Cloud DAM: A Powerful Tool For Distributed Marketing Groups

A lot of talk is heard about “the cloud” these days in connection with computer technology – both for business and personal use. As this term is fairly new and hasn’t been fully grasped by all everyday tech consumers, you probably aren’t alone if you feel confused when you hear about it. We’re not talking about meteorology or weather conditions but news related to technology and business.

That's completely understandable but to get you up to speed on tech terms (and this one is no longer just a buzzword), 'the cloud' refers to computer programs, software, and applications that are only accessed over the Internet. As opposed to working with a program that was downloaded onto your computer, you connect to a server that hosts the program and use it in an online context. The reason why it's so very important to know about 'the cloud' and 'cloud computing' is because most programs and applications seem to be headed in that direction. Just about every sector of the economy has software applications that are moving to the cloud (if they haven't already done so).

There are numerous reasons why this change in the way we interact with programs and software is occurring but much of it can be summed up by simply stating that the cloud just makes everything easier for companies with limited IT resources. Digital Asset Management is no exception and makes an excellent fit for the cloud, especially so when it comes to marketing with limited IT support. A couple of the reasons why cloud DAM is such a powerful platform for marketing teams is outlined below:

Cloud DAM keeps everything more organized – Digital Asset Management is necessary when your company has too many digital assets to handle on one’s desktop or network share. Reaching this point through accumulation of a large number of assets seems to be inevitable. Improvements in video production technology result in higher numbers of video assets but instead of decreasing in size, they just take up larger volumes of space and bandwidth. Since online videos have also become such invaluable assets for every marketing campaign, it's a given that digital asset libraries quickly expand beyond the capabilities of in-house servers.

It's already impossible to keep them organized and yet the folks in charge of marketing material production upload new video and hi-res image assets on a daily basis. The only way to keep them organized enough to be useful is with a good cloud DAM solution. This is because third-party data centers with a cloud DAM system are needed to host large libraries of assets that have become too cumbersome for in-house servers. Cloud DAM programs for managing assets also have features that make management of huge numbers of assets a straightforward, easy task. Oh, and if you still have trouble with organizing all of those marketing materials, then the cloud DAM provider can help (as long as they keep the last “S” in SaaS in check).

Cloud DAM keeps marketing teams focused on core tasks – With different aspects of digital asset management relegated to different third-party companies or departments, you don't have to worry about managing them yourself. Well, marketing teams won't but the IT department would get stuck with it and if they are spending too much of their time with the management of digital assets, then they aren't focusing on other, business critical tasks. As IT people try to figure out what went wrong with the in-house DAM system, marketing teams also aren't as productive because they can't access the assets they need. Contrast this to cloud DAM whereby marketing teams are able to put a higher focus on campaigns at hand because cloud DAM providers are making sure that their product runs smoothly.

Cloud DAM helps to keep marketers on task – With self-service access capabilities, users are more productive because they can get what they need, when they want it, on their own. Sure, marketers can have access to assets kept on in-house servers but how are they going to find them? How are they going to know which video, image, or logo to use? If the DAM system is on in-house servers, these challenges are overcome by going right on over to administration and making a request for the appropriate marketing material. This move in turn wastes valuable time of administrators and designers in addition to keeping marketers from working on their core tasks. Such a double whammy of inefficiency is avoided with cloud DAM because users simply connect to the system, search and quickly choose the assets they need. It doesn't take long to find the right video, image, or logo with cloud DAM because users only have access to the assets they need.

Widen uses cloud DAM resources to provide digital asset management services. Request your live product demo to see the Widen cloud DAM solution in action.