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Another DAM Podcast interview with Ulla de Stricker on Digital Asset Management

Ulla de Stricker discusses Digital Asset Management

Here are the questions asked:

  • How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
  • You recently co-authored a book titled “The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook” along with co-author Jill Hurst-Wahl. I believe Digital Asset Management could be categorized under the umbrella of Information Management. What inspired you to write this book?
  • What is so different about careers in the field of Information and Knowledge Professionals than any other?
  • Is this book just for beginners entering this career path?
  • What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM professionals?

Transcript:

Henrik de Gyor: [0:01] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management (DAM). I’m Henrik de Gyor. Today I’m speaking with Ulla de
Stricker. Ulla, how are you?
Ulla de Stricker: [0:11] Fine. Thank you very much.
Henrik: [0:13] Ulla, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
Ulla: [0:16] As a consultant I’m involved in everything my clients care about
when it comes to information and knowledge management broadly defined.
Information objects of all kinds, including DAMs of course, are an element in any organization strategy for support to knowledge workers, and I strive to point my clients to the options available and to advise them about the ramifications of those options.
Henrik: [0:40] You recently coauthored a book titled “The Information and
Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook” along with coauthor Jill Hurst-
Wahl, which I interviewed in the past. I believe Digital Asset Management could be categorized under the umbrella of information management. What inspired you to write this book?
Ulla: [0:58] Jill and I are what you might call “natural mentors.” We’ve always ended up in situations where we discuss career matters with our colleagues and our students in particular. So without being able to pinpoint the exact moment, we did get to a point where we arrived at this collective insight, “Why don’t we just write it all down?” So we set about distilling our answers to the many questions we’ve heard over the years.

