your company regularly handles digital media, now might be the time to consider investing in a DAM system. At the very least, you should take the time to examine the process you currently have in place for securely handling these assets.

Companies spend much time and effort creating their digital assets, which can include text files, graphics, photo images, and audio and video files. These might be used for a marketing program, a PR campaign, perhaps for the company Web site. The problem is that the volume of digital assets is expanding too quickly for many companies to manage. The result is that these assets are often stored in remote locations throughout a company network, sometimes even on individual employees’ desktops, making them inaccessible to the rest of the company. That means assets get duplicated unnecessarily – all because companies can’t locate content that already exists. Consider:

• Forrester Research estimates that 70 percent of digital content winds up being recreated and not repurposed.
  
  
• Studies from consulting firm Frost & Sullivan and market researcher Gistics Inc. indicate that employees who deal with media files spend an average of 2.9 hours per week just managing those files. Transferring files consumes another 3.97 hours each week. Employees search for files 2,500 times a year and fail to find files 35 percent of the time, on average.
  
  
• Gistics estimates that companies replace $300 billion worth of their digital assets because objects are lost, misplaced, or duplicated.

It is precisely the time wasted searching for these assets, and the resources expended to recreate them, that DAM systems seek to redress.

How DAM systems work
Technically speaking, a DAM system is a tool for organizing digital media assets for storage and retrieval (and frequently for publishing). It allows users to attach metadata, which is information about the asset. Metadata can be descriptive (such as keywords or categories), technical (such as file type or size), or legal (such as rights and credits). Assigning metadata to an asset allows users to search for the asset by describing it. This means that users don’t need to know the file name, or even where the file is located, in order to retrieve it.

The principal components of a digital asset management system are the repository, where the assets are stored; the database, where the information about the assets is stored; and the user interface. Most commercially available DAM systems include workflow tools to help manage the flow of assets through a company. Security and rights management are included as well.

While comparable to content and document management, digital asset management offers special features for managing and accessing digital assets. For example, the user interface for a DAM system is more graphical and supports more robust search characteristics. Users can typically view thumbnail images of the assets to better distinguish among similar objects. DAM systems also allow users to search for particular colors, shapes, or sounds, in addition to standard text-based searches.

According to researcher META Group, “DAM systems will increasingly be used by organizations to more broadly manage brand assets throughout their life cycle rather than to simply create production and distribution efficiencies.” META defines the life cycle of a digital asset as follows:

• Content acquisition
  
• Production
  
• Digitization
  
• Logging/indexing
  
• Asset rights repository creation
  
• Asset storage and management
  
• Search and retrieval
  
• Secure distribution and usage tracking
  
• Record/report/settlement and billing

Secure distribution
Managing digital rights is becoming an important aspect of DAM systems. Digital rights management (DRM) enables the secure distribution (and disables illegal distribution) of content over the Web. DRM also links the licensed usage restrictions and fees to the assets.

Securing a file with DRM is a multi-step process, but the heart of the matter is that a user must have a license in order to view the file. As content-management specialist Documentum puts it, “The licenses granted in a DRM solution can be very specialized. For example, licenses can operate only after a certain date. They can expire after a given date, or after a certain number of uses. They can restrict the users’ ability to screen grab, print, cut and paste, or edit the document. Licenses can also be revoked after they have been granted. These features mean that DRM can be used to guarantee that people are using the correct version of a document at the correct time. . . . One other important feature of this architecture is that it provides the ability to audit how content is used.”

Case studies
So how are companies using DAM systems today? Let’s look at a couple of examples.

For one photographer, managing a collection of nearly 6,000 images was a daily struggle. Metal file cabinets were overflowing with folders full of slides, while trying to locate a specific image for a client often turned into a nightmare. With a DAM system, the photographer was able to build a visual catalog of assets -- he could drag his files onto the system, and it automatically created thumbnails of the images. He was then able to create custom fields and select image-specific keywords to organize the entire catalog, with the option of arranging and locating his images by subject, theme, date, or any other category. Bottom line: he has inventoried more than 5,000 photos that have stock sales potential into different catalogs.

An advertising agency that works with a variety of digital media in various formats is using a DAM system to catalog hundreds of desktop-publishing files, client logos, high-resolution images, sound files, and video files on a daily basis. The agency creates custom searchable databases to retrieve information about the files in an intuitive fashion with miniature thumbnail views. When the company catalogs its files, the DAM system extracts such information as file format, resolution, file size, creation and modification dates, and location. The company can also add agency-specific information such as art director, publication, studio creator name, and job number. It has even added voice and searchable text annotations to records.

Making the move
As with any technology that moves into the mainstream, digital asset management is surrounded by a lot of hype these days. The truth is that full-featured DAM systems aren’t for everyone. Before you think of implementing one of these systems, understand that installation can be difficult. Does your company have the necessary expertise? Also take stock of how many digital assets you develop on a daily basis. Is your company up to the task of developing the metadata taxonomy and tagging each asset with the appropriate metadata? Also consider how many assets you currently have on paper or film; these will have to be scanned into a digital format.

The good news here is that there are plenty of commercial DAM systems to choose from. So do your homework: draw up a short list of the ones that seem most appropriate to your company’s needs, then arrange for some vendor demonstrations. (Keep in mind also that hosted DAM systems are available from application service providers.) You just may find that a DAM system is the best way to unlock the value of your digital assets.