Now that you have selected Canto as your DAM solution, how to pick the right configuration package for your needs. Are you worried about your storage needs – is 1TB enough? And how about the number of Users (administrators and contributors) – do you have many outside parties that contribute content?
Let’s start with storage.
How much cloud storage do you really need? We see very few customers go past the 1TB. A great way to get an idea of how much storage you really need is to look at how much you’re currently using. It is also a good time to start cleaning up and re-organising your files and folders. Canto has inbuilt de-duplication which is really handy at helping you clean things up. Here are a few other things to consider when choosing the storage amount.
Some types of files require much more space than others. Video files are the largest. Audio files rarely surpass 20GB. Images can vary in size and quality. Document files don’t take much space at all.
Any of your data that is not accessed frequently, is no longer in active use, and may not be needed in months, years, decades, is suitable for Cold Storage – a much cheaper option than the normal Hot Storage. The assets in Cold Storage can still be accessed, searched for, previewed, and requested for download, or moved back to the Hot Storage. More on the Canto Cold Storage here.
One of the major benefits besides security and offsite storage is the scalability of cloud storage. You can easily purchase more if needed.
The next big question in choosing the configuration is: how many user licenses do we need.
There are 3 types of users – Administrators, Contributors and Consumers.
There are 2 types of licenses – Users or Consumers.
Both Admin and Contributors (any combination) are grouped as user licenses, they distribute content to Consumers.
Administrators control your Canto account; they are business users (not IT). Contributors can upload content, add metadata, organise your library.
Do you have external agencies, photographers or other independent parties that contribute content to your library? If so – and they don’t need to have access to your Canto account – all they need is an Upload Link to upload the content to, and the Admin can then approve the content to be added to the Main Library. It is a much more controlled process, and it saves you money for getting additional user licenses.
I hope this article has been helpful in clarifying some things on the different package configurations of Canto SaaS DAM. There are custom configurations available, if necessary. Make sure you talk to databasics about your needs, we are happy to help.