[1:26] Our intention was to capture general advice in one place so that potentially our individual conversations with readers could be more personal and focused. But primarily, however, we wanted to give
our colleagues and particularly new entrants to the profession a heads up about all the things you need to think about in your career but never had a chance to focus on in graduate school.
[1:53] Speaking for myself, I certainly discovered that technical skills are only one part of the tool kit we need. I learned the hard way about organizational politics, about being the boss, about interpersonal dynamics, and so on and so on. So you might say the book actually addresses practitioners in a lot of professions. We felt comfortable though speaking to colleagues in those fields where we have personally built our reputations.
[2:21] We’d love to see the book become a graduation gift and a bible for
younger colleagues. That way our suggestions can travel a lot further afield than through personal interactions in meetings and workshops.
Henrik: [2:35] Excellent. So what is so different about careers in the field of
information management professionals than any other?
Ulla: [2:45] I’m so glad you asked it. First, I want to stress how exciting it is to see all the many new opportunities out there for graduates of iSchools. I think we’re still only scratching the surface, and there’s a lot of outreach still to do to orient managers about how the skills of iSchool graduates apply across a vast spectrum of organizational functions. [3:08] But I always encourage those looking for a career to check out the information profession. You and I, Henrik, know it isn’t true, contrary to widespread opinion, that the Internet has reduced the need for professionals who know their way around information management. That said, I need to be honest about what I call the opacity of our profession.
[3:31] You can’t imagine the number of times I’ve heard my colleagues comment on the surprising amount of explaining they found themselves having to do. Sometimes we commiserate among ourselves that perhaps we ought to have considered pharmacy or some other field where clients understand immediately what we do without any further explanation.
[3:51] As an illustration, nobody with a sick pet is in any doubt about the need for or value of a veterinarian, and no one with a leaky roof questions the need for and value of a roofer. Yes, police officers, transport truck drivers, the road repair crews, etc, etc, do not have to explain why they should exist. But we information professionals do.
[4:19] A major factor is the conundrum I’ll never solve that we deal largely in intangibles. We can’t prove that we are adding dollars to the bottom line or that we’re saving lives. So our costs could look like reasonable candidates for cuts when managers are under pressure to slash their budgets. We can convince those managers it’s prudent to equip knowledge workers with authoritative information, and it’s prudent to safeguard corporate memory and so on.
[4:50] But we cannot get away from the fact that information services are, by  their nature, labor intensive and expensive. Before the first customer can find an answer to a question or find an information object, there’s content to pay for, staff to pay for, IT infrastructure to put in place, and so on. It’s understandable to me when a senior executive asks bluntly, “What am I getting for that six or seven-figure line item called the Corporate Information Center?”
[5:21] I’m sure your DAM colleagues recognize the challenge. The bottom line for this nurse is that in our professions practitioners must always be ready to justify their worth. It’s for that reason that one of the chapters in the book deals with crafting business cases.
Henrik: [5:39] So, is this book just for beginners entering this career path?
Ulla: [5:43] Certainly, Jill and I did intend the book for graduate students and recent graduates, but we speak equally to mid-career professionals who may be asking themselves, “What’s next?” We advocate an attitude of personal control.
Oh, yes. It’s true. A new graduate may take that first job because the bills have to be paid. But throughout our working lives every one of us are making choices and plans for the future. [6:10] So that’s why we emphasize in one chapter the need for every single professional to ascertain what’s a group cultural fit and, then to orchestrate choices and activities toward that fit. By “fit,” I mean that, as one example, some of us are naturally happy in environments where others might not be so happy. Just consider the difference between hospitals, law firms, schools, nonprofits, and private sector companies in terms of how it feels to work there.
[6:40] As another example. We’re all unique in terms of the degree of structure and control we like to have at work, the pace we’re comfortable with, whether we like to deal with people, or whether we prefer to work independently, and so on. So, other chapters deal with universal topics, such as developing a professional brand, getting paid what we’re worth, coping with stress, mentoring others. So indeed the book is meant for our colleagues at any stage of their careers.
Henrik: [7:12] What advice would you like to share with DAM professional and people aspiring to become DAM professionals?
Ulla: [7:17] Let me stress again the positive news that in the future, information professionals including the DAMs will be evermore necessary to managing the explosions of digital content. The opportunities keep growing, and I’ll just throw in here, that in the last couple of weeks alone a major consulting firm in Toronto announced several new knowledge management decisions. [7:43] One little challenge does exist. It’s that in the past, we may not have focused sufficiently on marketing our skills, so we do have some competition from IT professionals as an example. So my advice focuses on marketing. My advice is that a successful career depends on developing a solid conviction about our own value and on perfecting the delivery of the explanation of it.
[8:09] I say become a walking business case. Get good at linking your activity to corporate outcomes. Estimate, for example, how much time you save other employees through your work, and then calculate the value to the organization from freeing up that time. Never mind about risk reduction and other intangible benefits. Speak about how you contribute to the overall performance of the organization you work for and use the language stakeholders understand.
[8:39] In other words become a career long advocate for good information practices.
Does that make sense, Henrik?
Henrik: [8:46] Definitely. Well, thanks Ulla. Thanks to also your publisher,
Chandos, who is giving us a complimentary copy. For the first time on this
podcast series we’re able to give away a copy of the book. The book is again
“The Information and Knowledge Professionals Career Handbook” by Jill Hurst-Wahl and Ulla de Stricker. [9:08] The contest between the date of the release of this podcast through the month of August 2011, if you subscribed to Another DAM Blog, that’s AnotherDAMblog.com and AnotherDAMpodcast.com, you
will be entered in the contest immediately. If you are drawn at the end of the month, the winner from that will get a free copy of the new book. Thank you so much, Ulla.
Ulla: [9:36] Well, thank you. It is indeed generous of the publisher to work with us in this way, and I can’t wait to virtually shake the hand of the winner.
Henrik: [9:45] If you would like more information about Digital Asset
Management, log onto AnotherDAMblog.com.

Another DAM Podcast is available on Audioboom, Blubrry, iTunes, and the Tech Podcast Network.
Thanks again.

Announcing the first book drawing for this podcast series…

The one winner of this drawing will receive one free copy of “The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook” co-authored by Jill Hurst-Wahl and Ulla de Stricker. To enter the book drawing, simply subscribe to both Another DAM podcast and Another DAM blog by email on each of these websites between August 4, 2011 and August 31, 2011. The winner will be picked from the pool of email subscribers of both Another DAM podcast and Another DAM blog together. The drawing will occur on the first week of September 2011 with a third party drawing the name of the winner. The winner will be announced on Another DAM podcast and Another DAM blog. If you are already an email subscriber to both Another DAM podcast and Another DAM blog, you are automatically entered in this book drawing. The winner will be contacted directly by email for their contact details to ship the book. The book will be shipped directly from the publisher. Good luck to all.

