Why Organized Content Matters Now More Than Ever
In a hyper-competitive, globalized, digital marketplace, the pressure is mounting for businesses to deliver content to consumers that is personalized, up-to-date, compliant and bolsters customer loyalty — all at lightning-fast speed. Because of these demands, it’s crucial that organizations manage digital assets efficiently. It is a business-critical function yet is often overlooked or left to IT departments to deal with.
With a greater business focus on enhancing digital experiences for customers and leveraging digital marketing platforms, 2024 has brought this issue to the forefront. There has also been a drive for the digitization of content within organizations, with a greater need to manage digital assets in a more compliant way and for better collaboration between corporate entities when it comes to assets. At the same time, there are also more cloud-based solutions available than ever.
This heady cocktail of market drivers means that businesses need a single source of truth when it comes to digital asset management, especially since data is often siloed. If organizations are to make the most of emerging technologies, including generative AI, then a more systematic approach is needed to organize images, video, audio, PDFs and all other manner of digital content.
Actively reinventing how organizations think about digital asset management (DAM) is crucial. In an environment where businesses are transforming digitally and becoming increasingly data-led, a centralized DAM solution should be the cornerstone of business delivery. Asset management is not a one-and-done process, rather it requires an ongoing commitment to processes and governance to work properly. It is not about simply creating a digital filing cabinet where assets are archived, but a living, breathing digital ecosystem that is utilized at the heart of the operation and that evolves over time.
Why Businesses Must Make an Investment in DAM
If businesses are to deliver content in a more agile way across different platforms, touchpoints, jurisdictions and channels — including mobile apps and social media outlets, where digital assets are served at specific moments for specific needs — then an effective DAM solution is vital. How content is organized, tagged and distributed matters, especially when it comes to delivering brand consistency. Digital assets are only valuable if they can be sourced, deployed, consumed and shared instantly with customers, which is why good taxonomy is so important. Properly defined labels and keywords provide powerful context.
This is at the core of why organizations need to take digital asset management more seriously. A good DAM solution helps connect people, processes and technology. Additionally, marketing, sales and promotions need easily accessible and understandable content to remain competitive.
Deciding to deploy the next generation of DAM solutions can be a big decision. It requires buy-in from all stakeholders as well as executive endorsement. There can certainly be inertia to centralizing digital assets and its value is only realized if it is constantly maintained and curated.
Aside from buy-in from stakeholders and the C-Suite, benchmarking is also key, helping teams define and see progress. People within the organization need to know where they are today and where they are going with specific KPIs. Communication with stakeholders needs to be a transparent and continuous process, especially during a long roll out.
The Many Benefits of Centralizing Digital Assets
The question to ask is not, “How much will DAM cost us?” but rather, “What is the cost of not deploying good information architecture and asset management?” The answer is time: expensive human hours wasted sifting through multiple resources to try to find the right content, unknowingly entering or maintaining duplicated content, searching for non-existent digital assets or struggling with lengthy queries to decide whether content is compliant, copyrighted or even outdated. As digital assets grow in number the challenges also multiply exponentially.
When businesses centralize digital assets, they also optimize the process of digitization. One significant benefit that this can lead to is cost savings, ultimately impacting the bottom line. Automated and scalable ingestion of content saves time and money, along with easy search and retrieval solutions. There’s also the potential to reduce technical debt by implementing DAM solutions. And in highly-regulated industries, including healthcare and financial services, serving outdated or incorrect digital assets can even result in penalties or lawsuits for businesses with potentially huge financial impacts.
However, initiating good information architecture isn’t just about buying a state-of-the-art DAM solution, such as Sitecore Content Hub, it’s also about putting in place best practices when it comes to managing digital assets. Many companies don't have well-defined processes or suffer from a lack of continuous engagement and enforcement.
Implementing a DAM solution, therefore, takes expertise. Finding the right implementation partner can help businesses establish best practices and working solutions based on real-world experience with known challenges and issues.
Get More from Your Digital Assets
The key benefit of a DAM solution is all about realizing the potential of your assets. Not only will a well-orchestrated DAM solution deliver better customer experiences, but it can also future proof the business. Implementing the right DAM system can help organizations realize tangible gains that extend far beyond better access to assets.
