To revisit my previous post with content contributed by guest blogger Sean Banahan, “Accountability From Your Software Vendors,” I want to discuss three areas that marketing and I.T. departments looking at implementing a Digital Asset Management software solution should consider. 

With enterprise content management technologies and other software, you have options between installed software solutions, hosted / Software as a Service solutions, and options including both flavors.  When it comes to evaluating systems and service providers that help you create, manage, distribute, publish and archive the digital media that is the lifeblood of your brand and promotional materials, you’ll want to keep these 3 things in mind.

1. Support

From the point you say go on a software solution, what type of support do you get for each stage in the process – technical implementation, marketing launch, user  training, helpdesk, upgrades, more training, user promotions, customization?  Who is providing that support? 

Who handles the implementation?  Is there assistance with collecting and migrating existing digital assets from whatever scattered locations they exist? 

If you’re looking at SaaS, is the company who actually hosts the software the same company that develops it?  How many levels removed are you from the developers who handle customization requests? 

Often overlooked, but extremely important, what type of training is available – for both administrators and end-users?  First consider how easy-to-use the solution is.  Can users basically walk right up and use it based on their experience working with other common desktop applications or web interfaces? Or, are extensive user training sessions required?

What about when you have questions and don’t want to go looking through heaping piles of documentation?  Can you pick up the phone and speak with someone? Email? Chat?

Consider the technical support, marketing support and every-day user support. 

2. Upgrades

How are upgrades handled?  Who’s responsible – internal I.T. or the hosted provider?  How often are new upgrades released?  Is there a cost or annual support fee to receive the upgrades?

Are upgrades available on a routine release cycle? Each time there’s an upgrade, what documentation and training is available?  How much of each release is dedicated to new innovations vs. bug fixes and technical backlog? 

Can you skip an upgrade?  What happens if you do?  Nobody likes a legacy software application and no vendor wants to support it.

3.  Risk

Lastly, consider the risk involved with making a DAM selection.  Who assumes the risk?  If you’re looking at installed software, you assume the risk.  If you’re looking at SaaS, the vendor shares in the risk because their livelihood depends on the longevity of the business relationship.

What’s the risk?  The risk is making sure you never lose an asset … disaster recovery plans ensure business continuity … access level controls enforce accountability … security protects against external threats … system scalability accommodates future growth.

With more and more DAM vendors entering the SaaS space, I encourage you to look into company background and challenge that there’s more to SaaS than just the software.  (Consider Al’s post SaaS: Widen’s definition of “Service” is different…in a good way.”)  Coming from a 60-year-old company whose business has always been providing professional services, we understand that SaaS has a double meaning.

Your message of “we are currently reducing our marketing budget at the same time the amount of marketing projects is increasing” is heard, but what are you going to do about it? 

If a marketing professional wants to make their presence known to the organization, the time is now.  Instead of cowering in the corner waiting for your job to be cut, rise up and take charge.  Establish yourself as a marketer that can work in all types of situations, even the darkest of economic hours.  Prove to the organization that marketing will not be steered off course in the effort to reach the marketplace with a consistent brand voice.

Your resources are being eliminated and your budget cut in half but what are you going to do about it?  The time to step up and advance your career is now; but how?  Let the spotlight shine in the corner of software-as-a-service.  You could not paint a better picture for the justification of software-as-a-service technologies:

• Marketing resources being eliminated – CHECK
• I.T. resources being eliminated – CHECK
• Marketing budgets being cut – CHECK
• Marketing project load increasing – CHECK

You have heard the message from every software-as-a-service provider but maybe this time that message will resonate.  When the provider says you can do more with less, they are talking about the situation you are currently in.  Trying to market in a downturn is an extremely difficult task but doing so successfully requires the right strategy, the right resources, and the right attitude. The attitude is all in your court but strategy and resources is where you can reach out and ask for help. 

Isolate the creation, management, and distribution of your digital media.  You cannot just stop creating the digital media that helps drive revenue.  In fact you are creating exponentially more of it because the impact is greater and it is the most cost effective way to reach the market with your message.

As you create more of it, you create larger problems with managing and distributing it.  Managing and distributing large and large amounts of marketing and creative files is a responsibility you can delegate to your sales and marketing channels.  Establish the process by which everyone in need of your digital media is granted self-service access.  Establish one central source of digital media that can be repurposed and distributed worldwide while maintaining the integrity of your brand.  Establish the foundation for reducing costs.  Establish a digital asset management system using a software-as-a-service provider.

As a fellow marketer, I have used software-as-a-service technologies to manage and distribute digital media and I can guarantee that software-as-a-service providers enable you to do more with less.  Whether it is customer relationship management with Salesforce.com, digital asset management with Widen, or web content management with Clickability, a software-as-a-service provider is the answer to the ultimate question; what are you going to do about it?

