When bringing digital asset management (DAM) into and organization, few companies consider the area of “Business Support”. Business Support is defined as the extended organizational infrastructure (people, organizational structures, and technology/systems) that is needed to maintain both the proper functioning of the DAM as it relates to the business (i.e., how the DAM maps to the business, validating proposed changes to the system, adding new capabilities, rolling out to new users, etc.), and the proper governance and communication around the DAM across your extended organization.
Business support is critical to the successful use of DAM in an organization. However most organizations fail to fully comprehend what is required or needs to be put in place to make a DAM deployment successful. Furthermore, when considering the total cost of ownership for a DAM, it is frequently a common unaccounted cost.
Business support is an organizational cost and an organizational concern. While business support is absolutely essential and required in global companies with multiple regional users (e.g. a global product or services company, manufacturer, consumer product provider or media/entertainment company) or for that matter any company that works with Ad agencies on a global basis, it is also essential for small- and medium-sized organizations to establish an appropriate business support infrastructure and business support team for the DAM.
Business support includes the DAM Masters and training roles referred to in the previous blog post. However, it expands beyond those to include the expanded team of people that play a role in supporting the DAM, as it affects a wide swath of an organization – from the creative teams, through marketing and agency partners, to global sales teams, partners, suppliers, and various outlets or consumers.
What tools and infrastructure are required to successfully support the business use of a DAM system in an organization?
First, keep in mind that organizations can use a variety of organizational structures to support a digital asset management system, especially if it is on a global, enterprise-wide or broad basis (e.g., it integrates with one or more external agencies, partners, distributors, retailers, etc.) Here are three approaches. The first two are common. The third one is new:
- An organization might employ a structure that uses regional experts who provide business level support in the local language, and serve as contacts between the region’s end users and the DAM Masters, funneling requests inward, and answers and education outward.
- The organization establishes a cross-functional team including IT, marketing, agency members, regional experts and others.
- Outsource the business support function to a third-party who provides the DAM Masters, training and more back to the entire organization as a managed service.
Your choice will depend on a number of factors:
- The structure and size of the business support organization required for your sized organization
- The degree to which automation can be employed instead of or in addition to people
- Your budget
- Your ability to create the DAM Master role internally
- Your ability to put in place the necessary internal organizational structure
Different structures work better for different organizations. But regardless of the approach and structure chosen, both people and automation are required. A good communication infrastructure is required, to communicate changes and education outward, and gather requests and needs inward. Presentation and messaging tools, a help desk and online help, as well as best practice techniques will facilitate the training and education requirements. Policies, protocols, survey tools, focus groups, emails and forums or internal blogs will facilitate requirements gathering. All of these are part and parcel of the DAM business support function. And as can be seen from these statements, because of the variance in how organizations may implement business support, its cost can vary widely.
While there is no “right way” to provide business support for DAM, there are best practices (which is a topic for another post). One best practice, however, is setting up the business support function in the first place. It is essential that it be set up and implemented, and for that matter, budgeted and accounted for as a critical expense, if you want your DAM to be successful. This requires executive sponsorship and at least initial oversight. It then requires ongoing attention, to assure it is being effectively provided. Often the DAM Master(s) performs this function.
One related statement must be made here: Digital asset management is fundamentally different than content or web content management, and it requires a different support structure (and training). This is so frequently misunderstood by people in organizations who think they can apply their Web content management (WCM) knowledge and skill sets to DAM and be successful. In general, they can’t because DAM is distinctly different. What a digital asset management system does, how it functions, what it needs to be successful are all different from that of a Web CMS. Perhaps an existing WCM support infrastructure can be utilized, but it doesn’t substitute for one that is dedicated to the DAM and the workflows, business processes, training, etc. that are required for its success across the extended enterprise.
In summary, DAM Business Support is critical to establish and maintain. It is essential to the success of any DAM, and often the area that kills DAM or media asset management (MAM) efforts if it is not properly addressed and furthermore, supported with senior management sponsorship and ongoing support. Lastly, it’s one of 13 costs for a digital asset management system, and one cost that is frequently unaccounted for in both initial planning or ongoing support.
