The Complete Guide to Digital Asset Management
Digital Asset Management (DAM) — the process of centrally storing, organizing, and managing multi-media content like videos, audio files, and PDFs — helps improve collaboration between teams, enable a consistent brand experience, and enhance data security.
What Is a Digital Asset Management System?
A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is a tool or software that centrally stores, organizes, manages, and distributes a company’s digital assets, from images and videos to 3D models and CAD files.
As businesses expand globally and decentralize operations, it’s important to ensure that each team can quickly access the assets they need to carry out its function. Combined with the ever-growing number of online platforms where businesses need to show up to stay top of mind for customers — and scaling your workforce to manage them all — this creates a business imperative for maintaining a system that distributes up-to-date versions of your digital files.
A cloud-based DAM system enables more efficient retrieval of digital assets than on-premesis (or “on-prem”) DAM. Cloud-based DAM is hosted on remote servers and allows team members to access the most up-to-date content wherever they are. On-prem DAM, on the other hand, is often hosted on a specific device and can therefore only be accessed under specific circumstances. This can cause bottlenecks and version control issues down the line.
How Does Digital Asset Management Work?
DAM systems centrally store and distribute digital files, eliminating the need to store assets on individual drives and desktops. By automatically categorizing and tagging uploaded assets, DAM systems make it easier for stakeholders to find what they’re looking for. Additionally, image recognition features allow team members to find assets without needing to remember exact file names.
By keeping track of multiple versions of assets, DAM ensures that the most up-to-date version is easily accessible while still making past versions available for reference. To bolster data security, DAM systems regulate user permissions, allowing administrators to determine who can upload, download, view, or edit assets. This keeps sensitive content secure while empowering efficient collaboration within teams. As an added security measure, DAM’s encrypted storage and backup options reduce the risk of unauthorized access and potential loss of assets.
Also, collaboration between teams is more streamlined with DAM. Not only is it easy to share files and automate approval workflows, but third-party integration is seamless. Integrating DAM systems with tools like content management systems and marketing platforms makes it easier to automate repetitive tasks, streamline asset distribution, and maintain consistency across channels.
As a centralized repository for important company assets, DAM enables quick and easy retrieval of the correct version of files, powers cross-team collaboration through workflows and third-party integrations, and regulates user access of sensitive files.
When Should I Start Considering a Digital Asset Management System?
Your team should ask several key questions to evaluate whether it's time to invest in a DAM system. Namely:
- How does your team currently manage digital assets?
- Is finding and sharing assets time consuming?
- Can assets be easily accessed?
- Are we experiencing bottlenecks during collaboration?
- Is our current system secure enough for digital assets?
- Are we dealing with brand inconsistencies or duplicate content?
- Is it hard to manage version control of assets?
- Do we need a system that will integrate with other platforms?
Start by thinking about your current process for storing, updating, finding, and sharing digital assets. If every team uses discrete storage locations, manually updates files on their own authority, and spends more than a few minutes searching for the right version of a file, it may be time to invest in a DAM system to streamline your process. This will reduce the time spent creating duplicate content and the likelihood of visually inconsistent content going live.
Additionally, consider how seamlessly your teams collaborate on projects. Is progress on a project location-dependent? Can you determine the status of an asset at any given time without waiting for a team member across the country to come online and provide updates? DAM systems can help prevent project bottlenecks by improving visibility and providing real-time alerts when files are uploaded, updated, or approved.
Further, the security of your digital assets is critical. As the number of data breaches increases year over year, it’s important to deploy systems that will protect sensitive assets. DAM systems offer enterprise-level security and data encryption, ensuring that your assets are stored safely while still being accessible to authorized users and third-party software.
Benefits of Digital Asset Management Systems
A DAM system isn’t just glorified storage for your files — it provides a high return on investment by reducing errors, automating workflows, and increasing productivity. In terms of long-term solutions for high-level needs, DAM systems support your team’s growing needs and improve your digital asset management.
Here are some benefits of DAM systems:
Improved benefits and time savings
DAM saves you time by giving you access to the files you need quickly. By centralizing your digital assets, DAM reduces the time it takes to find the right files, get updates on the status of an asset, and publish brand-aligned digital assets.
Better collaboration and workflow
DAM allows teams to stay on the same page even as they manage multiple projects and campaigns from different locations. By providing centralized access to files, increasing visibility, and automating workflows, DAM enables efficient collaboration across teams and functions.
Enhanced brand consistency
For modern customers, brand consistency is a key factor in gaining their trust. DAM helps ensure that all content going out in your brand’s name is consistent across platforms.
Increased security and control
When your assets are scattered across different spreadsheets and drives, you’re at an increased risk for security breach. DAM’s access permissions, data encryption, and backup options ensure that your data is only used by authorized stakeholders.
Stronger version control and asset tracking
By tracking different versions of assets, DAM systems help ensure that you always have access to the most recent version of a file. This prevents content duplication and keeps everyone on the same page.
Improved ROI
A DAM system helps provide long-term ROI, as it allows you to spend your time on more high-value tasks. DAM reduces the time you would spend on tedious, repetitive tasks and allows you to focus on activity that will contribute to the bottom line.
