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.

Post from guest blogger Sean Banahan, Widen Area Sales Executive

While browsing my iGoogle home page the other day I was presented with an interesting press release that reminded me again of a key difference between traditionally licensed software products and those offered through the Software as a Service (SaaS) model.  The press release that caught my eye described the latest upgrade of a competitor’s digital asset management application.  The recently released software upgrade included a number of bug fixes, but not one new feature or enhancement worth mentioning in the press release.  The release went on to describe the next scheduled upgrade of this competitor’s product as well, which of course was promised to be chalk full of the missing new features and enhancements.  Best of all, the next upgrade with all of the promised features was scheduled for just a few short weeks away. 

This might leave one asking why a customer should go through all the trouble of upgrading to the version that was just released if a better upgrade with all the “fixings” was just around the corner anyway.  I mean, why dedicate the time and resources when you are just going to have to do it all over again in a couple of months?  The press release doesn’t directly answer that question, though it does state that those users who were using the system’s data backup utility should seriously consider upgrading their installed application to this new release immediately.  It also warned that customers should consider renewing their support policies.  Ok… that’s a bit scary. 

On the bright side, the press release told customers who currently have support policies in place not to worry about upgrading at all until the next version was released.  Now I am scared and confused.  I think what they are saying is that those of you who pay annually for support need not worry.  For the rest of you… watch out.  If you plan on using your DAM system to back up any of your data you just might find yourself up a creek.  Since a big reason for implementing a DAM system to begin with is to centralize and protect your assets, a broken backup utility kind of kills the whole point doesn’t it. 

If this all seems confusing and spiritually draining then I think you and I are on the same page.  For the rest of you, I have to ask why you allow this kind of abuse to continue?  Haven’t you suffered enough?  Why don’t you hold your software vendors accountable?  If you think I am exaggerating then do a search on Google for the press release I describe above yourself.  It was published by a well known DAM provider so I am sure you can find it.  With that in hand, ask yourself if you haven’t been thrown into this spin cycle before.  Your software vendor forces you to upgrade an application repeatedly each year along with all of the databases, application servers and service packs that go along with it just so you can protect your investment.  Plus you have to pay additional support fees just to have access to an 800 number should anything go disastrously wrong.   

One of the biggest differences between software and software as a service providers is accountability.  SaaS providers are contractually obligated to provide you more than a simple software disc in a box.  Do all software products have problems?  Of course that’s true and bugs definitely pop up, but that shouldn’t excuse your vendor from providing a reasonable level of service.  As a customer you have the right to feel that the vendor you partnered with is actually on your side.  Hosted and SaaS providers take all of this out of your hands and upgrade everything for you, seamlessly, automatically and without hassle.  Why you would go any other route is beyond me.  I know software providers argue for flexibility in customizing and tailoring the service to meet your specific needs.  Though that argument is hardly true and most SaaS solutions can be customized just as easily as licensed products, a heavily customized platform is all the more difficult to upgrade and support and ultimately compounds your problem even more. 

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?

I like to periodically expose some of the actual stories that take place with clients looking for ways to get control of their brand assets and rich media.  This was my original intention for Dr. DAM.  Does this sound like you?

We recently had a discussion and demo with the creative director at an advertising agency seeking help in managing two terabytes of data stored on local hard drives and CDs.  They currently use FTP sites to distribute digital assets to clients, but they're getting complaints that this isn’t meeting their needs.  The current processes are not user friendly, assets aren’t globally accessible, they’re grappling with multiple file formats and all of the files are too large to email at 70MB+. 

Like many agencies working with big companies, they have an enterprise client that has turned to them for help in building a web based DAM system to manage their brand assets.  The client needs to allow people from multiple departments all over the world to access current assets, add metadata, share, send and download images, store displays, banners and other marketing resources. 

Other “must-haves” for the client include:

• Branded site to meet corporate branding standards
• Full reporting and tracking of asset usage
• Simple ability to upload assets, add metadata and structure content
• User permissions to control who sees what

Since many ad agencies do not have the time or resources to take on enterprise digital asset management software implementations nor is it within their area of expertise, it’s becoming more common for agencies to turn to a hosted service or SaaS provider for help.  If you’re interested in Dr. DAM’s recommendation… trust the experts.

