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Blog about Digital Asset Management

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How mature is our DAM and other ECM solutions?


Once we implement a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution, we are far from done. Unless we want another shelf baby. Our organizations are likely just getting warmed up (some faster than others) when comes to managing their digital assets. This holds true regardless of where we stand with many Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions when an organization comes to the realization that they need to manage their content as they grow up, scale up and move forward into the 21st century. There is a way of measuring this level of maturity within any organization, seeing what needs work and follow a specific roadmap through a maturity model.

This was developed by and credited to several groups of subject matter experts including Wipro, The Real Story Group (formerly CMS Watch), Smigiel Consulting Group, and Hartman Communicatie over the past few years. And it is free to use.

The Enterprise Content Management Maturity Model  is exactly what it sounds like. No matter what level of maturity our organizations have today, ECM3.org is in fact “… a hidden gem.” It is ready-to-use and available to all as a PDF download. Once downloaded and reviewed, it is easy to find out what needs improving based on each of our organization’s level of ECM maturity.

According to ECM3, there are five levels of ECM maturity:

  • Level 1: Unmanaged
  • Level 2: Incipient
  • Level 3: Formative
  • Level 4: Operational
  • Level 5: Pro-Active

This model dives into “thirteen maturity dimensions across three categories”:

  • Human
    • Business Expertise – Employee and executive education and understanding of core ECM precepts
    • IT Expertise – Ability to properly take advantage of incumbent and new systems
    • Process – Extent to which enterprise has analyzed its content-oriented business processes
    • Alignment – Extent of effective Business – IT collaboration, understanding, and synchronization
  • Information
    • Content/Metadata – Extent to which enterprise has analyzed its content and metadata
    • Depth – Completeness of content lifecycle management
    • Governance – Extent of policies and procedures addressing information management
    • Re-use – Extent realization of content re-use opportunities
    • Findability – Ability to find the right content at the right time
  • Systems
    • Scope – Relevant range of ECM functional capabilities (DM, BPM, DAM, etc.) adopted
    • Breadth – Evolution from departmental to enterprise-wide management systems, where necessary
    • Security – Extent to which actual content access reflects enterprise entitlements
    • Usability – Application fitness to purpose

Every organization has room for improvement, especially if the organization is unaware of any of the parts listed above. An organization that is aware of its own ECM maturity has one big step ahead of the rest in knowing where it stands among its competitors and what it needs to focus on going forward.

In my opinion,  when trying measure their level of maturity across all these dimensions many organizations will find themselves in level 1 (unmanaged with no progress) or level 2 (the beginning of progress) of ECM maturity, with a long road ahead.

Why? The causes are:

  • A general lack of awareness.  This has been, is and still will be a growing issue regardless of when we face up to it. If all thirteen points listed above do not ring any alarm bells, look into them. Do not assume the organization is aware of this just because we happen to know about it.  Survey your own organization and find out why.
  • Mistaking age for maturity.
  • The rapid growth (kind of like an avalanche) of digital content including a vast number of digital assets (being created and/or getting acquired) by the organization. Do we know how many and how often?
  • Little or no focus on managing digital content and assets until that realization comes too late. Are we ready to pay more later on? Are we ready to start prioritizing?
  • Organization find themselves scrabbling to ‘do something.’ Repeat.
  • Organizations are often unsure exactly what to do nor how nor when. Are we comfortable with this? We should not be comfortable with the lack of a plan.
  • No staff  regularly working on any/most of these issues. Yes, that may often mean dedicated, knowledgeable individuals. Not simply adding tasks to someone’s endless list of things to do.

As time passes, some people ignore the facts hoping these issues will go away. Their days are numbered because those times are already over. ‘Pay me now or pay me later’, you will have to pay for this cost of doing business today. If we ignore the first estimates of what DAM and other ECM solutions may cost an organization today (including the possible ‘fixing’ costs for any legacy assets/content), wait until we see the next (likely higher) estimate.  Once these solutions are implemented and actually being used, that only marks the beginnings of the ECM maturity process.

DAM professionals and other ECM professionals have their work cut out for them. It may even require a few diaper changes as well tears wiped from a quite few faces within some organizations. Or the organization will simply fade into history.

While the roadmap to maturity may be long and winding, this road has been paved thanks in part to ECM3. To go further down into the rabbit hole, take a look at the Mike 2.0 Methodology

What is your organization’s level of maturity?


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Poll: How long did it take to get a DAM working within your organization?

