One of our clients is a major music streaming service used across the globe that offers albums, podcasts, as well as curated content. This client creates custom visual assets to accompany curated content, which utilizes images of musical artists as well as stock images, overlaid with graphics and design elements, to help users connect to these items and provide an enhanced user experience.
This client knew they had an issue with the intellectual control of these visual assets. They also knew an improved digital asset management (DAM) system could help solve their challenges.
So, they began asking peers in the industry how they solved similar issues. One such contact was a client of ours, who referred them to the services we have here at AVP. We turned that initial conversation into an ongoing, collaborative project.
The Problem: De-Centralized Organization
Creating this visual content was not always an easy task, due to some system and process inefficiencies.
For starters, there was no centralized location for the sourced artist and stock images. They were spread out among personal folders, shared online storage, and emails, making it virtually impossible for designers and music curators to quickly find what they needed.
There were also the legal implications of these assets. Permission to use source images had to be granted from the organizations that owned the rights to them. Those usage rights and permissions were not documented appropriately or consistently.
It’s not that this organization had no process, or no records—they simply needed to structure and streamline. One team had used a DAM system to manage their assets to great success. We used that kernel to point our client to a single truth: a centralized DAM system was required for asset organization.
The Strategy: Workflow Implementation, Training, and Daily Support
It didn’t take much convincing on our end to stress the importance of DAM adoption for our client—they came to us knowing they had an organizational problem and wanted us to fix it. So we got right to work.
Our goals with this project were to:
- Integrate the client into a new (yet familiar) DAM system
- Establish well-developed workflows
- Enable adoption by training the teams and employees on said workflows
- Provide daily support to ensure user success
Here is how we implemented our strategy.
Step 1: Assessment and Recommendations
Our client already knew their pain points, which helped us gain a general idea of their needs. But for a real understanding of how we could best help with their asset organization and management, we conducted an in-depth assessment of the situation.
The assessment started with interviews. We talked with employees across the entire organization about their individual and team asset needs and opportunities they saw for process improvements.
After listening to what the client had to say about their current DAM system, we did our own evaluation. We made a list of what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved upon.
We spent a few months on this assessment phase. Finally, we were able to present several recommendations for the client on how we should proceed. This included:
- Establishing usage permissions and verification standards for different types of users and assets
- Creating data requirements based on information employees already look for
- Improving the searchability and retrievability of digital assets
- Establishing a DAM team to manage the system, ensure asset quality, and support users
Step 2: Data Migration and Cleanup
The DAM system the client did use (albeit at a small scale) lacked centralized control, and as a result, lacked the consistency and quality needed to make the search and retrieval of assets quick and easy. The data required organization on a larger scale.
After the new DAM system was established, we cleaned up the existing data to make it usable to all user groups. All legacy data was incorporated within a couple of months.
Step 3: Workflow Development and Training
We restructured all of the client’s legacy data and assets into an organized and searchable format. However, we also needed to establish workflows to ensure all assets coming into the system maintained the same high standards.
To accomplish this, we worked with the newly formed DAM team to establish a set of protocols that dictated what data should be attached to each type of asset. This mostly applied to images of artists, as well as original artwork and graphics created by the client’s design teams.
It was then time to train employees on the processes. With the DAM team, we conducted this training, answered questions, clearly explained the protocols, and clarified the importance of accurate data moving forward.
We couldn’t stop at training the employees—we needed to onboard the external partners as well, who could provide some of the needed information for indexing as well as the invaluable rights information needed to enable compliant use and reuse throughout the organization.
Step 4: Continued Support
With the data revised and hundreds of internal and external users onboarded in just a few months, the client launched the new DAM system. Members of our team continue to provide daily support, ensuring new assets have correct data, users are supported, and the system runs smoothly.
Thanks to our constant support, the client was able to hire a full-time DAM program manager and DAM project manager to help align the DAM system with organizational goals and legal requirements. As a team, we continue to onboard new global regions to the DAM.
The Results: Streamlined Processes and Better Management
Now that proper processes are in place, the client and its employees can do their jobs with ease.
Since we began the DAM overhaul, we’ve managed to upload over 70,000 assets into the system, with roughly 100 new assets (and growing) being added every single day. Not to mention, the client’s employees have to spend significantly less time tracking down all those assets, despite there being thousands more to sort through.
This is just the beginning. These results are the fruit of only onboarding two out of 10 client regions. And because of the success the client has seen from this initial output, we’re already making plans to integrate the remaining regions into the DAM.
AVP: An Expert, Human Touch to DAM Management
DAM systems are complex machines and gaining buy-in for adoption at an organization as large as this one can be challenging. AVP knows this, which is why we take a professional, yet deeply personal approach to DAM adoption and management. We take a human-centered approach to everything we do, designing systems around how people actually work and think, so your stakeholders and employees have the necessary context to make your processes user-friendly, legally compliant, and in line with investor interests.
Curious to see us in action? Find out how AVP’s work can turn your digital asset management into a state-of-the-art organization solution. Learn about our services today.
