The benefits of a DAM system
It's actually quite strange that serious money is spent on creating content and at the same time we are so poor at managing it. In this blog, Sebastiaan de Ruiter looks at the benefits of a DAM system, not all of which are necessarily monetizable.
Content-driven organizations
Today, almost every organization is content-driven. That means that mountains of money are spent on creating content. Pretty strange that we then do a very poor job of managing that content. It is stored everywhere and nowhere and duplicates sometimes fly around your ears. Not to mention version control. Not all content is immediately spot on. If I just look at the creation of this blog, before I publish it there is always some feedback from colleagues that I want to incorporate. With the creation of a website or a major online campaign, this obviously looks even more closely.
From expensive custom application to pay-as-you-go
Less than twenty years ago, large corporations had image databases created. These precursors to the Digital Asset Management system were all custom applications for which sums of money with at least four, but more often five zeros, were paid. Then those images and other files could then be downloaded over a beeping ISDN line or shared with colleagues and agencies via CD-ROM. Today, such exorbitant investments are no longer necessary. Modern Digital Asset Management systems are SaaS solutions, and we don't have to worry about Internet connections at all. So the investment is minimal and yet we are shocked when we have to pay 35 cents for a gigabyte of storage.
Saving thousands of dollars
The ROI calculators for DAM systems are hard to come by. While it is difficult to calculate exactly what the ROI is, there is one conclusion that I feel comfortable drawing. You will recoup the investment in marketing automation in general, or in digital asset management in particular, within a year, if only by the number of hours you spend less time searching. Research shows that, on average, we spend four hours a week searching for files. That's easily 180 hours per year per employee. If you multiply that by their hourly rate, you quickly arrive at thousands of dollars. That doesn't include the cost of storing all those files and their duplicates in all the different locations. Not to mention the fines you risk if you use files whose permissions have expired.
Employee Satisfaction
Wonderful, all these savings, but what is most important to your organization? Your employees, of course. What is sometimes forgotten is how a DAM system can contribute to employee satisfaction. In practice, marketers spend much of their time searching for and emailing files. Removing that hassle gives the marketer time to be creative again. This way, you support your team, you can be sure that your look is always consistent, and you also save a lot of money. Win-win-win, in other words.
Curious?
Want to learn more about the benefits of Digital Asset Management? Then download our DAM guide. Immediately discover how Comrads can help your brand? Then request a no-obligation demo right away. We like to think along with you. Now and in the future.