During these unprecedented times there is no doubt the COVID-19 virus has impacted communities and businesses globally. 6+ months in one thing is certain: there will be economic and financial difficulties that will be felt for months and even years to come. During these times you might look at cutting costs, your Financial Directors might ask: do we need the DAM? But remember – this is the time for transformation, it is the time to cut costs, improve productivity and streamline your business processes.

How does DAM help

Social distancing, lock downs, self-isolation are forcing organisations to transform the way they do business, and in a lot of cases these changes might be permanent. Working remotely is the reality these days but it is also a more modern work arrangement. However, the success of remote working is reliant on digital technology. One of those digital tools to help you and your organisation is a Digital Asset Management solution. Here is the list of key points:

• One central digital location for all your assets easily accessible by anyone anywhere.

The in-efficient alternative: everything stored on a central network server, only accessible from within the office. Or – thumb drives, personal cloud storage – not accessible by anyone else.

• Complex search capabilities let you find the right asset in seconds.

The alternative: search by file name (if you know it). As a result, you might waste valuable time trying to find a specific asset which you might not even find in the end and would need to create again.

• Effective digital collaboration – notifications, annotations, feedback from teammates and freelancers.

The in-efficient alternative: collaborate through back and forth emails.

• Management and workflow – create workflows, authorisations and supervision, and take advantage of full version control.

The alternative: simple authorisations to view, edit or delete.

• Focused on businesses and organisations – security, speed, effectiveness while managing your digital assets.

The alternative: initially created for individual use, later including options for businesses, as a result very limited scope of business functions.

In conclusion, while there are many cloud-based file sharing options, they might be a good option for your business/ organisation if:

• You have a low number of files, a few hundred or so.
• You have 1-3 internal users, no outside contributors.
• Your assets contain basic file types: images, documents, spreadsheets.
• You know the file names and/ or could find your files with a simple search.
• You’re ok with basic permissions to view, edit or delete files.

What a DAM offers is a complete, integrated and flexible solution for an informed and strategic use of your digital assets. Not just sharing but management, organisation, cataloguing, archiving, research, distribution and much more.

Remember: “a digital asset is a digital file that an organisation has invested time and resources into creating that has current and enduring business value to an organisation”.

Take a look at Canto.