Post from guest blogger Sean Banahan, Widen Area Sales Executive

There has never been a shortage of vendors claiming to offer some sort of tool to manage, archive or distribute rich media files.  Of the throngs of Digital Asset Management vendors that cloud the market, few competent pure play vendors and even fewer DAM as Software as a Service (SaaS) providers seem to remain.  A landscape that has traditionally been characterized by companies who focused exclusively on providing solutions for managing digital media files has been taken over by the larger Content Management behemoths that have gobbled up the original inhabitants to offer DAM modules instead of solutions.  This trend hasn’t been a secret or a surprise to many as companies like OpenText, EMC and Oracle have recognized the benefits of digital asset management platforms and begun bundling them into larger product portfolios.  What I find surprising however, is while giant CMS and licensed DAM providers have in some part recognized the benefit of offering hosted services to their customers, those companies that previously led the charge into the SaaS arena have all but disappeared.  They too have been eaten by the larger beast and become a line item on a long product list. 

Companies like Interwoven, OpenText and North Plains can now finally claim they have hosted solutions, whether that’s through a recent acquisition or a simple “find and replace” effort on a marketing brochure.  One has to wonder though...  With R&D, sales and support resources focused on licensed product sales worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in each transaction, how much room does the smaller hosted service warrant in the grand scheme of things?  After all, most DAM SaaS solutions cost less per year than the annual support fees associated with standard licensed DAM products.  Do CMS and DAM software providers view the hosted service as a viable product or just another sales tool to ultimately force customers into the licensed application where the revenue’s at?  If that’s the case, as I suspect it often is, can these software companies truly make the claim that they offer hosted services?  I think it’s a bit of a stretch.  While SaaS offerings for DAM have never been in higher demand, the number of vendors offering those services has shrunk to just a few left on the field.

Honda announced today that they have started production on a vehicle that produces no measurable emissions.  Beyond the implications for the environment and all of us on this planet, it’s even more encouraging that steps are being taken to limit and eradicate inefficiencies.  Now that it’s possible with vehicles, what about marketing and creative departments?  I know, I know, marketing and creative departments…zero emissions…not possible.  Well, getting rid of all excess might be slightly ambiguous, Widen is certainly lending a hand in cutting down on the creative department carbon footprint.

Widen’s digital asset management (DAM) solutions help thousands of users every day.  Simplifying the storage, conversion and delivery of assets, as well as streamlining photography workflows and collateral material creation are all just benefits of using Widen’s services.  While duplicate and misplaced files, corrupted file data and complicated conversions may be raising your departmental level of “emissions”, technology now exists that can help you eradicate that unneeded waste.

Widen’s current users experience “zero emissions” marketing on a daily basis.  Brand and content management are simplified, time to market is decreased and our favorite praise, frustration has greatly decreased.  While the status quo may be fine for secondary workflows, asset management certainly is an exception.  Departments and organizations are seeing an ROI inside of 12 months and the acceptable rate of your departmental emissions is more than likely going to be decreased in the near future.  Maybe it’s time to take a step in the right direction and explore a little bit more about possible solutions.

CMS Watch is an analyst firm reporting on the content management and digital asset management markets.  CMS Watch is not vendor funded and drives revenue by selling their in-depth studies.  A CMS Watch analyst authored a study on DAM that compared key vendors reviewing their offering, underlying technology, service and support plans, and speaking with their customers (to purchase this report, please visit http://www.cmswatch.com/DAM/Report/).   

Widen received a great review whereas some of the competitors did not – for the simple fact the analyst spoke with the customers.  Widen has always made the statement that customer satisfaction is higher with true Software as a Service organizations than it is with installed or SaaS pretenders and this report helped validate that statement.  A few suppliers were upset with the CMS Watch report because their customers could not back up what they told the analyst in the interview.  A disconnect between what you tell an analyst and what the analyst hears from your customer is a near death experience.  

CMS Watch was also a moderator at a trade show we recently attended (Henry Stewart DAM Symposium) where she spoke with our marketing team and listened to our customers (Reebok and InSinkErator) speak about how Widen helped with their DAM initiative.  North Plains, a DAM vendor, announced their SaaS offering at this show and Interwoven also mentioned their relatively new SaaS offering.  But are they really SaaS offerings or are they just hosting their own software? 

The CMS Watch blog post from industry analyst Theresa Regli for your reading pleasure...

North Plains and Interwoven offer DAM SaaS service -- or do they?

As the sun shines and summertime nears it makes me want to get outside and play yard games – bocce ball, bean bags (where I come from) and that game with the golf balls on a string.  Would you agree?   However, I have a game you can play right there in the office… it’s a classic called “Where’s my assets?” 

Unfortunately, I doubt the one you’re looking for has a hat, sweater and glasses. 

Al, Ryan, Kristina and I enjoy it because it gives a chance to really give each other lots of grief.  I’ve been with the marketing team the longest, so naturally I’ve structured a majority of the internal shared drive for our sales and marketing materials.  It’s great because I know where some of the stuff is so I get to laugh at them when they’re basically stuck in the mud (another childhood favorite).  

