A ResourceSpace guide

6 signs you need DAM software

resourcespace.com
For creative teams, there are so many distractions and secondary tasks that prevent
them from… well, being creative. But asset management shouldn’t be one of them.
You need your best visionaries focusing their time and energies towards producing
exceptional photographs, videos, content and documents, rather than trawling
through files, resizing images and being slowed down by admin.

Which is where Digital Asset Management (DAM) software comes in. By

implementing a centralised system for storing and sharing your assets, you’ll be
saving time, money and allowing your creatives to do what they do best.

This white paper from ResourceSpace aims to help you identify the right time for
making the move to a DAM software solution. We’ll be examining six of the common
problems and situations that can be improved through the use of these systems,
giving you an insight into how your department or organisation can see real savings
for both your schedules and your costs.

If any of the following sounds all too familiar, then managing your assets digitally is
likely to be the path you need to lead you to increased productivity, better workflow
and a more structured system of operating.

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Red Flag 1: Time wasted searching for
assets in emails, folders and drives
With more digital assets being created than ever before, the difficulty of locating
the item you need, as soon as you need it, is slowing workers down. With so many
employees generating so many items, traditional hierarchies for storing files are
getting lost in translation. With items stored across shared departmental drives,
individual desktops, cloud storage and distributed back and forth by email, time is
often lost simply in the act of hunting for the asset that you need in the depths of
your inbox or checking through endless folders.

DAM solution:
Digital Asset Management eliminates the fruitless pursuit of files, as you already
know exactly where to find them. Using a central hub for all assets brings everything
together in one place, and you’ll be able to narrow things down in even less time
by setting up search functions and utilising powerful search features to accurately
pinpoint files. You’ll save time by tracking down, retrieving and distributing content
in a more streamlined and precise way than simply browsing and hoping it turns up
before your deadline.

Which is where Digital Asset Management (DAM) software comes in. By

implementing a centralised system for storing and sharing your assets, you’ll be
saving time, money and allowing your creatives to do what they do best.

Red flag 2: Producing or buying new content

instead of recycling assets
Working on shiny new projects is great, but often, starting something entirely from
scratch can actually be avoided. In fact, it’s more than likely that you already have
files that can be repurposed in new ways, and reusing content often results in fewer
errors, reduced production costs and less money spent on stock artwork.

If you find that your team is spending time and resources generating, purchasing and
re-creating duplicate or unnecessary content, DAM software could provide you with
the shortcut you need to cut down the effort it takes to produce great work.

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DAM solution:
DAM software will help you to access your back catalogue of previous work,
reminding you what has gone before and what is available to you. The advanced
search functions and centralised asset archive allows browsing of previous work
that could be re-used or edited, saving time and money on producing imagery, video
and documentation from scratch. And because a wide range of employees across
the company can view and use materials that have been purchased or produced,
they’ll generate optimal ROI.

In this way, DAM software allows you to maximise your files by making use of assets
that already exist, and by ensuring they’re used by the utmost amount of people.

Red flag 3: Campaigns and

branding are lacking consistency
With marketing creatives working on strategies, PR gurus promoting your wares,
and sales teams pitching for deals, your company is sending a lot of messages out
into the world on a daily basis. You’ve worked hard to brand your business correctly,
and so each department needs to be representing that corporate image in the way
in which you intended. Using out of date logos, differing versions of content or the
wrong promotional material can dilute the brand and make your communications
incohesive, so it’s important to monitor the assets that are available to staff and
how they’re being used.

DAM solution:
DAM software allows you to control individual access to all previous work, and
make sure only updated logos, promo material, and the right corporate documents
are used to maintain brand integrity. This ensures that employees can only use the
latest, approved and intended versions of assets, rather than the ones that they like
the best or found first, keeping
all of your marketing efforts on-brand.

