The term “Big Data” has been bandied about willy-nilly for a couple of years now, and has become a catch-all phrase for the need to collect and store unprecedented amounts of information as devices and people communicate with each other digitally on a near-constant basis. But business workflows depend on more than just storing that content—data management is needed as well. Being able to put that information to use has become central to enhancing efficiency and productivity. And accordingly, a solid, workflow-based information management and digital asset management (DAM) strategy has become a "must-have" for capital intensive industries.
“These days, content creation demands on marketing have never been greater,” said Ian Michiels, CEO at Gleanster Research, in a blog. “But it’s not just about creating content, it’s about creating and re-using the right content for the right channels. This has elevated the role of digital asset management tools to a strategic importance for marketers who continue to place excessive dependence on shared drives and personal hard drives for storage.”
How DAM requirements play out differ by market segment. Take, for instance, the case of the energy vertical. It’s a complex process to progressively hand over, say, an oil rig’s data from its engineering and construction phase into its operations phase. Thus, an information and media flow tool for efficiently doing so becomes paramount for keeping costs down and allowing better efficiency.
But that’s easier said than done. According to Gleanster research, there are 57 DAM solutions on the market today. And according to survey respondents, the average organization supports three or more DAM and content management tools. That makes it difficult to ensure that enough attention is placed on taxonomy, role based usability and upload compliance.
New approaches that prioritize workflow customization and flexibility—as Michiels noted, workflow plays a critical role in the integrity of the assets in the system and how content is used—is perhaps the most important evolution in the DAM space. That’s made possible with cloud-based solutions that support Web 2.0 functions like drag-and-drop functionality and mobile access options.
“A new generation of DAM tools are starting to surface and they are flexible, user-friendly, automated, and scalable,” Michiels said. “This makes metadata capture, search, and collaboration accessible for marketers in turnkey and affordable DAM offerings.”
AVEVA for instance has launched version 5.0 of the AVEVA NET (News - Alert) platform for information management for the oil and gas industry. It’s the core technology underpinning AVEVA's Digital Information Hub solutions, which are aimed at rapidly capturing, exploring and “interrogating” digital asset databases.
“Customer feedback has already shown that these improvements enhance both overall user experience and productivity, enabling significant savings across engineering projects and asset operations,” AVEVA said in announcing the upgrade. “This latest release benefits from simpler and quicker installation and an enhanced user interface that is both intuitive and tablet-friendly.”
Michiels advocates vetting solutions carefully by involving multiple stakeholders in the decision. “Next generation DAM solutions and the low cost of storage are rapidly lowering the bar for the line of business to see faster time to value,” he said. “That said, you should always involve IT in the investment decision, even when it’s a low-cost cloud-based solution. They can help ensure things like security, access, metadata, and taxonomy standardization help support a return on investment.”
Edited by Alisen Downey