Here are the questions asked:

• How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
• What advice would you have to share with other Digital Asset Management Professionals or people aspiring to become Digital Asset Management Professional?

Transcript:

Henrik de Gyor: [0:02] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management. I’m Henrik de Gyor. Today, I’m speaking with Mark Davey. Mark,
how are you?
Mark Davey: [0:10] I’m good, Henrik. You?
Henrik: [0:10] Great. Mark, how are you involved with Digital Asset
Management?
Mark: [0:16] How long have you got, Henrik?
Henrik: [laughs] [0:18]
Mark: [0:20] I’ll tell you what. Let’s go back to how it all started for me. How
about that?
Henrik: [0:25] Sure.
Mark: [0:27] Just over 10 years ago, I was with a marketing advertising agency
doing traditional stuff, and we picked up a reasonable contract with an engineering
group. They were a buying group for small to medium-sized enterprises.
What they wanted to do at that time was to create a huge catalog, something
like 600 pages. [0:53] Now, there was over 120 individual businesses within this
buying group, and something like 240 suppliers, all supplying content for this
one catalog. This one catalog had to be personalized for the individual businesses,
as well.
[1:10] 10 years ago, that was a very nice contract, but an absolute nightmare to
put together. And so, I did some research, looking at any services that could
streamline that and I came and found Digital Asset Management. That’s when
the love affair began.
Henrik: [1:32] Mark, you write a very popular…Actually, the most popular blog
about DAM, DigitalAssetManagement.org.uk. What inspired you to create this
amazing resource for people interested in DAM?
Mark: [1:51] Thanks. About three years ago, we migrated to looking at software
as a service for Digital Asset Management in terms of our approach was to talk
to advertising agencies about the benefits of DAM and also to printers because
a need existed for that. Unfortunately, four or five years ago, we got to a situation
that every time we got into a really decent discussion about DAM, we
noticed that people’s heads were kind of lopping to one side and they switched
off. It was just too much for them. [2:33] It was a big leap from the traditional
practices. The job banks that sat in a file, pull them out, and that’s where all the
information got. Then they had to scoot around everywhere else, trying to find
assets, and FTP, and ISDN at the time. Then we were also sort of…Because it
was software as a service, this was something new then as well, to them, and it
was just too big of a leap of faith.
[3:02] The approach we took was okay, this Digital Asset Management space
encompasses an awful lot of business processes, even four years ago. The idea
behind the blog was to help educate, or at least, point people to different aspects
of DAM and how it would relate to their business, and maybe get a feel
for what other people are doing, and where DAM can bolt into different aspects
of company’s approaches, and that’s how it began.
[3:30] It was a conversation between myself and Nigel, my partner at Cliffe
Associates. I’d been blogging anyhow, and said…Nigel came up with the idea.
“Why don’t we do a blog about DAM and utilize that for our Digital Asset
Management consultancy?” That’s how it began.
Henrik: [3:48] It’s been quite popular, and in full disclosure, you aggregate my
content as well from my blog, AnotherDAMblog.com, and I greatly appreciate
that. Mark, what advice would you have to share with DAM professional, or even
people aspiring to be a DAM professional?
Mark: [4:05] I think it’s a process. The more we get involved in consulting for small
to large corporations. It’s very much starting with a blank piece of paper, and
then working their workflow. That’s the most important point because a lot of
people buy software and make the workflow work with the software, whereas,
actually, it should be the other way around. It should start at the people. [4:34]
It should be looking at how they actually engage with assets. What’s the long
tail of those assets, and where are they looking for the future to repurpose
everything and the long tail of that? My advice would be workflow first, then an
understanding of metadata, then the actual software, and then where that plugs
into platforms, or services, or products that they’re offering.
Henrik: [5:04] In full disclosure as well, Mark and I have been collaborating
for the past 20 months on the blogosphere, and between our blogs, and our
Skype and Mark is in the UK, and I am in the United States in Virginia, and
we’ve actually never met in person. [5:22] Finally, we’ll have that opportunity at
Createasphere on September 23rd and September 24th at the Createasphere
DAM Conference. I’m really looking forward to that.
Mark: [5:32] Yeah, can you believe that? We’ve been talking digitally to each
other for 20 months and never met. Incredible.
Henrik: [5:39] That’s the kind of business and the economy that we’re in today,
is that we can do that successfully. It’s an amazing thing. I’m really looking forward
to meeting you and collaborating more with you, even in person this time
[laughs] and continuing our relationship online.
Mark: [5:58] Yeah, I’m very much looking forward to that and the conference
as well.
Henrik: [6:01] Likewise. It’s going to be very exciting. I look forward to meeting
everyone else at Createasphere. That will be in New York City in late September.
Mark: [6:16] See you then. Thanks very much, Henrik.
Henrik: [6:18] For more on Digital Asset Management, log onto
AnotherDAMblog.com. Thanks again.

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