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Red flag 4: Miscommunication
between creative teams
Everybody has their own way of working, and as people leave, new people are
trained, and as the business evolves, processes can become confused. With
different systems of naming and saving files, and new starters being unaware of
previously produced work, it can be a struggle to find work in progress started
by a colleague or to know which person emailed what asset to who. Workflow
redundancies can creep in, although these inefficiencies can be reversed with the
more co-ordinated approach of DAM software.

DAM solution:
With the single archive provided by DAM software, all team or project members have
access to the same shared resources, in a more time effective manner. Even those
working remotely or from a separate location globally can access the files produced
and referenced by their colleagues; miscommunication is minimised as everyone
works from the same assets, using the same system.

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Red flag 5: Excess admin procedures
are slowing productivity
In an ideal world, staff members would only concentrate on the core activities for
their role. Unfortunately, we’re all required to dabble in other tasks from time to
time, removing our focus from our preliminary objectives and draining precious
hours from our busy schedules. In order to reduce the amount of administration
involved in workloads, DAM can automate processes to decrease the steps
necessary to achieve the end goal, making it easier for project members to dedicate
their skills where they’re really needed.

DAM solution:
There are a variety of time-consuming tasks that DAM software can aid with or
automate, such as the resizing of photographs and videos. For example, upload
a high res image to ResourceSpace, and this will automatically be available to
download in a range of resized options and formats, removing the manual steps of
resizing and reformatting, lowering your dependency on additional software, and
allowing you utilise the finished asset that much quicker.

With less time spent on the admin involved in locating, editing and distributing files,
your teams can devote their energies to their primary goals, building strategies
and driving revenue.

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Red flag 6: Spending too much
money on file backup and security
After the hard work of creating assets that you’re proud of you, you’ll want to keep
them safe from loss and attack. In fact, in today’s unpredictable climate, it’s more
important than ever to make sure files are backed up, and stored securely.

For many businesses, this leads to an array of security and file protection products
that can result in spiralling costs. Wouldn’t it be better to know that everything was
stored safely in a centralised hub to which you could control access?

DAM solution:
For the defence of your files and for your peace of mind, DAM software stores
files safely in one secure centralised nucleus. You’re in complete control of issuing
personnel access and sharing files, generating a url to direct both internal personnel
and external third parties to the collection or item you wish to refer them to. In
this way, you retain complete authority over allocating permission, safeguarding
restricted or sensitive assets.

With SaaS model software, your vendor will be keeping multiple copies of your data,
and central repositories can be easily backed up.

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Summary
If any of these issues affect your ability to work to optimal levels of efficiency,
it’s time to explore DAM software for yourself.

Here are some of the key features of DAM software that could improve the way
that you store, locate and share your digital assets:

✔ Allows, encourages and facilitates collaborations

✔ Dramatically improves ability to find a range of files immediately
✔ Reduces project miscommunications, and inconsistencies in branding
✔ Share assets easily, with control over who can view files and for how long
✔ Cuts time and resources spent on additional admin
✔ Keeps your important files in a safe, secure and controlled
digital environment

DAM from ResourceSpace

Convinced that DAM can help you? ResourceSpace is a comprehensive open source
software solution for digital asset management. It’s simple, fast and free.

To experience the advantages of ResourceSpace for yourself, start your free

trial now to turn these red flags into real results.

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About ResourceSpace
ResourceSpace is the web-based Digital Asset Management software of choice for
leading commercial, academic and not for profit organisations, offering a convenient,
productive and easy to use solution for organising and sharing files. We help
organisations improve efficiency, encourage collaboration, and free up time and
resources.

Fully customisable to best meet the demands of your business and packed with highly
beneficial features, ResourceSpace is available as open source software, meaning that
there are no license fees to pay and no vendor lock-ins.

See for yourself why ResourceSpace is used by a host of big name brands. It takes just
a few seconds to create a fully featured trial installation with 1GB of storage and full
administrative access. To get started, visit: http://www.resourcespace.org/trial

United Kingdom: 01367 710 245

International: +44 1367 710 245 resourcespace.com