...in more ways than one.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I traveled to New York this year for the Henry Stewart DAM Symposium.  Along with participating in the vendor shootout panel on Brand Asset Management software, I was also joined by Jim Magruder, Director of Marketing at InSinkErator. Talk about a brand dominating an industry… InSinkErator is a case study in Global Brand Recognition.  Granted they only sell two products (In sink garbage disposers, and hot water dispensers), they blow away the competition...  In fact, I don't think there is any competition.

Jim and I went out for dinner and I thought he would be a good person to ask his opinion on how our DAM enables InSinkErator's corporate branding. Jim had a very interesting answer that I believe will resonate with other businesses.  He skipped over all the standard DAM jargon on how it centrally organizes brand approved assets… Roles and permissions... blah blah.  He went directly to InSinkErator's Brand Guidelines Document.  A large sum of time, research, resources and money went into creating this document that was to define how InSinkErator is to look to its customers and its dealers and distributors worldwide.  There is a sentence explaining that InSinkErator is constantly striving to incorporate the newest technology available, not only in their products but in the way they communicate with customers - both retail and professional.  Jim directed me to that section as one of his main reasons.  DAM to InSinkErator is not only a tool to protect their brand, it’s also a major part of portraying it as well.

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.

Last week I attended the University Photographers’ Association (UPAA) Symposium in Auburn, AL as a vendor.  I presented Widen’s digital asset management (DAM) applications for this unique group of photographers working in colleges and universities across the United States (Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa, Michigan, Louisiana, Florida – and more).  One of the interesting things of the UPAA is its focus on “photographic excellence through continuing education” which I find one of the most admirable missions of any organization.  These photographers strive to learn more about equipment, techniques, and software applications that will enhance not only their personal style, but also improve the practice and use of photography at the colleges and universities in which they operate.

These photographers understood not only ‘what DAM is all about,’ but also ‘why organizations need dam.’  What struck me is that – regardless of if a photographer shoots for a college in Louisiana or a university in Michigan – they have the exact same problems with image storage, management, and retrieval as photographers shooting product images or lifestyle shots for Fortune 500 companies.  Why is that?

I think it’s the nature of the beast with digital assets.  Everyone has them.  Everyone tries to manage them.  Everyone struggles.  The need for hosted digital asset management solutions crosses all industries regardless of an organization’s size or structure.  A photographer takes images of a football game, students on campus, a concert – and now what?  Who needs to review them?  Who needs to receive them?  What format do they need?  Where to store them?  Will the IT department give them more server space?  Where to find them when someone calls 3 months from now for a particular photograph?  Hmmm … it’s a good thing Widen solves these problems on a daily basis.

p.s. On a lighter note – I’d highly recommend the fried pickles and fried green tomatoes on your next trip to Alabama.

I just read a great article about how photography studios should ‘farm things out’ to become more profitable, less stressed, and overall more productive.  Brilliant!  The author of “Farm It Out,” (PDN Online) Sarah Coleman, discusses how once photography moved to digital, photographers started doing more and more work.  Retouching images, tweaking color, storing client images, burning CDs and shipping them to clients – the list goes on and on!  These secondary tasks not only take away from spending time shooting images but also take additional time and resources to complete.  By outsourcing things such as these – photographers spend more time shooting – less time doing time-consuming administrative tasks – saving time and money.  By hiring outside service providers to take care of image management and photography workflow – photographers can earn more doing less.  Now who doesn’t want that?

Generally, by hiring a software as a service provider such as Widen to take care of image management – studios find that they don’t have to worry about storage, IT, infrastructure, hardware, etc – which is both an emotional and financial relief.  Backdrop™ helps streamline photography workflows by automating, centralizing, and tracking all reviews, comments, and approvals from anywhere in the world.  By combining this with digital asset management – photographers not only improve their workflow but provide their clients with a secure, centralized location in which they can access their images (by permission, of course).

For studios looking to expand, farming out digital asset management and workflow applications can help move them to another level of business growth.  By utilizing partners who are experts in their respective markets, studios can enhance what they do best and offer their clients the latest technology to outpace their competitors.  What better way to do this than offer your client’s digital asset management and Backdrop for photography routing and approval?

