Managing a growing library of digital assets like images, videos, documents, and more can be challenging. A DAM (Digital Asset Management) platform is invaluable for centralising digital content in one secure location, allowing greater organisation and easier access than depending on locally networked hard drives or a cloud storage system such as Dropbox.
However, a core consideration of implementing a digital asset management system is that effective integration with other critical business systems is essential. Here are some crucial benefits of digital asset management and how a good platform can help streamline workflows and boost operations across your business.
Manually uploading large volumes of assets into a DAM system is time-consuming and prone to errors. Integrations allow the automatic transfer of digital content from your other business systems into the DAM platform, saving your team valuable time. For example, aggregating inbound advertising and extracting publication metadata facilitates its automatic placement with minimal human interactions being needed.
Metadata can also be automatically populated from integrated systems, eliminating repetitive and manual data entry. The more you can automate ingestion and metadata mapping through integrations, the less manual effort your users need to expend.
When assets and metadata flow seamlessly from the DAM platform into your integrated systems, it maintains consistency as there is a single source of truth. Brand guidelines around image sizes, file formats, coupled with rights management, usage and approved content ensures consistency since assets originate in the DAM.
Manual movement of digital assets between systems is prone to a higher likelihood of expensive errors, including accidental file deletion and misplacement. Integrated workflows enabled by your DAM system significantly reduce the risk of such mistakes because the latest approved versions of assets are automatically backed up and synced across your integrated systems, so you avoid issues with outdated or unapproved files being used accidentally. Integrations give you confidence that the right assets are always available to the right users.
With DAM integrations, workflows can be pre-defined based on specific triggers and events. For example, when a new product photo is uploaded to the DAM, optimised derivations can be automatically generated and, if needed, watermarked before being routed to the e-commerce platform to update the product page, with no need to edit the image and re-upload it manually. Customisable workflows also enable the automated routing of assets based on review, approval, publishing status, and more, preventing assets from getting stuck in siloes.
A key benefit of integration is gaining clear visibility into how your assets are being leveraged across systems. With an integrated system, you can track everything from user interactions like ‘when and who approved it’ to where an asset has been used. Capturing key usage metrics like views, downloads and shares to see which assets resonate best with users. Understanding usage trends lets you optimise your digital assets based on actual data, and customisable reporting tools provide the insights needed to maximise ROI on assets.
Book a free consultation with Papermule today. Our team can advise on the right integration strategies tailored for your publishing business so you can transform productivity and unlock the full power of your digital assets.
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