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Another DAM Podcast interview with Philip Guiliano on Digital Asset Management

Here are the questions asked:

  • How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
  • How do you use Digital Asset Management when it comes to Brand Change and Brand Management?
  • What advice would you like to share with DAM Professionals and people aspiring to become DAM Professionals?

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 Philip Guiliano.
Philip [0:10] , how are you?
Philip Guiliano: [0:12] I’m very good, thank you.
Henrik: [0:14] Philip, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
Philip: [0:16] BrandActive is a brand implementation and management company.
This means that we get involved in large scale mergers, acquisitions, large
scale rebranding programs, and managements of brands that currently exist in
the market. [0:31] Our role is to be involved in the transition and management
of every single asset that a company has, from signage to vehicles to branded
environments, retail locations, documents, forms, uniforms, IT systems anything
that you can think of that is a physical or digital asset that carries the name,
logo, colors, any identity element of a brand.
[0:52] Our role is not to create the brand strategy or design. We don’t do any
of that creative development work. Our role is truly the implementation and
management.
[1:01] What that means is, through our process of scoping out the brand change,
through doing a detailed inventory of what are all of these assets around the
globe that the company controls. How do they manage that transition? What
are they going to do with each individual asset? What’s the project organization
look like, and how do you manage that process?
[1:22] Through that process, we gather tons of pictures, tons of examples, tons
of video, all of their current assets, as they exist today templates, files, all of
that. We gather a lot of robust data around the inventory, the cost elements, all
of that stuff that is related to those assets how they’re produced, how they’re
designed, how they’re procured.
[1:46] We put that into database systems. We then work with our clients to create
the workflows, drive those workflows through implementation and on through
brand management.
[1:59] As an organization, when it comes down to the system side, we use systems
internally, for ourselves. We also use systems that are client facing. We do
what we call a “brand implementation and brand management platform” that
drives the implementation of the brand across all these assets.
[2:19] So that’s location rollouts, things of that nature, all of their template refinements
around the globe empowering their employees with templates and processes
that they can use to rebrand their assets as well, or manage their brand
assets as they exist. We get involved in the creation of platforms like that.
[2:38] We also offer a Software as a Service Digital Asset Management platform,
built on the ADAM platform for small-scale and medium-scale clients that want
to get experience and exposure with how Digital Asset Management works,
what it’s capable of, what’s the value in it. We do a pilot test.
[2:55] That platform’s also available for large clients. Some of our larger clients
that are more global will use that platform to do a pilot program for a certain division
within the company or a certain department within the company. From a
systems basis, we do the brand implementation platforms and we do Softwareas-
a-Service DAM.
[3:17] We also do vendor agnostic consulting services, where we will go into a
company and define their requirements, look for a business case for systemization,
lead vendor selection programs, and project manage their implementation.
That’s how BrandActive’s involved.
Henrik: [3:35] How you use Digital Asset Management when it comes to brand
change and brand management.
Philip: [3:40] The way in which we use it is to empower our clients and empower
their employees with managing the very complex assortment of digital
and physical assets that they have. [3:55] I’ll use an example. When we’re going
through a brand implementation with a client that, say, has 60 manufacturing
facilities, 1,000 retail locations, and corporate offices and sales facilities around
the globe, there are lot of different assets that have to be transitioned. There
are all the locations, all the signage, all the vinyl graphics, all the millwork, all of
the documents, forms, everything.
[4:21] What we will do is collect all of this information, we will put it into a system,