Our theme at Henry Stewart New York last month was “A New Twist on DAM” featuring the twist ice cream cone… what does ice cream have to do with software, you ask?  As a pure play Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of digital asset management, Widen has blended hosted and installed solutions by putting hardware/software on the client site – the Widen Appliance.  How is that different than installed software?  Widen manages the installation, replication, monitoring, maintenance and upgrades in tandem with the Widen Collective hosted platform … staying true to the model of providing software as a service.

I presented our concept of “DAM as SaaS 2.0” – managed services on the client site – in one of the technology tracks and featured case studies from Sub-Zero/Wolf and The Sports Licensed Division of the Adidas Group.  At the beginning of the presentation, I polled the audience to get an idea of what roles of people I was actually talking to – creative, marketing, or I.T. – because the meat of my presentation talked about how each of those roles benefit from the Widen Appliance.

Creative 

• High-speed workflow
• No application switching
• Eliminate redundant work
• Eliminate distribution of outdated materials

Marketing

• Feeds the global demand
• Consistent use of materials
• Self-service access for sales channels
• Immediate use / no training necessary

I.T.

• Disaster recovery policies
• Share data with other applications
• Higher security standards
• Widen handles the customer support
• External access uses Widen security and bandwidth

In the case of Sub-Zero/Wolf, their master assets reside in Widen’s data center to feed the external demand from their distributors and dealers, while replicated assets are available on the Appliance for local search and consumption by Sub-Zero corporate marketing teams. 

In the case of the Adidas Sports Licensed Division, they have six different locations of fully replicated data at each site.  Their creative groups work with files at LAN speeds and have employee mobility to access the same data from site-to-site.

One of the questions/concerns at the end of the presentation asked about the speed of the replication between appliance sites and Widen’s master data center (a.k.a. “the mothership”).  Widen Director of R&D, Ed Chwae, was available to answer and there were multiple responses… Speed of the replication is dependent on the bandwidth available at the client site.  We can use private networks or public networks, VPN tunnel over public networks (dependent on bandwidth) determined by amount of files to be replicated daily.  We can throttle the bandwidth… post-pone it for after-hours activity – all of which is dependent on user needs. 

Basically, the ability to the give our clients exactly what they need is simple because we are the experts - we develop the software, manage the hardware and have the service and support teams to make it happen…

View the full presentation and other resources at www.widen.com/twist. 

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?

Wasn’t the purpose of digital asset management always supposed to be a platform technology?  By platform technology, I mean not acting as a stand-alone application but as an enabling technology allowing other applications to perform a task without having to be concerned with the complexities associated with digital media.

So why are so many digital asset management providers unable to easily provide other applications a means to use the digital assets in the most efficient manner?  Simple answer is because they created their digital asset management system with the intent of being a stand-alone application and not with the intent of being a platform technology.

What’s the difference; don’t they both have a purpose in digital asset management land? 

Sure they both have a purpose; the stand-alone digital asset management application is for temporary use and has a lifecycle that places it near end of life the minute you purchase it.  The stand-alone application has some of the following traits:

• New releases and functionality are promised but never delivered – no formal release cycle exists
•  You have a phone number to call for support but nobody picks it up or returns the call
• The application is not used by the company to help manage their own digital media challenges
• The company that sold it to you is not the company that creates the software
• The product portfolio consists of DAM and that’s it – no other complementary products
• Customization is part of the standard offering because they cannot anticipate how you will use it
• When you ask for integration, they say, “Sure, we are partnered with several integrators; let me find you a phone number.”
• The price tag borders on ridiculous and you begin to question their financial viability
• They might also be under the cover of the “installed software provider” label and cringe at the very thought of the software-as-a-service market
• After you shake their hand you need to count your fingers

I recommend you purchase a stand-alone application if you have:

1. Money to burn
2. Internal I.T. teams looking for something to do
3. A complete understanding of digital asset management and all the related technologies
4. No direction or vision for how you want to use your digital media as your organization expands and your market reach increases

A digital asset management provider positioning as a platform technology possesses the following traits:

