Advantages of using a DAM system

1. Central access to assets: If files are saved to employees’ local drives, they may not be accessible to everyone. By doing online digital asset management on a cloud-based DAM system, company assets are centrally stored so all employees can access them. 
2. Consistent brand identity: By having neatly organized digital assets, managers can enforce brand guideline compliance so that the brand is portrayed in a consistent manner. This ensures that the company is perceived as professional. 
3. Protection of assets: Digital assets can be valuable like other assets and should be protected. DAM systems can serve as a digital vault that guards a company’s digital assets against ending up in the wrong hands.

Risks of not using a DAM system

1. Inefficient resource use: If a company doesn’t have a DAM system, employees may waste time looking around for digital assets. 69% of employees that do not have a digital asset management system implemented say that they use Google to find company assets. 
2. Inconsistent brand identity: Without a digital asset management system, companies can find it difficult to keep a consistent identity as brand managers will be forced to manually roll-out rebranding efforts or updates to branding guidelines. 
3. Reputational risks: If a company hasn’t implemented a digital asset management strategy, it may be more difficult to ensure compliance with internal and external guidelines. This could lead to unfortunate incidents, but in the worst case also regulatory scrutiny if copyright laws or other regulation relating to the digital assets isn’t adhered to.

1. Asset upload

A digital asset management system enables companies to upload digital assets to a central, often cloud-based, hub. Here, all digital assets can be stored safely and centrally for all employees across the organization to access them.

2. Organizing assets

Once digital assets are uploaded to the DAM system, they need to be categorized in order for employees to easily access them. This is done by tagging the assets with metadata – keywords and descriptions – so that they are searchable.

3. Searching for assets

With metadata attached to each digital asset, employees can search the DAM system and locate the asset they are looking for. Here, they can retrieve the asset in the format they need.

4. Updating assets

Brand managers and administrators can update digital assets within the DAM system and instantly roll-out the updates to all users. This enables assets to be updated in real time so that every employee has access to the most up-to-date digital asset. 

5. Controlling access

Administrators of digital asset management can assign permissions to different employee functions. For example, brand managers can edit brand assets while other employees can only use the assets in a predefined manner. 

6. Automatic compliance

Most DAM systems check digital assets against company guidelines to make sure that they are used in a compliant manner. This enables employees to focus on core work and not on getting their content approved.

7. Integration with applications

Brand compliance platforms like Templafy use digital asset management as a component to ensure brand compliance. The platform integrates with and supercharges DAM solutions to give employees access to company-approved digital assets within the organization’s office application, such as Office 365 or Google Workspace.

Online businesses:

Once an online business grows in size, cloud storage solutions like Google Drive may not be sufficient to ensure proper management of digital assets. Many online businesses move to digital asset management platforms to ensure consistent content across all marketing channels.

Financial institutions:

Financial institutions use DAM systems to store, organize and manage proposals, contracts, reports, and other financial documents. Some choose more overarching platforms like Templafy to ensure compliance with internal and external guidelines and regulation.

Manufacturing companies:

Companies that manufacture goods can find great use of digital asset management systems. These types of companies can have a lot of digital assets in the shape of product details, technical documentation, and more that need to be properly organized.

Most enterprises and large companies:

Enterprises and large companies often have departments in different countries. This creates a need to have centrally managed digital assets that are available to everyone across departments and time zones.

Small businesses: Dash

Dash is the go-to digital asset management tool among small businesses. It has an intuitive way of building digital asset folders and an AI that enables advanced search capabilities.

Mid-sized businesses: Bynder

Bynder is a popular choice for mid-sized companies that are looking for digital asset management software. Bynder has more than 4000 clients across the globe that they help store, organize, search and retrieve digital assets.

Large companies and enterprises: Templafy

For larger companies and enterprises, it’s rarely enough to just manage brand assets – the use of brand assets has to be monitored so that compliance with internal and external guidelines is ensured. 

One of the most widely adopted solutions for enhancing digital asset management software to ensure brand compliance is Templafy. The Templafy platform integrates with existing DAM tools and connects them to employees’ workflows, enabling large companies and enterprises to create on-brand, compliant and personalized documents across every employee.