When our sales team asks us to create something that I swear we did at the end of the year last year, it’s like a game of duck, duck, goose or rock paper scissors to see who gets to handle the request.  Hmmm… I’m not sure if this ever happens to you, but after about 20 minutes of hide and seek we’re forced to ask our designer, Danielle, if she can quickly whip up a new document.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many lunches we owe her for the number of times she’s had to recreate a new version of something that’s been done a half-dozen times. 

What’s even more fun is when Matthew calls on us for the most current slide that he needs for a presentation tomorrow – it’s kind of like a game of marco polo the way our speaker phones echo across the corridor – more office fun!

For a marketing department of 7 at a company of 110, we really don’t have any excuses because we have this DAM marketing software at our fingertips to help us manage our content and brand assets.  But, I’m sure bigger companies don’t really have these problems because they’ve got it all figured out.   If you feel like joining in on the fun, just ask Dr. DAM. 

With the NCAA tournament in full swing, I thought it would only be appropriate to have the most common available methods of marketing asset management face off as well.  Although there are always upset victories, as this year has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, I feel that Widen’s run through the finals is pretty much a sure thing.  Let me explain…

In the first round of the Content Management Final Four Widen was paired against Installed Software Solutions.  This would be comparable to the team with a rich history that just hasn’t really done much to update their recruiting or style of play.  Installed Software used to reign supreme, but their time has come and gone.  With Widen operating on the convenient hosted platform and also absorbing all of the IT load in regards to managing your marketing assets, the first game wasn’t much of a match up.  Widen seals the victory with pricing that is much more palatable to marketing and creative departments that doesn’t require regular software and hardware upgrades.

In the finals Widen has come up against the Shared Drive / Internal Network.  This is the relatively new team on the block that’s kind of scrappy and always seems to just barely get the job done.  While the teams may look similar to some, any experienced content manager fan will realize the difference is in the organization.  Widen’s search engine and conversion capabilities keep you on your toes, as any file format can be ingested, converted and delivered.  The Shared Drive / Internal Network seems to keep up for a little bit, but sloppy play ensues as soon as files are misplaced and re-work becomes a standard task.  Victory is ours!

While Widen has earned the 2008 Content Management Final Four Championship, they certainly won’t rest on their accomplishments, as they will continue to update and upgrade their services and application three times per year.  Be sure to tune in again next year as Widen defends their title against contenders and pretenders alike in the 2009 Content Management Final Four.

In a DM Review Special Report on February 5, "The Marriage of Customer Relationship Management and Content Management," Dan Carmel discusses the inefficiencies plaguing sales and marketing organizations and the benefits of integrating CRM systems with SaaS-based content management systems. 

According to Dan Carmel, the top 5 benefits of combining CRM and content management are:

1. Improved win rates with more effective and timely responses to opportunities
2. More effective marketing with greater collaboration, faster turnaround and greater ability to leverage the latest material across distributed sales networks
3. Sales & marketing alignment by eliminating the gap between different processes and workflows
4. Faster time-to-revenue by speeding up sales cycles
5. Broader impact by integrating other best-in-class technologies serving their own distinct purpose to share information via web services

As the form of content management dealing with rich media, Widen has integrated our digital asset management software as a service platform with the Salesforce.com customer relationship management system.  Widen’s Digital Media Organizer brings the content marketing creates – images, videos and marketing materials – closer to the salesperson and end users. 

Widen’s Marketing Template Creation gives salespeople the ability to easily customize or localize printable materials such as ads, brochures, direct mail and point-of-sale signage using marketing-controlled templates and content. 

Marketing users within Salesforce.com have the ability to direct campaigns and manage all media used for email marketing, websites and print campaigns.  Our web analytics indicate that interest levels in Widen’s video asset management capabilities within Salesforce are of the greatest interest as video grows in popularity for marketers and consumers alike. 

As Carmel explains, five benefits of SaaS-based content management include:

• Faster time to deploy because there is no hardware or software to install
• Low initial cost for subscription-based pricing models
• Rapid innovation with automatic upgrades every few months
• Easy to use and configure specific to the requirements of each client
• Globally available with no burden on IT because applications are delivered via web browser and maintained by the hosted provider

These five benefits overlap with the same benefits Widen DAM customers enjoy.  SaaS-based business applications are not just for small to medium-sized businesses as larger companies continue to adopt best-in-class software as a service solutions.  Jim Egan, Director of Communications Programs at Kerry America, a leader in global food ingredients markets, stated, "By integrating [the Widen] tools within our Salesforce application, we now have a 'one-stop-shop' for all marketing and collateral material; making them easily accessible for our sales teams and channel members. These tools will help us strengthen our overall brand messages and enable our sales and application experts to deliver innovative, business-building solutions for our customers."

View Dan Carmel’s full article at: http://www.dmreview.com/specialreports/2008_60/10000666-1.html

Learn more about Widen’s digital asset management integration with Salesforce.com – Digital Media Organizer – and the brochure creation application – Marketing Template Creation.