DAM and the C-Suite: Aligning Your Strategy with Business Goals
When it comes to C-Suite level goals and spending decisions, digital asset management (DAM) may not be top of mind for your organization. However, how personnel find, edit, and use company assets is a key part of day-to-day operations that can be optimized with the right tech and processes. Almost everyone in your organization, from sales to IT, and support to marketing, has to touch an asset at some point as part of their job. Whether it’s sales personnel using collateral to promote your brand to a potential customer, marketing team members creating and sharing assets across channels, or other internal teams accessing process documentation, agility in finding and using assets represents significant time and cost savings when done right. Explore the benefits of DAM and understand how to pitch related processes and technology implementation to your entire C-Suite.
Understanding DAM in the C-Suite
The phrase digital asset management, or DAM, refers to every aspect of how your team handles content, photos, videos, graphics, documents, data, and any other digital assets throughout their life cycle. This includes creating, storing, finding, accessing, editing, collaborating on, sharing, and deleting assets. Often, the acronym “DAM” is used interchangeably to describe the overall concept and practices associated with managing digital assets, as well as the technology and systems used to do so.
Proper DAM is vital to drive a digital-first strategy in a modern business landscape where more and more users expect the 24/7 convenience of online information and support. Having all assets conveniently stored in one easy-to-access place makes finding and using key digital materials in everyday work more efficient across the entire organization.
Any consideration that affects every department the way DAM does should be a high priority for the C-Suite, which sets organizational strategy and overarching goals for the whole company. However, with the individual priorities of CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and CMOs focusing on each of their department’s immediate needs, DAM may slip down the list of priority initiatives. This is despite its proven long-term benefits in terms of cost and time savings.
Challenges Faced by the C-Suite Without DAM Alignment
Unaligned DAM strategies create internal inefficiencies that can negatively impact business goals. Without proper DAM integration, C-Suite executives face common issues like:
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Inefficiency in locating assets scattered across personal devices or unverified cloud systems
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Delays in products, services, or features hitting the market due to inefficient content and creative asset processes
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Inability to scale current DAM systems’ cost or time effectively as more and more digital assets are added
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Accidental non-compliance with changing government regulations for handling sensitive data like customer contact and payment information, or personal details like medical data
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Exposure to litigation without clear available information and processes on using and sharing licensed images
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Potential for accidental deletion or loss of assets that have consumed marketing resources, especially as employees move on from the organization
How DAM Inefficiencies Affect Real Businesses
As a real-world example, Kathy Green, Business Analyst at Citizens Bank, says of their previously inefficient DAM systems: “We sometimes had six different people reviewing a simple document. It took 12 days to get through marketing reviews before even getting to legal and compliance. It was mind-boggling.”
Another example illustrating the consequences of misalignment comes from Tori Channel, a graphic designer at the National Park Foundation, who said: “Our process was not evergreen. If someone left the foundation, we didn’t want to lose all the knowledge and intellectual property that they had about the assets.”
Benefits of Aligning DAM with Business Goals
C-suites that focus their DAM system and strategy to align with business goals see many benefits.
Improved Efficiency and Productivity
A robust DAM platform like Aprimo has smart tagging and metadata features that capture and store more background data about each asset, making searchability and findability easy within the system. This keeps personnel focused on tasks instead of spending time looking for the asset they need to complete their work.
Enhanced Collaboration and Communication Within the Organization
DAM software improves workflows by featuring capabilities for automating tasks and project management surrounding an asset. For example, deadline reminders on a particular asset’s completion can be scheduled to go out to all involved at regular intervals as those dates approach. Also, key stakeholders and legal teams can leave notes and approvals directly in the asset’s comments, streamlining the review process.
Positive Impact on Brand Consistency and Customer Experience
Not storing updated assets and brand guidelines properly threatens a brand’s consistency. This may make the repetitive imagery from a brand less recognizable, weakening brand awareness efforts. Customers rely on branding to build trust with a brand, so consistency is essential to their experiences, and digital asset management software contributes to these efforts by facilitating proper storage and organization of brand information and branded assets.
Strategies for Successful Alignment
Achieve successful alignment using these four steps:
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Assess current DAM strategies within the organization: Define what’s working and what needs improvement
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Identify key business goals and objectives: For instance, measurable sales goals that contribute to increasing revenue or minimizing inefficiencies to reduce expenses
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Contextualize goals through the lens of DAM: Contextualizing the two example goals from the previous step with DAM in mind may include the faster creation and access of impactful sales collateral or achieving a faster time-to-market for marketing assets, reducing time and money wasted in the asset creation process
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Create and execute on actionable changes: For example, resolve to move from multiple storage points to a singular DAM platform, or change your internal processes within an existing system
Measuring and Monitoring DAM Alignment
To measure DAM alignment properly, first set key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluation. These will differ depending on your specific goals, but measurable metrics for DAM improvements include:
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How long it takes on average for an asset to reach approval from its initial ideation
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How long it takes on average for personnel in different departments to find and access assets they need
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How many unapproved assets or assets with mistakes have made it out to the public in a certain period of time
Once KPIs and measurement criteria are set, ensure ongoing alignment by implementing regular assessments and adjustments. Utilize analytics tools like those present in many DAM systems to measure the impact on business goals.