and then we will create the workflows for those clients that will drive the transition
of those assets through to completion, so that they actually hit their target
dates. They have full cost visibility and full cost control, vendor management
control, again, across physical and digital asset creation.
[4:43] Their employees have the tools and the templates that they need to take
what is a final created asset and localize that, customize that, change language,
anything that they need to do. From a multilingual, from an asset integration,
from a data integration, across multiple systems anything they need to do in
that area to manage the creation of their digital and their physical assets.
Henrik: [5:10] What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and
people aspiring to become DAM professionals?
Philip: [5:13] Take your time. [laughs] That’s probably the best [indecipherable
05:16] . Honestly, I see so many programs and so many clients and prospects
that we’re dealing with that understand that they need a DAM solution or a
MRM solution, a MAM solution. [5:31] They understand what they’re doing
currently without tracking, without reporting, without metrics, without visibility
into how they can get operational improvement, without visibility into how
they’re spending their money, and how they could potentially save that money
by systemization.
[5:50] They understand that they need to change that, and they look into a
solution without truly defining their requirements. By that I mean, “What are the
business drivers? What problems are they trying to solve? What are the political
and cultural issues that are going to impede the program acceptance? What
solutions are really going to address their needs?”
[6:10] There are a lot of people that I’ve seen that have evaluated DAM and
MRM based on what seems like excellent functionality, and it is. It’s fantastic
functionality for companies that need that functionality. But the truth of the
matter is that that functionality would never get implemented at their company.
[6:26] They end up picking a vendor that is not actually going to live up to what
they really need. They may be a client that needs amazing customization across
their user interface and across their workflows. They need workflow automation
or they’re not going to live their business case. They end up picking the solution
that doesn’t allow them to be as flexible as they need to be in that area.
[6:47] Taking time to really define a business case for change, really understanding
the business drivers, the metrics, how you’re going to measure success in
the end program, and what you can measure currently to illustrate that success.
Really define your requirements that’s business, technical, functional, every
requirement that you can nail down so that you know what it is you’re evaluating
a vendor based off of, and that you are actually evaluating them based on
your needs.
[7:14] Engaging internal resources is a big one, throughout the process. As
we take people through business case development, and as we take people
through requirements development, we’re engaging resources across every area
of the organization.
[7:28] I definitely recommend doing that because these are the users of your
platform. These are the people that are really going to drive the success of the
platform. The earlier you engage them, the better the program’s going to be.
[7:38] I guess that brings up considering the cultural dynamics, as well. It’s very
similar for us and our brand implementation program. Really understanding the
culture dynamics, knowing what a solution is going to mean to the various users
within the organization, and what is going to stop them from using it.
[7:59] Having a solution alone definitely does not mean that people are going to
use it. Having the solution that isn’t built around the way people work within the
organization is absolutely going to assure they won’t use it.
[8:08] The engagement, training, and customization to the way people work,
understanding the workflows, and how you want to automate them. Definitely
including tracking and reporting, that’s going to be very key not only for acceptance
of the system at a user level but also executive level acceptance, and your
ability to continue to grow the program within the organization, beyond your
initial deployment.
Henrik: [8:33] Great. Thanks, Philip.
Philip: [8:34] Thank you very much. I appreciate the call and definitely appreciate
the time.
Henrik: [8:39] For more on Digital Asset Management, log onto
AnotherDAMblog.com. Another DAM Podcast is available on Audioboom,
Blubrry, iTunes, and the Tech Podcast Network. Thanks again.

