< Back to all posts

Why Companies Are Picking Now To Make The Jump To Digital Asset Management

Posted by Eliana Hassen on June 23, 2020

Companies have spent the past few months finding new ways to get work done in the complex environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Decentralized, remote working styles have been especially influential, with organizations forced into trying new models they may have been considering but not yet experienced.

One of the major takeaways from the remote model is a renewed focus on the value of having easy access to important files and assets. Putting together a complicated marketing deliverable such as a fully produced video becomes a more achievable task when there are digital asset management (DAM) and media asset management (MAM) systems in place.

If your organization has previously considered embracing a cutting-edge DAM or MAM, but was turned off by the six-to-seven-figure price tag, now may be the perfect time to reconsider. With the pandemic and lingering social distancing rules reshaping the way organizations have handled production and numerous other budget items coming off the books, the present moment has changed the math around DAM and MAM use.

The Best DAM and MAM Tools for Video

Companies focusing heavily on producing video with a new remote workflow have felt the potential benefits of using new DAM and MAM tools. They work perfectly in tandem, as DAM systems provide the file-sharing and organizing framework to enable seamless collaboration, while MAM offers the toolset to more effectively edit massive media files in video and audio formats.

The organizations that have already made the jump to these software suites are using products including the following to work on their latest projects.

• Evolphin: This provider offers both DAM and MAM, with the latter acting as an add-on to the former. The MAM promises an elegant video workflow solution, from transcoding to archiving and remote editing. The Evolphin MAM product includes artificial intelligence algorithms to automate video production across many remote contributors.
• BeBop: The BeBop solution is designed for companies that want to perform resource-intensive editing tasks such as visual effects production, 3-D modeling and animation from remote workstations. Since home PCs may not have the horsepower to run these functions, BeBop connects team members to virtualized computers in the cloud.
• iconik: iconik boasts the ability to tag media files using AI, as well as to connect cloud and local file repositories for easy access. You can manage files from both the cloud and on-premise, and collaborate with anyone even if they do not have an account. 
• Microsoft Azure Cloud: Companies using DAM and MAM have to determine what cloud framework they are going to use. The leading players in this field are cloud computing juggernauts such as Azure and Amazon Web Services.

Turning the DAM/MAM Dream into Reality

Marketing teams that had previously coveted DAM and MAM deployments but found upper management unwilling to make the upgrade are finding that the climate has changed. The timeline for safely reopening full-scale in-person production is unclear and inconsistent across regions, with significant potential for surges in infection risk. Among all this uncertainty, businesses have seen the value of new, remote production workflows.

More cloud features and virtualized resources have allowed marketing teams to keep producing high-quality content for their audiences, while firms that depend on on-premise workflows have faltered. The following are six reasons why right now is the ideal time to take the jump into modern MAM and DAM:

• The cost math makes sense: While economically precarious times may not seem like the right moment for a major investment, organizations may actually find their budgets have room to make long-sought DAM and MAM purchases. Traditional expenses such as the travel costs and other fees associated with in-person events are simply not needed this year, opening a window of opportunity for a more timely purchase. PricewaterhouseCoopers put the annual price tag of corporate travel at $300 billion and noted that more than 90% of companies cut off all non-essential travel amid the pandemic.
• An audience exists for high-quality video content: Why should companies try so hard to keep video production going at peak effectiveness during a crisis? Because there is still an audience ready to consume this media and the businesses that can serve them stand to benefit. Forbes contributor Daniel Newman stated that 80% of people have watched more video material since the start of lockdown, not less.
• There is no assurance on when normal production can resume: Companies hoping to “wait out” shutdowns to their normal shooting and editing workflows may find themselves stymied time and again, especially if their areas are hit by a resurgence of the virus. Considering the different regulations and rates of recovery by region, it is difficult to make any assumptions.
• The decentralized office is becoming normal: The Washington Post reported that many companies, especially technology providers, are seeing the benefits of keeping up a remote work model. Corporate advisor Hiten Shah told the newspaper there are unavoidable cost savings to not owning an office, and companies that can collaborate in the cloud will do so.
• Advanced features help productions: Rather than just replacing their on-premise workflows with an equivalent in the cloud, companies harnessing contemporary DAM can benefit from features such as AI tagging and automation of their basic processes.
• Digital tools are the future: Moving to the cloud is not a stopgap measure or something that will lose its value when companies are able to resume their normal production styles. Indeed, the ResearchandMarkets predicted the DAM market will grow at a rate of 16.5% between 2020 and 2025 as companies continue to see the value of new workflows.

With the future of work potentially looking a lot like the pandemic-era present, an investment in DAM and MAM may bring your organization in line with prevailing trends in multimedia production. Therefore, the same tech investment that keeps your production standards high during these difficult conditions can be a value-adding addition for years to come. The tipping point for these solutions may have finally arrived.

While your team prepares for the future beyond this global pandemic, you can trust Crews Control to help with your creative needs. For information on our offerings or to discuss what a return to ‘normal’ could look like for our industry and your business,  contact Crews Control today.