As discussed earlier, how long did it take to get a DAM working within your organization from the day it was decided by stakeholders and sponsors to the day you measured user adoption with favorable results of a working Digital Asset Management solution will vary. Obviously, this is not just about a DAM vendor handing off an empty shell and running away, but rather having DAM with:
Defined users, roles and admins able to use the system
Up-to-date training with supporting documentation
Assets
Searchable Metadata
Working features and functionality
Configurations set for your initial needs (and adjustable for the future)
Most reputable Digital Asset Management (DAM) vendors offer a solution with a GUI and API. Not all DAM clients use the API though. At least not yet.
With the growing need to converge DAM, WCM, CMS, wikis and other ECM solutions, the API is one way to tie all these solutions together on the back end so each solution can talk to each other instead of us jumping from one solution to another repeatedly and also playing the endless copy/paste game. Since many organizations are only accumulating more digital assets by exponential numbers each year, this convergence will be needed faster than most people realize. Or people could continue living as if it was still the 20th century because they wish to continue getting buried further underneath poorly managed digital assets on a daily basis. Some people may have not awakened to the possibilities of how the solutions listed above can assist their daily work rather than needlessly burning time at the office shuffling paper in order to act busy even though they can’t find that file created a year ago, a month ago or even a week ago. Do you know anyone who meets this description?
People need to make the conscious decision to work smarter with digital assets. This involves:
Finding the right tools for the organization’s business needs regarding digital assets
Finding out how digital assets should be managed within an organization (that is managed and organized, not one or the other)
Having up to date documentation explaining the process and systems involved today
Having training and ongoing support for users of these systems and processes
Following through with a standard workflow or process (how do you spellconsistency)
What do I do with a digital asset once I have created or acquired it?
What do I do if I need to use a digital asset again?
Having scaleable systems that can grow with your organization (rather than be limited to what seemed adequate or cool or shiny at one time)
Holding people accountable (If you don’t know, ASK lots of questions and push for decisions instead of making lots of mistakes. If you do know, document it so others will know as well.)
Having someone who can program systems to communicate with each other via the API
Having an API on the systems which will ‘speak and listen’ to the same (programming) language(s) both to and from each system
If you use a Digital Asset Management system and you upload (import) assets along with metadata, please answer this one question about how much time it takes.
Many people have attended Digital Asset Management (DAM) conferences in person. Very likely travel some distance to a major city by car, plane, train, bus or whatever means you deem fit. Often stay at a hotel. Several meals may be included in the price of admission to the conference. Take some time away from work to focus on what the conference has to offer and network with others in the field. Find out you are not alone in the field and that many have similar issues as you may experience. Review the latest business practices, trends and tools of the trade. Meet vendors, analysts, consultants, practitioners and other new contacts face to face. Find solutions to issues you may experience.
Now imagine if you were able to do just about all of this from your home/office online…virtually. Enter the virtual conference. Yes, these types of virtual conferences exist today and have been in use for the past few years.
While some of the platforms to produce a virtual conference are more practical than others, thesevirtual tradeshows are increasing in popularity in a variety of fields. Some of these virtual events are used for global corporate announcements or remote online training.
What might a virtual conference include?
There is an expo area with a number of vendors showing their products and/or services, eager to answer your questions and connect with you after the conference about doing business. There are chat areas for networking purposes and virtual business card exchange.
There can be speaker sessions with presentations which may include the familiar slides, videos and/or live whiteboard drawings from any speaker. And the sessions are recorded for you to listen to again and again, weeks or even months later.
There are various downloads available as they are supplied to you during a discussion or by a vendor. No flyers nor brochures to carry around all day and then lose. This paper is trumped by PDF delivery and interactive online presentations.
There may be some prizes for a variety of reasons. Sometimes attendees are offered awards just for checking in with all the vendor virtual booths.
There are networking rooms to share contacts and chat with others virtually present. Virtual conference surveys note a significantly higher sense of community among virtual attendees.
You can ask questions to anyone and the questions can get queued for an answer (instead of forgotten).
What do you need to attend a virtual conference?
All you need is a computer, headphones (or speakers), a high-speed internet connection and registration to the virtual conference. Some work with a web camera as well (there is your face to face interaction).
What does a virtual conference not include?
No travel required. No hotel costs. No meals on the road. No high-priced wifi connection. No time away from home and/or office (think of it as a really long meeting, except much less boring).
As conference organizers, there is no ridiculously high costs for a physical venue such as a conference hall or hotel exposition space. No astronomical costs for food or beverage. General attendance of a virtual conference is often high (especially in the long tail) and attendees are often from all over the globe. After all, it is persistent online destination.
Registering online for such an event may have a fee, but some are free. It all depends on the number of vendors and sponsors. The volume of attendance over a longer period of time helps as well.
Are you interested in attending a virtual DAM Conference?
Whether support is supplied internally to your organization and/or externally provided by a vendor, part of the DAM’s success and user adoption will depend on the support available to be sure the DAM is working as it should.
If you use a DAM within your organization, please answer this poll: Do you have support for your organization’s DAM?
Do you want to pay licensing and/or support fees each year?
Do you really believe your organization can do it all yourselves without any outside assistance, from the beginning into the distant future? (that would mean the future in years. Not weeks.)
In the long-term, what type of solution are you willing to commit to?
Whatever you choose, you’ll need support for DAM operations, DAM users and updates for the DAM. Where will this ongoing support come from?
Do you have full documentation for your organization’s DAM system provided by…?
Does the solution work with third-party applications you need to use it with?
Is it easy to use? Or do you need a software engineering degree to understand how to turn it on and make it work?
Is it a scalable solution, regardless of how big your collections or organization grow?
Is it fully searchable?
Is it secure?
If you use a DAM within your organization, please answer the following poll.
