“strive for a collaboration with all”

The Henry Stewart DAM briefing, was for this blogger anyway a breath of fresh air. My webcam however, let the side down, image and video quality was poor, so will not bore you with pixelated content.

The theme of the the event form the viewers perspective was an interesting mix of technology, implementations and future developments. If you could say a meme developed out of the briefing, it would be “we are all in the same boat”, given that no vendor offers a panacea to all DAM requirements. That said, it was none the less informative, and the networking discussions were high octane.

PDF presentations are also available from Henry Stewart

Michael Moon from Gistics was our genial host. Starting the days briefing with an introduction to DAM driving business model innovation

Mary Yurkovic, Manager DAM and Distribution, Playboy Enterprises, Inc gave an interesting insight into the problems and solutions Playboy had setting up their own DAM and more importantly the approach they took to get stakeholder buyin with such a large project.

Tony Byrne, Founder of CMS Watch had some interesting comments about choosing the right vebdor, even suggesting that vendors should compete in a bake off, being a metaphor for a cooking contest where the best cook wins the prize! Thoughts of a DAM blog bake off, could be interesting content … any takers?

Frank Chagoya, Executive Production Manager, Asset Manager, Leo Burnett took a look and shared his experiences of the management challenges of installation and operations. Frank focussed on the expectations for the DAM
A few possibilities:

• Improve workflow
• Collaboration of work in progress
• Repository for final assets
• Easier access to valued assets
• Faster access for other facilities/markets for repurposing
• Storage of associated materials and data

Philip Segal, Director, Archives & Cataloging, National Geographic Digital Media looked at the importance of metadatawithin a DAM solution A successful DAM will only be as good as the metadata. “A successful DAM will only be as good as the metadata”

Our business relies on the ability for disparate users to easily search, find, review, share, collaborate and deliver content for internal projects and external revenue generating repurposing opportunities. Without consistent and accurate metadata the ability to succeed is significantly jeopardized.

Ultimately, if you can’t find what you need it doesn’t matter how good the GUI looks, how fast its performance or how effective the storage solution. The ROI will come from an excellent metadata and technical solution…you need to have both.

Don’t forget the basics !!

What do you want your DAM to do?

What are the current business needs?

What are the future needs and expectations?

How will this benefit your operation and the ROI?

Who are the key stakeholders and benefactors?
strive for a collaboration with all

What are the best ways to apply potentially limited
resources to gain maximum impact?
DAM solutions are not exclusively a technology problem.

John Thomson, President and CEO, Saepio Technologies gave an impassioned sponsored talk on the role Marketing Asset Management plays in today’s knowledge economy. Explaining that smaller vendors have a huge role to play in the development of latest technologies.

btw, Henry Stewart lunches are the best in the business, conversations flowed as we all bonded on the level of being the geeks in the field of DAM, metadata, taxonomy, SEO and DAO.

After lunch Matthew Gonnering, VP Sales & Marketing, Widen Enterprises took the audience through a sponsored presentation on the repurposing of repurposing, namely video assets. The Widen SaaS enables scaleability of video assets utilising the cloud. This means that clients only pay the rate approriate to useage of viewers and it overcomes web developers time, by linking directly to the video content via the web.

Interpreting the “unarticulated demand”

Jim Scarlata, Director of Marketing Operations Knaack LLC looked at Extending the Brand Experience through DAM. Jim, brought his wealth of experience to demonstrate the Drivers for DAM as a Platform Technology, these included the following:

• Restricted budgets
• Limited or no internal I.T. resources
• Competitive advantage for channel partners
• A complete understanding of your business
• A vision for how you want to expand the use of your digital media

An insight into the development and deployment of General Motors DAM was an engaging talk from Manish Mallick, CEO, Rev Inc. The digital asset guru also spoke of the issues surrounding CGI and 3D assets in DAM applications. And the use of DAM as an acceleration (no pun intended) of product to market time.

And the last presentation of the day went to Sponge Bob Square Pants, in the guise of Miles Rohan, Senior Digital Asset Management with Nickleodeon. Miles demonstrated the structure and design of Nick’s DAM, including a visit to bikini bottom. Good fun and most entertaining speech of the day … shame about the taxonomy (in joke)

The Henry Stewart briefing rounded off with an expert panel, chaired by Michael Moon. Congratulations to all involved especially Sally Nastys.

Good luck for the L A Conference 10 – 11th November