Your client's burgeoning digital assets are worthless, unless they can be retrieved and put to use. Retrieving them requires a solid process to store, name and index those assets, much the same as finding a book at the neighborhood library requires a card catalog. While Dewey hasn't evolved into the digital age, digital asset management (DAM) has turned a new page for integrators.
Digital assets are any type of information that can be digitized: user manuals, logos, brochures, MP3 files, advertisements and video clips, for example. Those are assets in the truest sense: They cost money to produce and sometimes are sold for profit, yet they often must be recreated because they're misplaced or were created in a format that cannot be repurposed.
That's where DAM comes into play. DAM is the secure management, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets. Or, as one vendor says, DAM aims to deliver "the right file in the right format to the right place at the right time."
DAM saves clients money by instituting a process where content can easily be found in relation to other assetsâ€"an image associated with a brochure, for example, or all video clips on airline disasters in the last two years. It also opens up new revenue opportunities for your clients by allowing content to be repurposed repeatedly for multiple distribution channels. As Pete Fernandez of e-business integrator Concero says, "The Holy Grail is to create once and publish everywhere." A DAM solution is a key part of that quest.
One DAM vendor says that there are two types of clients that need a DAM solution: The first is one where content is their product, such as a newspaper, advertising agency or movie studio; the second is everyone else. Even if that is an exaggeration, the point is clear: All companies have digital assets, and tracking those assets can save time and money. But DAM is a relatively new market, with little in the way of standards or competition. Nobody offers a complete solution. It's a market rife with integration opportunities.
How big's the potential payoff? DAM-related software spending will top US$2 billion by 2003, up from $800 million today, predicts Rob Perry of The Yankee Group. Integrators are expected to reap $1 of services for every dollar spent on DAM software. Artesia president and COO Scott Bowen paints a rosier picture. He maintains that integrators can expect $2 to $8 of value-added service for every dollar spent on Artesia's Teams 4.1 software license.
Also, CAP Ventures senior consultant Leonor Ciarlone says, B2B collaboration has opened up, especially with channel partners. With DAM, third parties can get access to content quickly, easily and securely. But integrators are expected to make access a reality.
