In the past 10 years the number of MarTech companies offering services has exploded and Digital Asset Management (DAM) providers are no exception.  While this is the case, the services offered by each of these suppliers differ greatly and choosing the right one is dependent not only on the problems you would like to solve, but also the type of business you operate in.  This may come down to the size of your company and the teams that operate within it, your requirements for brand and marketing compliance, integrations with other technologies or a need for control over local area marketing.

In 2020, Digital Asset Management systems should at least offer:

1. Advanced & lightning fast search to find assets within your DAM system
2. Automatic keyword tagging using AI technology
3. Creative collaboration and mark up tools
4. Public links with tracking and analytics
5. Image conversion, let end users convert images on the fly
6. Video transformation, resize and trim videos without additional editing software
7. Integrations with Adobe Creative Cloud and other enterprise tools

Basic DAM technologies are usually best suited to small businesses who are looking to bring their digital files into the one online location.  A DAM can be used to store all types of assets including images, video, sound, fonts, design files, brand assets and documents.  They can be organized within a custom folder structure and found quickly using keywords, metadata and filters.  Where companies require increased governance over who can view, use and download/upload assets a more advanced DAM is required.  In larger companies and teams, groups and permissions provide access and grant functionality by team, location or job function.

These types of DAMs also have greater functionality around the distribution of assets.  Images can be re-sized, cropped or converted to different file types and video can be clipped, converted or have a watermark applied.  This means that all file edits can be done within the platform, reducing the need for multiple licenses to design software. These assets can also be inserted directly into your other digital platforms so that when the file is updated in the DAM, it's updated everywhere. 

Version control and annotations make working with agencies and designers easy, keeping all creative within the one platform. In large enterprise businesses Digital Asset Management may be implemented as a part of broader Marketing Operations Software.  Creative briefs, workflow and approvals, calendars and Kanban mean that all creative production and marketing resource planning can be completed from within the one platform.  Companies in highly regulated industries or with large teams across geographical locations find Marketing Operations Software preferable as the entire lifecycle of content and creative can be tracked from within the one system. 

IntelligenceBank Digital Asset Management, BrandHub and Marketing Operations all have a range of features which are suit a range of needs.  Contact us to see how these products compare to other DAM providers and to see which would be best suited to your needs.