What Are the Digital Asset Management Companies?

Companies that specialize in producing software for handling digital assets abound. With multiple options for managing digital assets, businesses must understand what differentiates the various digital asset management solution providers. Before choosing a digital asset management (DAM) program, businesses must understand the features necessary to unlock the true potential of these useful tools.

What Is a Digital Asset Management Platform?

Products have several types of digital assets that can accompany them. Common types of digital assets include dozens of types of files, some with heavy storage requirements. Common types of digital assets that companies have for their products may include:

• Documents, including user manuals, warranties, safety information, and troubleshooting guides

• Videos, such as product demos, cleaning and care guides, maintenance tips, instructional information, and installation instructions

• Images, which may include product photos, demonstration images or photos, and other visuals

• Audio files, such as audio instructions or care and usage guides

Digital asset management tools keep these files organized in a central location where company departments can view, organize, store, and share the data.

Those with authorization to use the digital asset management system don't have to work directly for the company. For instance, channel partners may use digital assets to improve the customer experience. Therefore, they need access to digital files associated with products that may not be part of the product information management (PIM) system.

Is Google Drive a DAM?

A digital asset management platform must do more than simply store data. The best software will readily integrate with PIM systems and digital experiences, such as Lumavate. Moreover, everyone with access to the DAM should easily find the files they need as efficiently as possible.

While Google Drive and Dropbox, some of the most well-known cloud-based storage solutions, offer file organization and centralized storage, they are not digital asset management systems.

Google Drive only serves as a central storage location where users can share files. However, DAMs have features that businesses need to organize their digital assets that Google Drive lacks.

For instance, DAMs can update files in the system in all locations automatically. Google Drive only updates the files on the server.

Plus, DAMs make organizing digital files easier with tagging. Tags allow for quick sorting of digital files with little effort.

Finally, DAMs have better integration capacity with PIM software and digital experience platform (DXP) solutions. Google Drive can be a useful tool for creating documents and storing files until adding them to the DAM, but it should not be the final destination for product digital assets.

Is Dropbox a DAM?

Another common solution used by businesses and individuals for storing files is Dropbox. Like Google Drive, this cloud-based system works to store files but it should not serve as a substitute for a digital asset management program.

Dropbox keeps files in storage until needed and allows multiple users to access and edit files. However, this is the limit of its utility. Dropbox does not allow the tagging of digital assets and it does not handle very large files, such as long videos or 3D assets, well.

Digital asset management requires a solution built for handling the variety of types and sizes of files used for product-related information.

What Are the Digital Asset Management Companies?

Businesses should not have to rely on Google Drive or Dropbox for their digital asset storage and organization. Various digital asset management companies have software solutions that address the specific needs of companies looking for better asset handling. File management in a DAM should include the ability to tag files, making organization and finding files faster. Quality DAM solutions should improve productivity, provide a central location for brand identity, scale with the business, securely store assets, speed collaboration, save time, and reduce redundancy in files.

The top digital asset management systems far surpass the ability of Dropbox or Google Drive to store, share, and track files. Popular names in this group include Adobe, Canto, Brandfolder, and Bynder. However, even the best DAM systems may have some disadvantages for their use.

Adobe is almost a household name thanks to its creation software, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. However, the DAM software produced by Adobe has a high price tag and requires a long time to implement within a business. Choosing a more cost-effective DAM solution while using Adobe's creation software gives companies the best of reducing costs and accessing top-notch programs for editing and creating assets.

Like Adobe, Canto is a pricey option, according to reviewers. The software itself can be slow and fraught with technical issues. Some reviewers cite accessing necessary files through the search engine to be hit and miss. Occasionally, searching for tags did not return all the required results or included results the software thinks are related but do not have the appropriate tag.

Brandfolder is another high-priced DAM option. Like with Canto, users have experienced issues finding files or other technical problems. Additionally, this program has a steep learning curve. Some businesses have needed to invest in additional resources to train their employees to use Brandfolder correctly, which adds to the already high cost of the program and time to fully implement it.

Bynder users report difficulty with learning and using the system. Additionally, users report that some of the features in Bynder, such as reporting and analytics, don't return the necessary information. These users have needed to resort to paying extra for customized reports from Bynder Professional Services. With such hidden costs, using Bynder can easily overwhelm small business budgets.

These and many other DAM solutions on the market require third-party product information management (PIM) software or digital experience platforms (DXP). Needing to purchase and integrate software or add-ons for the DAM systems increases the price and complexity of setting up the system.

The best digital asset management program delivers an all-in-one solution that gives businesses the management systems they need without the bloated programs they don't. Lumavate fulfills these requirements. With Lumavate DAM, companies also have DXP and PIM within the product experience management (PXM) system. Users can quickly create essential links between assets and their related product records. Despite Lumavate's robust offering, it also requires little time and technical resources to implement and use.

Schedule a quick demo to experience what Lumavate PXM has to offer with its full-featured, cost-efficient solution to all product experience managing needs.