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Another DAM Podcast interview with Steven Brier on Digital Asset Management

Here are the questions asked:

  • How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
  • Why does an international hotel chain use Digital Asset Management?
  • What advice would you like to share with DAM Professionals and people aspiring to become DAM Professionals?

Transcript:

Henrik de Gyor: [0:00] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management. I’m Henrik de Gyor. Today I’m speaking with Steven Brier. Steven,
how are you?
Steven Brier: [0:10] I’m just fine. How are you?
Henrik: [0:12] Good. Steven, how are you involved with Digital Asset
Management?
Steven: [0:15] I’m the Product Owner, for lack of a better term, of the Marriott
Digital Asset Management System, and several applications that leverage the
DAM to activate brand voice, and automate marketing and sales efforts for 11
different brands worldwide.

[0:34] In this role, I develop a strategy. I prioritize
the development. I manage all the internal and external resources. Whether that
be our development shop, advertising agencies and others. I serve as liaison
between the business and what we call the tools, which includes the DAM and
any of the other applications that link into the DAM. I also project manage any
integration efforts between other applications in the DAM which is extremely
important.
[1:05] We’ve made the DAM accessible through an API. That makes it much
easier for other applications to tap into those assets that live there, further
gleaning and pulling value out of those assets.
Henrik: [1:23] Why does an international hotel chain use Digital Asset
Management?
Steven: [1:28] Marriott uses it to secure the investment that’s made in digital
assets from a property standpoint and also, from a corporate standpoint.
Whether we have assets for brand and brand marketing, human resources, internal
communications, we use the DAM to secure that investment. Also, to glean
the maximum value we can out of those assets.

[1:56] Before we actually had this
thing, assets were stored on servers in hard drives and disks. You really couldn’t
access them, not in a global fashion, and certainly not even a cross department
way. This now allows people to use these assets, and to actually get them out
to people.
[2:18] The reason why we initially built it was to help build our brands. We were
going to a strategy of brand distinction. We really needed to categorize assets
that would be used specifically for each brand and not cross pollinate, if you will,
so that we could get a distinction.
[2:40] I guess the final thing you could say is just to save money, because they’re
specific. We collapsed nine different databases around the world, and I wouldn’t
even say that was all of them.
[2:56] We did that in a formalized way, but then I think there have been other
teams, groups, and organizations throughout Marriott who have since found our
tool and added their assets to the system, as well.
Henrik: [3:12] What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and
people aspiring to become DAM professionals?
Steven: [3:18] The first thing is, if you’re going to be taking something on like
this, you’ve got to have some thick skin, [laughs] because it’s very sensitive.
Everyone has their own ideas how it should be done, and then they’re very
protective as to their assets and the control of those assets.

[3:38] In large corporations like Marriott it is, as I like to say, a house to house battle. It’s pretty rare that you see a company that scopes out to centrally fund an enterprise like
solution, because many times it’s millions of dollars, you have to fight through all
of the systems, and there are misunderstandings.
[4:00] A way that we were able to do it was we built small. We proved it out, the
concept to do a certain set of tasks, or to solve certain problems. Then, as we
proved that out, we started to evangelize the system to build that support and
get others to take ownership of their slice of the pie.
[4:24] In a sense, I guess you should be a salesperson, too. That’s not always
something that people in this position really aspire to or have the skillset to do,
but it’s just a matter of getting out, talking to people, and helping paint the picture
for them so they can see what the Digital Asset Management System can
do for their group, and what centralization of that, the value of centralization,
can have to their organization.
[4:57] The other thing is just to be open and solicit feedback, even criticism and
complaints. This is somewhere all the good ideas for our system have come. I
always like to say that, when people stop complaining, [laughs] I don’t have a
healthy system, because it means people are starting to disengage.
[5:15] I have really fostered this open door policy so that people understand that
if they have an issue with the system, if it can be solved. We’re perfectly willing
to do that.
Henrik: [5:28] Allowing people to complain, but taking those complaints and
seeing what challenges can be resolved to make the system better. That’s a
great piece of advice there as well.
Steven: [5:36] Right.
Henrik: [5:38] Thanks Steven.
Steven: [5:39] You are quite welcome.
Henrik: [5:42] For more on Digital Asset Management log onto
AnotherDAMblog.com. Another DAM Podcast is available on Audioboom,
Blubrry, iTunes, and the Tech Podcast Network. Thanks again.

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Another DAM Podcast interview with David Fuda on Digital Asset Management

Here are the questions asked:

  • How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
  • How does an organization focused on furniture use Digital Asset Management?
  • Tell me about your title.
  • What advice would you like to provide vendors when trying to approach and sell to a potential client?
  • What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM professionals?

