DAMS

Digital asset management (DAM) consists of management tasks and decisions surrourndig the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets.

Digital photographs, animation, videos and music exemplify the target areas of media asset management. DAM include computer software and hardware systems that aid in the process of digital asset management.

DAM also refers to the protocol for downloading, renaming, backing up, rating, grouping, archiving, optimizing, maintaining, thinning, and exporting files.

The Media Asset Management (MAM) sub-catogory of digital asset management mainly addresses audion, video and other media content. The more recent concept of enterprise content management (ECM) often deals with solutions which address similar features but in a wider range of industries of applications.

Tools that go beyond a media library to create, manage, 

share, and analyze your visual content.

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Types:

The following broad categories of digital asset management systems may be distinguished as:

1. Brand asset management systems: with a focus on facilitation of content re-use within large organizations. Here the content is largely marketing or sales-related. Eg. Product imagery, logos, marketing collateral or fonts etc.
2. Library asset management systems: with a focus on storage and retrieval of large amounts of infrequently changing media assets. Production asset management systems: focus on managing assets as they are being created for a digital media production (video game, 3D feature film, animation, visual-effects shots, etc.) They usually include work-flow and project-management features coupled with the storage, organization and revision control of frequently changing digital assets.
3. Cloud-based digital asset management systems: This is a applications, services or resources mande available to users on demand via the Internet from a cloud computing provider’s servers.

Characteristics: 

1. Ingests assets individually or in bulk and allows for the manipulation of those assets.
2. Secures the assets they contain including access control lists and user roles.
3. Stores assets as both binaries and metadata.
4. Renders assets on ingest into new forms, such as thumbnails or proxy files.
5. Enriches assets through the extension of metadata and metrics on their use.
6. Relates assets by tracking the relationships between an original asset and subsequent versions.
7. Regulates a structured process in the management, creation, and review of assets with workflow tools.
8. Allows users to search and find assets using metadata, collections, workflows, or access control tools.
9. Provides previews so users can view assets before downloading or opening files on their own device.
10. Provides methods for assets to be shared, linked to, or otherwise distributed.

Digital Assets Management Software:

1. Activae: Activae is developed by Cenatic, an agency of the Spanis government and is a Python based DAM. Activae uses the Cherokee Web Server and includes and advanced API so is well suited for integration. Very fast and scalable alternative to some less sophisticated proprietary DAMs. Very flexible licence and great for anyone comfortable with Python but only for those with Spanish language skills at present.
2. Alfresco: Alfresco is a free/libre entreprise content management system for Microsoft Windows and Unix-like operating systems. Community edition, Enterprise edition and Cloud edition.
3. Concerto: Aimed at a university/higher education usage scenario, Concerto is preservation oriented but has enough general DAM capabilities to make it potentially.
4. Cynapse: Ideal for DAM as a part of an ECM framework and/or  for a Python based solution. Licence: GPL v3.
5. DSpace: Highly research/academically oriented, very powerful and suitable for complex preservation requirements.
6. Enter-Media: Good AV DAM solution. Java based, so suitable for enterprise use. Licence: GPL.
7. EPrints: EPrints is a free and open-source software package for building open access repositories that are compliant with the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting.
8. Fedora Commons: Similar to DSpace, Open source license, flexible and interoperable.
9. Gallery: Photo album organizer. Ideal for hobbyist or providing an image gallery function to an existing PHP based site. Licence: GPL.
10. Greenstone: Greenstone is a suite of open-source software for building and distributing digital libray collections.
11. Notre DAM: Highly suitable as less complex alternative to DSpace or Fedora also well worth checking out for non-academic use. Licence: GPL3.
12. Phraseanet: Commercial. Ideal for PHP developers and a possible alternative to ResourceSpace. Licence: GPL3.
13. Razuna: A mid-market DAM solution with enterprise ambitions built using Java and CFML (Cold Fusion), especially suited to those looking for a ResourceSpace alternatie that is non-PHP based. Licence: AGPL v3.
14. ResourceSpace: LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) based digital asset management system. Easy to use. XAMPP is the best for server. Lots of features and good option for not-for-profit organizations. Licence: BSD.
15. TACTIC: Strong workflow and project management capabilities highly suited to production environments. Will require either a decent investment of time and/or professional services assistance from TACTIC. Licence: Eclipse and Commercial.
16. Nuxeo DAM: An enterprise DAM solution built in Jave using and established ECM framework. Licence: LGPL. 

Questions to ask before you adopt a DAM

1. Overall requirements – What types of file formats must it support, what volume of content does it need to handle, and what types of capabilities must it have (security features, job tracking, remote proofing, etc.)?
2. Integration – How will the DAM integrate with the software tools and workflow solutions already in place so that you can make the most of your existing IT investments? Can it interface with your marketing resource management, product information management, content management, or customer relationship management systems to provide a single view into all your data, projects, and marketing campaign results?
3. Hardware and network infrastructure – Are your hardware platform and network infrastructure robust enough to handle the DAM software and data transfer needs? If not, what will upgrades cost?
4. Disaster recovery – How will you ensure the security of your digital assets in the event of a system failure or another catastrophic event?
5. User licensing and privileges – How many people will use the system and what access do you want to permit? What types of user authentication will be required? Do you want your system to offer a variety of access levels for granting and restricting access to file formats, delivery methods, groups of assets, and administrative functionality?
6. Vendor selection – Who will be the key stakeholders in charge of the vendor selection process? How will they manage vendor consultations and the RFP process?
7. Implementation management – Which stakeholders will manage the system implementation with the vendor from start to finish? How will the stakeholders work together?
8. Internal adoption – How will you avoid resistance to adoption and get your whole organization on board with using the software?
9. Training – What’s your plan? How can you ensure that key employees are thoroughly trained on the software so you always have experts on staff, not just on call?
10. Support requirements –Do you need phone support vs. email support? What’s your expectation for response times and escalation processes?

Calculating the ROI

While DAM solutions have a wealth of benefits for content marketers, there’s no denying that DAM represents a substantial investment. First, there are the software licensing fees. (Contrary to popular belief, most open-source DAM solutions have licensing fees, too.) Second, DAM solutions include other up-front expenses for things like storage servers, staff training, and IT support.

Given the expense, your DAM solution needs to deliver maximum ROI. But if you’re part of a large organization that creates, manages, delivers, and archives many thousands of digital assets every year, the ROI of a DAM can be significant.

To find out the return for your organization, use this DAMROI calculator. Plug in these estimates to get an idea of your total annual return:

1. Number of assets you create and duplicate, with associated costs
2. Time you spend searching for assets, with associated costs
3. Number of assets you distribute, with associated costs
4. Additional work and revenue streams you could gain, with associated revenues

References: 

1. http://www.tpsort.com/similar-to/25226-top-15-blacklight-alternative-and-similar-softwares
2. http://damfoundation.org/ten-core-characteristics-of-a-dam/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_asset_management
4. http://digitalassetmanagement.com/dam-basics/
5. http://digitalassetmanagementnews.org/digital-asset-management/the-characteristics-of-dam-systems/
6. https://blog.assetbank.co.uk/what-types-of-files-should-you-store-in-a-digital-asset-management-system/
7. https://www.nuxeo.com/solutions/digital-asset-management/
8. http://www.docurated.com/knowledge/digital-asset-management-system
9. https://www.northplains.com/digital-asset-management/
10. https://www.pimcore.org/en/products/product/dam
11. http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/04/truth-digital-asset-management/