Remember playing Telephone (a/k/a Whisper Down the Lane) arsenic a kid?

That’s wherever you susurration a condemnation into the receptor of idiosyncratic other who whispers it to idiosyncratic other and it continues until reaching the extremity of the line. The past idiosyncratic past announces what they heard to spot however akin it is to the original. Spoiler alert: It was astir ne'er the same. In immoderate cases the extremity effect would beryllium truthful vastly antithetic it was wholly unrecognizable from the root material. 

It’s communal to perceive a company’s digital plus absorption strategy (DAM) referred to arsenic the “single root of truth” for each its assets. It should beryllium your archetypal and lone halt erstwhile you request the current, approved mentation of an asset. But what happens erstwhile you download that plus and past upload it into 1 oregon much abstracted systems oregon sites? If that plus is updated however bash you update the copies successful each those different locations? 

Then it’s precise casual to extremity up successful a concern akin to what happens successful Telephone. 

The further the plus and its metadata determination from the DAM, the much apt it is to beryllium retired of date. Every clip you instrumentality an plus from your DAM and manually upload it to different system, you present risk. The metadata whitethorn beryllium incorrectly entered oregon autumn disconnected completely, record names whitethorn get changed. Without those, you suffer immoderate grounds of what’s being done with that plus successful presumption of when, wherever and by whom. The harder it is to support way of, the little consistency crossed your marque management. 

Dig deeper: DAM metadata: Why little is more

Uploading the aforesaid plus successful aggregate locations is not lone risky, it’s inefficient. Each upload is simply a redundant task. Employee clip is amended spent connected enactment that provides much value. Remember, retention abstraction isn’t unlimited and it isn’t free. More copies tin get you much expenses for much retention capacity.

No DAM is an island

A cardinal mode to minimize risk, support contented consistency, make efficiencies and summation the wide ROI of your DAM is having it integrated with your different tools and systems. 

Do you person immoderate of these tools that are (or should be) utilizing assets from your DAM?

• Brand absorption platform
• Content absorption strategy (CMS)
• Customer narration absorption strategy (CRM)
• Enterprise hazard absorption strategy (ERM)
• Marketing automation
• Product accusation absorption strategy (PIM)
• Social media absorption tools

Do you cognize however good they are integrated with your DAM? If you don’t, you should.

Don’t bounds your integrations to systems and tools downstream of your DAM. Yes, you privation the DAM to beryllium pushing that final, approved plus straight to arsenic galore places arsenic it’s needed, but what’s upstream of it? What workflows beryllium astir your contented creation, collaboration and support processes? Also, see these systems and tools arsenic imaginable integration candidates:

• Design bundle and/or papers instauration tools
• Project absorption software

And what astir analytics? Having an integrated, automated mode to way your assets aft they permission your DAM tin amusement you however your selling is doing successful existent clip and let you to enactment a tangible worth connected your assets. Your DAM apt has the capableness to fto you cognize however galore times an plus was downloaded, but past however galore times was it utilized aft that? How galore eyes saw it and where? The much visibility you person into when, wherever and however an plus is being used, the much effectual you tin beryllium successful some crafting your integer strategy and uncovering efficiencies by reusing palmy content.

Drawing the map

Once you’ve identified the systems and tools you privation to integrate with your DAM, wherever bash you start? 

I suggest focusing connected metadata. The metadata schema successful your DAM is defined and successful order, but however does it look successful the different systems you’ll beryllium integrating with? Aligning metadata crossed each your systems is not lone champion signifier for information governance and supporting metadata integrity, but it’s besides indispensable for a creaseless transportation betwixt systems. If your metadata isn’t aligned crossed your systems, it’s equivalent to putting a radical of radical who each talk antithetic languages successful a country unneurotic and expecting them to instantly pass seamlessly. Sure, they’ll yet fig it out, but it’s going to beryllium a long, bumpy roadworthy until then. 

If you’re preparing to integrate your DAM with different system, you’ll privation to inquire yourself these questions astir metadata:

• If assets are coming into the DAM from an upstream strategy oregon tool, what metadata volition beryllium coming with them? Is determination metadata added successful the DAM that could oregon should beryllium added successful that upstream watercourse system?
• Once the plus arrives successful the DAM, what further metadata whitethorn request to beryllium added to it?
• For each downstream strategy you’re integrating with, what metadata needs to spell with the asset? Which fields request to beryllium mapped from the DAM to the downstream system?

Once you’ve defined which metadata fields volition beryllium mapped crossed your systems, you’ll privation to align some the tract names and immoderate controlled vocabularies attached to those fields. Having 1 strategy that uses a circumstantial word associated with your marque and different strategy that uses the acronym for that word is simply a look for confusion. Get everyone speaking the aforesaid language. 

Giving you country to grow

Integrating your DAM isn’t conscionable a bully to have, it’s a necessity. The DAM is your azygous root of truth, your cardinal determination for each your last approved assets acceptable to assistance you beforehand your marque messaging to the world. Integrations assistance you negociate and power that messaging for the consistency of your marque voice. They besides amended ratio and minimize hazard by automating manual, redundant tasks and promoting the reuse of existing content, giving squad members much clip to walk connected valuable, originative work.