Transcript:

Henrik de Gyor: [0:01] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management. I’m Henrik de Gyor. Today I’m speaking with Darth, Lord of the
DAM. I mean, David Fuda.
David [0:12] , how are you?
David Fuda: [0:13] Very good this morning, how are you?
Henrik: [0:15] Good. David, how are you involved with Digital Asset
Management?
David: [0:19] I’m Digital Asset Manager for Ethan Allen Global. Ethan Allen is a
home furnishings company. We’re based in Connecticut. It’s a worldwide operation.
Out of our headquarters area is where the Digital Asset Management
system is based.
Henrik: [0:34] David, how does an organization focused on furniture use Digital
Asset Management?
David: [0:40] Many ways. Its key function right now is in the Style and
Advertising Departments. Digital photography was introduced in Ethan Allen
about three, four years ago. At the time, we realized, suddenly the volume of
images that was being photographed went up 10fold over what it was in film.
We had to get a handle on the amount of images that were being done. [1:07]
Digital Asset Management is what we needed to wrangle in what turned in from
a year’s shooting of 10,000 images to 100, 000 images.
Henrik: [1:14] Wow.
David: [1:15] Yes. At the time I was Senior Staff Photographer. I had been so
with Ethan Allen for 11 years. When they started talking about Digital Asset
Management, it peaked my interest as some type of field that would be something
new, and exciting and different, and definitely growing. So, I took on the
position as Digital Asset Manager. [1:36] I found one of the most useful ways,
once the DAM was up and running, was its ability to allow users and groups
that before had no access to print or web ready artwork, for instance, our PR
Department, Training Department, Merchandising Department.
[1:55] Before, if they had the need for a print or web ready image, they would
have to open a job ticket with Production, and go through a process of asking
them. Say, for instance, there was a particular sofa that a print magazine required
a shot of in the living room. It could start to involve two, three people to
look for a particular image.
[2:17] Nowadays, the PR individual can jump right into the DAM, do a search,
and find a multitude of room images featuring a particular sofa that was required
to be seen. They can draw their own print or web rendition right from
the DAM, and not involve the production department. It’s very quick, very easy.
They simply love it.
Henrik: [2:37] That’s a great example of self-service.
David: [2:39] Yes, it is. It’s a wonderful thing.
Henrik: [2:42] Tell me about your title.
David: [2:45] I came up with the title Darth, Lord of the DAM, because at the
time when the DAM was introduced, it was a totally new concept, at least to
Ethan Allen and all the departments. No one was really certain what a DAM
was. To make people look up from their desk and their daily task, when I would
walk into someone’s office and introduce myself, as opposed to Digital Asset
Manager, Darth Lord of the DAM, seemed to really make them look away from
their computer desktop and, “What? Excuse me, who are you?” [laughs] [3:18] It
was a nickname I chose to make people notice there was something new on the
block, and it happened to be the DAM.
Henrik: [3:27] What advice would you like to give to vendors when trying to
approach and sell to potential clients?
David: [3:33] I would like to say, as far as the vendors go, when approaching
a client, I noticed a couple of things that seemed to be a constant as we were
looking at different DAM systems offered by different vendors. They came in
with a preset presentation, a PowerPoint or whatever the case may be, of what
they envisioned a typical user might be for their product. [4:00] I’ve come to
learn that users for the DAM are as varied as the clients are. They would make
a presentation with, “OK , Ethan Allen’s in photography, they make a magazine.
Let’s show them something like a fashion magazine.” It was completely unrelated
to how we would use the DAM.
[4:18] I think it would be best if the vendor took some elements that a potential
client may be using as assets in their DAM, then mocked up some type
of, “This is what your DAM could look like,” as opposed to presenting something
generic.
[4:36] Of course on the other hand, looking back, hindsight, Ethan Allen could
have presented each vendor with a collection of images, mockups, and magazines,
saying “These are the type of assets we would be putting in a DAM. Show
us how we can make them relate.” So, a little advice for both.
[4:57] I had one particular vendor who had that had a very fine looking product,
we were very impressed with the user interface. It seemed like something that
was really designed more towards images, rather than documents, and really
wanted to succeed.
[5:12] But they failed, not once, but twice in the presentation. They insisted on
having a presentation given to us via remote desktop. Both times the remote
desktop connection failed. It’s kind of hard to sell a product to people holding