More efficient scalability and growth
DAM allows you to grow and scale your business more quickly. With everything in its place and properly documented, moving fast isn’t a problem. Likewise, new team members will know where to find what they need quickly and be able to hit the ground running.
To experience the full benefits of a Digital Asset Management system—streamlining your workflows, enhancing collaboration, securing your assets, and driving growth—See our DAM solution and discover how DAM can transform your business.
Types of Digital Assets Managed by DAM Solutions
A DAM system can handle a wide variety of digital assets, providing an organized and secure way to store, retrieve, and distribute these resources across your organization. Here are some of the main types of digital assets that can be managed by DAM solutions:
- Images and Photos
Whether it's product photos, marketing images, or graphics, a DAM system helps store, categorize, and retrieve images easily. High-quality image management is essential for maintaining brand consistency and optimizing content for various platforms.
- Videos
DAM systems are designed to manage video files of all sizes, from promotional clips to training videos. These systems can organize large video libraries, ensuring that the right video is easily accessible for internal use, sharing, or public distribution.
- Documents and PDFs
Product brochures, contracts, presentations, and other important documents can be stored and managed in a DAM system. With full-text search capabilities, teams can quickly find and use the necessary files, reducing time spent digging through folders.
- Audio Files
For companies producing podcasts, voiceovers, or sound effects, DAM systems offer a reliable way to manage audio files. These can be tagged with metadata and organized by project or type, making them easy to retrieve and use.
- Design and Creative Files
High-resolution design files such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign documents can be stored in a DAM system. The system tracks file versions and ensures that creative teams always have access to the most up-to-date designs.
- Spreadsheets and Data Files
Marketing reports, financial data, or inventory tracking files can be managed through DAM systems, allowing teams to access the most current versions without the risk of errors or outdated information.
- Web Assets (HTML, CSS, JS files)
DAM systems also support web-related files, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This makes it easier for teams to maintain consistent branding and web design assets across different sites and platforms.
- Social Media Assets
Many companies need to manage social media content, including graphics, videos, and posts. A DAM system allows these assets to be organized, ensuring teams have easy access to branded content for scheduling and publishing across social channels.
- 3D Models and CAD Files
For industries like manufacturing or retail, DAM systems can also manage complex 3D models or CAD files. These files often require specific metadata and version control to ensure accuracy and consistency in product designs or prototypes.
Common Use Cases for DAM Systems
DAM systems help teams of all sizes in different industries. Here are some examples of common use cases for DAM systems:
Retail
DAM centrally stores and organizes digital assets, ensuring that retail stores publish consistent, accurate, and relevant information for each product.
Marketing
Marketers use DAM to access up-to-date marketing content so they can create a consistent brand experience for customers and launch campaigns more quickly.
Sales enablement
DAM helps sales reps improve performance by providing access to product one-pagers, presentation templates, and example messaging.
Omni-channel content delivery
As companies publish across multiple platforms, DAM helps ensure that stakeholders have access to the correct version and maintain consistency across channels.
Brand management
DAM helps brand teams manage brand assets, messaging, and collateral so they can provide a consistent brand experience online
Digital publishing and distribution
DAM allows teams to centrally store and distribute digital assets, streamline workflows, and produce content more quickly.
Collaboration among stakeholders
While protecting the security of your digital files and assets, DAM enables seamless collaboration through approval workflows, increased visibility, and centralized access to relevant materials.
Product and content management
DAM helps product and content teams to keep track of their assets, make real-time updates to collateral, and avoid productivity bottlenecks when planning and executing campaigns.
Explore the Ecosystem That Works Seamlessly with DAM
PIM systems manage all data related to a product — including technical details, localization data, and digital assets — in one centralized location.
While DAM stores, manages, and distributes digital assets, PXM systems put them all together to create a seamless brand experience for customers.
ERP systems provide a broad-scope view of critical business data, including financial information, supply chain data, and digital assets.
A digital shelf — a collection of online platforms where customers buy products — is often populated by the data within a DAM.
PLM tools manage a product’s life cycle — from product development to decline — including the digital assets used to market it.
Pattern’s Digital Asset Management Solution
Pattern’s DAM is a single source of truth for your products’ digital assets, helping you scale asset management and content publication — no matter where you show up online.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between CMS and a DAM?
A content management system (CMS) is a system that allows you to publish, edit, and manage website content, while a DAM stores digital assets, including images and videos that are sometimes used in website content.
What is the difference between Digital Content Management and Digital Asset Management?
While DAM streamlines internal digital assets like images and audio files, Digital Content Management (DCM) manages the overall production and distribution of content, which includes but is not exclusive to digital assets.
What is the difference between Digital Content Management and Digital Asset Management?
DAM SaaS is a cloud-based tool that centrally stores, organizes, manages, and distributes digital assets on remote servers, enabling authorized stakeholders to easily retrieve up-to-date versions of these files anywhere, at any time.
How do I select the best Digital Asset Management software?
Choosing the best digital asset management software depends on a few factors, including your business goals, use case, and internal stakeholders. The best DAM software will have features that help you address your main challenges and provide the highest ROI.
Which teams can use Digital Asset Management?
Digital asset management systems are versatile tools that can be used by many internal teams, including brand, marketing, sales enablement, product, IT, HR, and even legal.