• Religious release cycles with proactive development addressing the future needs of the market
• Service and support teams that pick up the phone and hold several training sessions for the user community to attend
• Their own digital asset management platform is used by the marketing, creative, and production teams to drive internal workflows
• The digital assets are not duplicated and placed into other locations; all sources using the digital assets of the organization reference the digital asset management platform eliminating redundant and outdated libraries of digital assets serving other applications and/or individuals
• The value resides in the combination of efforts from on-site marketing, development, and service, and product teams
• The portfolio of products is rich with other ways of using digital media in the approval and collaboration process or distribution and publishing channels
• Digital asset management functionality is designed around use cases creating immediate value from day one
• Integration teams are in the same facility as the development, infrastructure, service, product, and marketing teams so when you ask for integration, the parties involved already understand the technology and the process
• The price tag makes you wonder why the other providers are so expensive
• Software-as-a-service organizations commonly create digital asset management as a platform technology because the relationship continues after the agreement is signed; stand-alone digital asset management providers have a tough time looking someone in the eye after selling a soon-to-be outdated application
• Trustworthy and transparent

I recommend you purchase a digital asset management platform technology if you have:

1. Restricted budgets
2. Limited or no internal I.T. resources
3. A complete understanding of your business
4. A vision for how you want to expand the use of your digital media

So I am on the plane flying back to Madison after attending the Henry Stewart DAM Symposium in New York City, and I am realizing (to borrow a line from Sesame Street) that one of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not the same. Lets look at the acronym “SaaS, or software as a service.” What is “different” is how hosted, or SaaS digital asset management companies define the last S, “Service.”
 
I sat on a panel with 3 other companies. To be completely honest, it was my first panel in the DAM industry (I have been in the Audio and  Video, and Service world for quite a while) and I was outranked….flanked by VP’s and Chief’s. My goal was to answer any direct questions and keep my comments conservative. As I was listening to them talk, a number of things were going through my head, most of it I truly believe to be technical jargon that made them sound extremely intelligent, but which in reality just confuses the audience….taking away from the simplicity of the reason for the panel….explaining what made us different.

There is a famous saying…”Jack of all trades, master of none.” The one thing I think I did make clear, through the clutter, was that Widen was a 60 year old company, we have never been acquired, bought, sold, eaten, spit out, and that we have a long history of Service. “Service,” that magical word. We have been in a “Service” industry for 60 years. I started to mention some of the things that we do for our customers,…things that we do not charge “extra” for. They are not part of an “extended service plan.” They are just part of doing business with Widen. Nothing else was said by the other vendors that had anything to do with this…. If you believe that most DAM companies have the same functionality in their software, then what’s the difference between us?

I now realize that it is “Service.” I took for granted that what Widen calls Service, was the same as everyone else. My mistake! There is a line in one of our customer case studies that states that because of our excellent service, and quick response, Widen felt like it became and extension of that company’s Marketing dept.

After the conference, that line has now taken on new meaning for me.

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. 

The incompatibility with the 3G network has been a black mark on the iPhone ever since it was introduced nearly a year ago.  Users expect the fastest data network available for use on their high end gadgets, with phones no longer being an exception.  Computer processers that exceed most users’ needs, more megapixels than the average shooter would ever know what to do with and even shoes with wireless connections to monitor exercise.  Bigger, better and faster are all expectations that are regularly associated with consumer goods, but what about enterprise applications?

It seems like individuals are more content to sit back and not explore other options even if they know their workflow or  software is outdated and not allowing them to function efficiently.  There are obvious pitfalls to seeking new technology such as budget approvals, lethargic system users or even outdated hardware not being able to accommodate for new, large applications that are going to eat up memory and processing capabilities.  What if in the future that wasn’t a worry?  What if new solutions was available and essentially laughed in the face of these problems?  Well the future is now.

Hosted applications required an internet connection.  That’s it.  No hardware upgrades or increased bandwidth, nothing.  Just internet.  And as far as user adoption goes, anyone competent in consumer search engines or sites such as Google or Amazon have already been trained as users.  How convenient!  And the feared budget discussion…not even an issue.  Every single client has been shown an ROI inside of one year with Widen. 

Is it really Bigger?  Better?  Faster?!?!  Yes, yes and yes.  Our Media Collective application provides you with an online portal for as many users as you wish with absolutely NO size limitations to what you can place in the collective.  And faster is easy with conversions on the fly and immediate delivery of assets to users.  We will help you through the set up and any questions or concerns you may have along the way, but there is one thing we can’t do…tell you what to do with all of the spare time you’re going to have.