the checkbook on something that won’t function. We had to pass on them.
[5:33] From the buyer end, if I could offer a little advice. Not only in presenting
particular types of assets to them to make a mockup for you, I’d also like to
suggest to any particular buyer to go ahead and look at the vendors’ service
department. Once the DAM is installed, the techs at the their customer service
are going to be your best friends for many months to come.
[6:02] We were fortunate, the product we chose, the tech support is outstanding.
I would suggest, possibly, if you’re in the market for a DAM, look at a
vendor, ask to talk to probably one or two if you could, of their users. Talk directly
to their IT department, if possible.
Henrik: [6:24] You mean the customer facing technical people?
David: [6:28] Yes, definitely.
Henrik: [6:29] From the vendor? As well as the customer service under
their VSLA?
David: [6:38] Yes, because if you’re not familiar with a DAM at all and once you
install it, it’s a big piece of software. It’s going to be something intimidating to
some people, some of your users. Other users are going to dive right in and
love it. [6:52] Also a piece of advice to buyers, once you purchase the DAM,
it’s not going to be set and you can walk away from it. Your DAM will always
be morphing, changing as new groups are added. As the needs of your users
expand, there’s going to be meta fields constantly be added. Others that are
now irrelevant, you might as well pull.
[7:16] The DAM’s never, “Build it and there it is and walk away.” It’s going to
be changing with your business needs. As far as that goes, our particular DAM
software, speaking of morphing, it’s only been installed three, four years. We’re
going to be facing an issue, coming up, with its compatibility with web browsers.
Most of our users are using a web based client.
[7:48] Regrettably, the version of our DAM software is already a version or two
old, being only four years old. It’s no longer updated and supported. Well, it is
supported, but it’s no longer updated to match and function with new, current
browsers coming out.
Henrik: [8:11] Hmm. There’s a lot of them.
David: [8:12] Yep, it’s all of them. Any new machines we install, or OS upgrades
that are done to users’ computers, all have to be backstepped with the browsers
to make sure they function with the DAM.
Henrik: [8:25] Hopefully they can support that by supporting back versions and
updating, as you suggested.
David: [8:32] Yeah, it would be nice. I suspect there are many customers of
there that are out there with a back version like we have.
Henrik: [8:40] What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and
people aspiring to become DAM professionals.
David: [8:45] As far as aspiring to be DAM professional, I can relate Ethan
Allen’s experience with it. When our exploratory committee was first looking
into software and the idea of building a DAM, they thought it was more important
to have an individual that knew the company, knew the departments
that would be involved in the DAM, being Photo Studio, Style Department,
Production Departments are the three key departments, and someone who
Another D 174 AM Podcast Transcribed
knew the product and the business model of the company. [9:18] So, as opposed
to looking for someone with the tech experience, they looked inside. I
seemed to fit the bill, they offered the position to me. I had been with the company
10, 11 years at the time. I went for it because of my knowledge of the individuals
that would be introduced to this new software, the DAM, how it would
be deployed, and its needs would be to meet our requirements as a company.
[9:47] I think it was a good choice on their part to choose from within, someone
who knew their business model, as opposed to someone who was formally
trained in the DAM aspect and introducing them to the company.
[9:59] It may be a good piece of advice to the company to look for their DAM
administrator, or the Lord of the DAM from within, as opposed from without,
because that individual may be with your company already.
[10:09] In addition, I’d like to offer a piece of advice that didn’t handicap us,
but it was an error on our part when we first started investigating a DAM. The
exploratory committee looked at the DAM as a piece of software that would
be used by the members of the departments, again the Style Department,
Photo Studio.
[10:34] They didn’t realize just how intertwined the software of the DAM would
be with the servers. The IT department wasn’t consulted until the project was
well underway. It was simply because of our unfamiliarity with the DAM, and not
realizing that it was such a database and application driven piece of software,
completely based on the servers.
[11:05] So, for anyone looking for a DAM, bring your IT boys right to the
first meeting.
Henrik: [11:09] Thanks David.
David: [11:10] OK .
Henrik: [11:12] For more on Digital Asset Management log onto
AnotherDAMblog.com. [11:16] Another DAM Podcast is available on Audioboom,
Blubrry, iTunes, and Tech Podcast Network. Thanks again.

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