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)
  • Any customization completed and in use by users

Answer this one question poll


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How long does it take to get a DAM working within an organization?


Since getting a Digital Asset Management solution working involves people, process and technology, all this can take some time.

How much time though?

The amount of time will depend on quite a few factors. Here are few to think about:

      • How easily do you work with others? Do you trust them?
      • How well does each role with access to the DAM adapt to change?
      • How proactive is the organization? (How likely will they get this solution up and running and adopt it?)
      • How many people need to be trained on the use of the DAM? Is it standardized training per role?
      • How available is everyone who needs to be based on schedule?
      • How much scope/mission creep will be mitigated by using a phased approach rather than piling on more requirements daily?
      • How large is the group/department/organization who will implement/use the DAM (initially as early adopters)?
      • How old is the organization? (the more legacy, the larger the challenge could be)
      • How many use cases and processes do you have pre-DAM which will change with the use of the DAM?
      • How much documentation needs to be created for internal, external and ongoing support as well as training?
      • How much experience and freedom does the team have to move forward with clear objectives/requirements during every phase?
      • How closely does the DAM meets your business needs now?
      • How much system configuration will meet your business need?
      • How much system customization is needed to be done to meet those business needs?
      • How easily does the DAM system work with other systems it needs to work with in your organization?
      • How quickly can your system scale…as your organization scales in size?
      • How far back in history are you going to go in order to find/add/migrate legacy assets to the DAM?
      • What are the rights and permissions behind each asset for reuse? Were they acquired externally or created internally? Does your organization own them outright?
      • How much volume is being migrated:
        • Assets
        • Metadata (often a new challenge, but depends on how great of a challenge)
        • Processes

With this in mind, it may take typically between 6 to 24 months to get the DAM running with your assets, your metadata and start getting real user adoption. This time is based on the vendor, implementation/integration group (whomever that comprises of internally and/or externally) and the organization working together to get the Digital Asset Management solution ready and working. The responsibility is not all on one of these groups since they are reliant on each other to get the DAM actually working within the organization. It is not just “I turned it on. I am done.” As you see, it is not just about the technology if this will actually be used properly within your organization.

Taking ‘baby steps’ is the best method to gain small wins regularly to show steady progress.

What will also help is having realistic:

      • Expectations (with both sponsors and stakeholders)
      • Specifications (documented requirements)
      • Schedules (with a scope and time line)
      • Budgets (for the people and the technology)
      • Use cases (with expectations and actual testing by users)

What will not help is if you ask to boil the ocean (unrealistic expectation and requirement) by close of business today (unrealistic schedule) using just one match (unrealistic requirement and budget). That would simply lead to disappointment and failure. Keep it simple. Then grow on top of your successes.

How long does it take to get a DAM working within your organization?


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How many vendors have owned your DAM system?


Does your vendors’ ‘roadmap‘ consist of a single dot?

Or are the only lines on that ‘roadmap’ coming from that dot consist of the words “acquired by…”?

Is change, innovation, update and upgrade not part of the vendor’s vocabulary? And is it part of yours?

Has your DAM had more vendors owning it over a handful of years that:

  1. You lost count how many owners it had? (This may take two hands)
  2. The vendor can barely assist you on their ‘new’ system let alone navigate around the system themselves?
  3. An update from the vendor simply consists of a delayed email notification of new ownership and/or new management, after you read about it a month ago through another online channel?
  4. The vendor only ‘innovates by acquisition,’ but updates/upgrades not a single system?
  5. The present vendor has no clear record of what product(s) and/or service(s) you use? (How do you spell CRM?)
  6. You as a client feel forgotten by today’s vendor? (Helpful service trumps a branded pen any day)
  7. Personalized service from a person who speaks your language would really be helpful as long as they can actually deliver what you need as far as assistance is concerned?
  8. SLA might no longer stand for Service Level Agreement? (Support might seem like a foreign concept as well, but still paying for it)
  9. The most technical documentation available is their sales brochures regurgitated with [pick one] vendor logo/name?
  10. When you call/email/send smoke signals to someone who might still work for the vendor(s) requesting some technical support, but the only reply you get back is “Oh, we need to hire someone again to answer your question”? And then you wait. Ask again. And wait some more. And then social security finally becomes available to you… and then you are seeing the writing on the wall. Retirement is looking real good. So, the only question remains… who goes first? You or the vendor?
  11. Migration to a more stable DAM vendor and system is looking better, more efficient and/or more effective every day?

How many vendors have owned your DAM system?