You know who you are… You’re in the trenches just trying to put in a fair day’s work and make an honest living.  You’re trying to keep up with the status quo.  In tough economic times, you don’t need to do anything to stand out.  You don’t want to ask for the money or waste the time looking for some empty software box with no clear-cut ROI.  You’re okay with the small battles, occasional fires and tedious, redundant processes… why change if that’s the way it’s always been – right?  

I didn’t think so - that’s not good enough.

You’re the ambassador of your digital media embassy and you deserve better.

Where do you keep all that stuff?  Your images and videos (and the rest of the materials that are the lifeblood of your sales and marketing efforts).

Are they easily accessible?
Are they scattered?
Are you in control? 
Are your field reps using the most recent version?
Is time on your side or is the current process winning?
Are marketing and sales on separate islands?
Are you recreating lost files that you know are out on some server?
Are the emails in your inbox asking for a photo of that one image from last season’s whatever taking focus off the projects you really want to work on?

If so, you’re grappling… you’re battling the status quo and change is essential. 

Experience an ROI and live an ROE – return on expectations.  When was the last time you made a business decision that you were 100% satisfied with?

You know what Dr. DAM would prescribe.  A recent testimonial from a DAM user basically says it all:  "Wow, I really like this. I just go out there and bing, bing, bing, I'm done."

Need more?  Check out the St. Mary’s "Ease of Use" video interview with Steve Sparks, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, for St. Mary's Hospital.

Two weeks ago, I was one of the presenters at the $5 Friday seminar hosted by C2 Graphic Productivity Solutions in Milwaukee titled Life Cycle of a Digital Asset. C2, the only Wisconsin-based Adobe Authorized Training Center, hosts the $5 seminars once a month for those interested in learning more about current topics in the world of graphic design and creative.  The topic of the seminar – Lifecycle of a Digital Asset – was a learning session about how Digital Asset Management (DAM) software helps design, creative, and marketing communications people “find all their stuff.”  

My co-presenter, Jim Conway, a photographer and C2 instructor with years of experience managing a digital imaging center, discussed some of the fundamentals of file management and showcased Adobe Bridge & Lightroom software and other single-user management solutions.  He talked about how metadata is used and why it is useful to help you catalog, manage and find files using Adobe XMP metadata.

My presentation focused on the advantages of web-based, enterprise-level digital asset management systems over the single-user applications for larger workgroups, enterprises and organizations with a distributed user base. 

Advantages of enterprise-level digital asset management software solutions (as we see it) include:

Internet Accessibility – With whenever - wherever access, web-based DAM systems allow marketing and sales channels to find and retrieve exactly what is needed in the hustle and bustle of a highly competitive sales environment. 
 
On-the-fly File Conversions – With the power to store one, yet deliver many files via on-demand conversions allows organizations to maintain only one master hi-resolution or hi-definition asset and not have to mess with an infinite number of multiple file formats of multiple assets.

Distribution & Fulfillment – Emailing large files straps I.T. resources and sending CDs doesn’t allow you to react to last second demands for tight deadlines and deal closing meetings.  Upon placing an asset order to another person, Widen web-based DAM sends an automatic email containing a link to download the assets in the format(s) requested.  If you need a CD library of images or video on DVD, Widen will handle it for you and ship it overnight without tying up your staff. 

Security and Access Control – Need to keep user groups apart so only certain users have access to specific sets of assets or features…you won’t find that with single-user asset management systems.  Cases include granting your ad agency access to upload assets, while granting salespeople basic access to view and order materials they need.  Or in the case of many of our clients, you may have products branded for your separate dealers in which you need to keep their assets separate as well.  Motorola wouldn’t want Verizon Wireless to have access to Sprint branded image assets and vice-versa.  You see the reasons…

Administration & Management – Enterprise / web-based asset management systems have a tremendous amount of configurability and scalability to accommodate growth and expansion, which often comes with high-levels of administration and management functionality.  There are often multiple tiers of administrators and user groups having separate roles, responsibilities and levels of interaction with the system’s features and assets. 

