Trouble finding content? Did you post wrong versions of campaign photos or videos, or have you had to pay a copyright or image penalty?

Many companies continue to adapt to the innumerable innovations that are born every day in digital transformation seeking to increase productivity and performance. In a world where content media is today the main player and brings conversion to products in various communication channels (ON and OFF), companies have focused more and more on producing content in many formats.

With the large amount of digital files that a company needs to manage, it is very easy to lose control and the overview of everything that is produced and distributed throughout the company's media chain. What companies have been doing most often is calling upon to emergency solutions such as file storage platforms (DropBox, Sharepoint, Drive) or even file transfer solutions (WeTransfer) that can impact information security and internal network access. With that said, it means chaos is almost guaranteed as the amounts of content, data, channels and players increase exponentially.

To solve this problem, the software industry created the Digital Asset Management (DAM) model, which is a platform designed to organize, enrich, version, archive and distribute digital files, bringing numerous benefits to the industry. Here are 9 of them:

Organization: Digital Asset Management (DAM) makes sure that digital assets are stored correctly. This means that data is not lost, duplicate files are deleted and therefore there are no incorrect versions of its features. This creates a clear overview, saving time and especially server space as platforms typically work in the cloud.

Scalability: Unusual file types or large amounts of photos, images, documents or videos can be easily processed by a DAM platform. Scalability in terms of data quantity has no limit.

Quick and simple search: A good DAM platform will show you how easily you can use your assets in a number of ways: search function to find them quickly and simple, then assign relevant content to different channels and distribute them to different players in your chain without impacting security. You will always know exactly where and when the resource was consumed.

Copyright: Copyright management is a real asset. Different roles can be assigned to control who has what level of access to assets and how they can be viewed. DAM also manages license agreements for these assets. This means that photos are automatically hidden when the license expires. This offers protection against copyright cases and therefore possible legal costs.

Multi-formats: DAM can also help with format changes: designers use Adobe programs, while developers use XML, APIS, or JSON. The system takes care of the complex technology you need and means you can work with all types of assets without the need for expensive, specialized software, training, or paying for licenses.

Multi-channel: Content distribution across multiple marketing channels via DAM platform is very time-efficient and cost-effective. The more channels being operated, the more sense it makes specially on Trade Marketing. That's because digitally operating companies operate microsites, websites, brand pages, social media channels, partner channels, e-commerce channels, etc. Thanks to numerous integrations with other systems, such as Content

Management System (CMS), Product Information Management (PIM), or cloud services, information is centrally stored in a DAM platform. With the help of connectors for the relevant channels, they can be easily displayed without any problem with media serving.

File Storage Solutions: Temporary solutions such as CMS, Microsoft Sharepoint, Box, and others cannot replicate the depth of a DAM platform. The technical effort required to adjust and configure them to become minimally a DAM would be substantially large. And it is clear that these incomplete solutions would lack many features when compared to a DAM platform that was designed and developed for this purpose.

Content Hub: A core structure is extremely important. If, for example, only the marketing manager knows where certain images are in a complex Dropbox folder system, that knowledge is isolated. If the manager is temporarily absent or leaves the company, all the work invested in these images is wasted because they cannot be found and most likely need to be redone. A DAM platform becomes a content hub, making assets available to everyone.

Metadata: Metadata brings order. The more specific the keywords allocated to assets, the easier they can be found. This requires some work when entering data, but it pays off during ongoing business.

If your business is not very digitally active or manages a very insignificant number of digital resources, a DAM system will not help you.

All others should consider whether buying a DAM platform would add the significant innovation theme to their digital strategy when it comes to providing agility within the entire digital content marketing chain. If your field team can't find the right file at the time of sale, or if you expose your company's information security when distributing your digital assets to all players then it's time for you to act!

Now that you have understood the advantages and challenges of digital asset management for the Industry, discover Yapoli:

Yapoli is an intelligent platform, made for governance, management and distribution of digital assets for large corporations.

Havaianas case of Digital Asset Management (DAM) for Trade Marketing

How Yapoli, a platform that connects management and governance of digital materials, supports Havaianas in the management and distribution of digital assets by eradicating the consumption and distribution of outdated materials, out of compliance and out of effect.