Unfortunately when it comes to Digital Asset Management, expertise is too often undervalued. The software application is commonly viewed as the complete solution, not just a tool within it. In this era of spreadsheet RFPs, it is easy for publishers to compare the minutia of product features and overlook the optimal implementation strategy to achieve the defined objectives. Ultimately, the primary purchasing goal becomes finding the right product as opposed to finding the right solution.

If you have experienced this scenario, you are not alone. The good news is that the DAM industry is recognizing these factors more than ever – giving businesses more information to pursue a successful path. We think this trend is overdue and will establish a more confident and satisfied base of DAM practitioners over time.

The Alphabet Soup of Digital Content Management

We recently spoke at the University of Wisconsin-Madison E-Business Consortium.  

What a great group of engaged attendees all wrestling with content management issues.  

What was really striking about the discussion of content management is how much the acronyms just add to the confusion about choosing some type of software to manage digital content.  Companies all had different acronyms to reference the different repositories they were using to manage their artwork, files, pricing, marketing collateral, etc.  

What one company called Content Management, another called Web Asset Management.  No one could agree what constituted an Enterprise system and before the end of the day it sounded like a jumble of letters, none of which helped people understand the functionality they had or needed.  

I had great empathy for the customers who are looking for some way to manage, collaborate, edit and distribute their content and are trying to determine what is the best fit for the problem.  We get calls from customers saying, “We need to look at a DAM system.”  Our first follow up is, “Tell us about what you’re trying to accomplish” because sometimes that functionality bleeds over into PIM (Product Information Management – managing product and pricing information) or Web publishing, or includes functionality that some might consider under DAM, or not. 

What we recommended is instead of trying to pick the alphabet solution that describes the need, that companies would be better off trying to identify the pain points they are trying to address as well as thinking through the entire work flow.  

• What are you trying to manage and why?
• What are you using it for?
• Who else needs to have that information and how do you want to get it to them?
• Who decides what the FINAL source is and how is that controlled?

• Right now we’re emailing files back and forth so it’s hard to keep track of the most current revision.
• We send the pages out for everyone to edit and give feedback it takes a long time to compile all those changes.
• We have people that need to upload content, but they are not attaching metadata so it gets lost almost as soon as we get it.

• We want to use the same images for our print material and our web page, but the images are not in the same place and they’re not in the same format.  How can we make them consistent?

For those of you that have moved in the the digital content world without having a good strategy for tracking, managing, sharing, or editing, you’re probably feeling a little overwhelmed about where to start.

Where should I start?

When we talk to people, we tell them there are solutions that can address their problem, get an understanding of their pain points, and at some point we usually walk though the software to let them know what options are available.  

During the discussion, invariably it turns from “Wow, that would really be helpful for our most pressing problem.  While I have you on the phone, we also have this OTHER problem….”

The Snowball then Becomes an Avalanche 

 The wish list starts to grow.  

• Wait – we can pull SKU, Pricing, Copy, and Images from multiple databases and merge them on the page?
• Do you mean to tell me we can replace multiple silos of information from different departments with one central repository all in one fell swoop?
• I can use this system to power my eCommerce site as well?

HOWEVER……  Progress slows down to a glacial as the scope of the project grows.   Requirements can turn into wish lists.  It becomes harder to get people to agree on what’s on the MUST HAVE list vs. what’s on the NICE TO HAVE list.  Progress slows to a glacial place and the original problem is buried at the beginning of the avalanche.

Don’t let the Best be the Enemy of the Good – Voltaire

Start with a manageable project.  Select a solution that gives you the flexibility to add on addtional functionality as the scope grows.  Get some “wins” for making changes, getting user adoption, learing to get comfortable with your new solution.  Sometimes it’s easier to get changes if you wade into the shallow end rather than try the high dive into the deep end.  

BUT START SOMEWHERE.  

If you’re not sure where that might be, contact us and we’ll help.  

Thanks to all our our hosts for allowing us use of your conference rooms, equipment, and space for the beanbag toss.  Thanks to all of our customers and potential customers for coming out to see the new release of MediaBank Gold.  We appreciate your feedback, questions, and enthusiastic reception.

We drove around the country and back.  7,295 miles with 202+ hours of windshield time making 12 stops to visit our amazing customers.

We’re back now and in the process of processing all the feedback we got and getting ready to wrap up and deliver MediaBank Gold in early 2012. 

Road trips always mean stops along the way for local food.  We got some amazing recommendations. Some of which we are still digesting.  Here’s a few more of our pics from the road.

To see our slides discussion the preparation for migration, click here.

For More info – contact sales@wavecorp.com

The Tour hits Illinois

We are winding down our MediaBank Gold tour this week with our shows in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania.  We have travelled over 6000 miles and seen people on both coasts.  

The feedback we have received about our new release of MediaBank Gold has been awesome.  We are excited to bring this functionality to the market and encouraged to hear the excitement returned from our customers and potential customers.  

Look for more info about the details after the tour wraps up.  In the meantime – we still have some State Trivia unsolved…… for those of you that haven’t had a chance to win one of those MediaBank Gold Piggy Banks.  A listing of the questions, answers, winners, and unanswered trivia can be found here.  Follow us on Twitter (@wavecorp)

MediaBank Gold Tour Travels to Michigan

Here’s a sure sign the engineers have been on the road TOO long! 

 Here’s some Video of some of our stops we were able to make over the weekend.

Our Colorado stop

MediaBank Pigs meets Colorado River

Our Utah Stop

MediaBank Tour crossed over into Utah

After Texas we headed out to California and are now turning back East.  What a hardship, we had to make a stop in Vegas.

Now through Denver and on the way up to Nebraska and Iowa.

MediaBank Gold Tour Hits Vegas