Reporting & Measurement – What good are your assets if they can’t be found, retrieved and used?  … That’s why you implement a digital asset management system.  But how great would it be if you could quickly and easily know who, what, where, when and why your assets are used?  Enterprise / web-based digital asset management systems are more than just a means of organizing and distributing assets, they are a marketing tool for intelligence, strategy and budgeting purposes. 

SaaS Infrastructure / Support – Like most software, you have choices… two in fact – installed or hosted a.k.a. Software as a Service (SaaS).  With the former, it’s up to your I.T. department to handle the implementation, maintenance, upgrades, training, security, support, trouble-shooting, customization, etc. along with their list of other projects supporting critical business operations.  With the latter, the service provider handles all of that for you … and if you pick ‘em right – they’ll put marketing, creative and sales at the top of the priority list. 

Integrations and Other Applications – Does the software provider offer other technologies than DAM related to the digital media lifecycle – upstream to support the creation and workflow or downstream to support the distribution and publishing of assets?  That’s another thing to look at when considering an asset management system.  On top of that, do they play nice with others?  Integration and the ability to share information (assets and metadata) with other systems supporting critical business functions is key to selecting a system that can continue to grow with an organization. 

There have been several varying and contradictory reports published regarding the adoption rates of Software as a Service (SaaS) in the SMB market.  While a department, or enterprise as a whole, won’t make a decision based strictly on overall adoption rates, it helps in know whether or not a particular technology is valid when considering options for marketing and creative support.

According to Kate Evans-Correia, News Director at SearchSMB.com, recent growth of adoption rates in the SMB market can be attributed to increased security measures by SaaS providers, as well as a payment and management structure that mirrors SMBs much closer than legacy applications.  (Article)

In Evans-Correia’s research regarding SaaS adoption, Jeff Kaplan, managing director of THINKstrategies Inc., had some comments regarding this growth.  “Indeed, the ability to pay for capabilities as needed is the main factor encouraging SMBs to use the remote software delivery model.  Adding new users without difficulty and easing the workload of the IT staff are factors nearly as important for medium-sized businesses.”

With the adoption rate growing and an expected market growth of $19.3 billion by 2011, the time has never been better to support marketing and creative departments with a digital asset management (DAM) solution.  While early adoption raises red flags for some, enterprise content management and brand integrity are always going to be vital to an organization, no matter what technology is powering those initiatives.  The quicker the adoption of SaaS will lead to further integration with other SaaS applications within the organization, leading to a ever-growing ROI…and that’s something everyone can get behind.

Swinging with the X-Rite Munki

If you are a designer or photographer that is forced to "monkey" around with color on a regular basis then you may want to check out X-Rite's new product, ColorMunki...  http://www.colormunki.com/

ColorMunki is a device about the size and shape of a tape measure that is capable of calibrating monitors or projectors, creating ICC profiles for printers, and capturing and communicating color. The user selects the device function by rotating a dial on the side of the unit.

At only $500, the ColorMunki is a low-cost, entry-level spectrophotometer aimed at the photography and design markets. It will quickly calibrate and profile a computer display or projector used for presentations or slide shows. It creates ICC profiles for desktop or large-format printers using only 50 -100 color patches, which it is able to quickly scan in about one minute. Painless monitor to printer agreement is promised by telling the ColorMunki to “match my printer to my display” as the user is guided through the profiling process for both the display and printer.

Designers will go "ape" over the color sampling and communication functions of ColorMunki. The user can grab color from almost any reflective surface and build a color library that can be shared with others or used in many popular applications like the Adobe Creative Suite. With ColorMunki's PrintSafe checking capabilities, you can preview your color palettes under different lighting conditions. You can even extract a color palette from any image.

The ColorMunki is not a device that serious color professionals will likely want to use, as it does not do things like interface with RIPS for calibration or linearization. Color geeks will want to stay with devices like X-Rite's Eye-One Photo/Print ($1600) or the iSis ($5000) along with ProfileMaker or Monaco software for creating very accurate ICC profiles and maintaining calibration on output devices.

But if your goal is swinging through the jungle of pleasing color without getting your fur ruffled or spending a lot of money, then the ColorMunki is for you. With this product, X-Rite will no doubt get color management tools into the hands of many more people. And I think that is a good thing. Besides, who doesn't love monkeys?

Mark