How are Organisations Using Digital Asset Management for Hybrid Working?

Mike Paxton, VP Sales at Canto, explains how this software enables more productive hybrid working.

Businesses are honing their approach to hybrid work. After equipping employees to work from home when the pandemic struck, tools such as Slack, Teams and Zoom have become a mainstay. But with team members now splitting time between the workplace and home, how can organisations ensure the productivity gains of hybrid working are realised?

Before COVID, there was already a deluge of digital content to manage. The number of saved images, videos, documents, presentations and other file types is accelerating. This threatens to slow down team members who find it difficult to locate the content they need – and it is compounded by remote work and new hires.

Enter Digital Asset Management

Digital asset management (DAM) is a tool for saving, organising and sharing files.

As cloud-based software, it provides a centralised library to store all digital content and file types. Furthermore, it offers a range of features and integrations with other software. This improves organisation and boosts team productivity.

DAM is growing in popularity. It’s used by brands like Gymshark and Fy!, specialist retailers such as Giant bicycles and Godiva chocolatier, industrial multinationals like BP and Mitsubishi, as well as non-profits including Fairtrade and the Institute of Cancer Research.

With in-built tools like image recognition, smart tagging and version control, remotely-based team members can locate what they need. It removes dependency on internal shared servers and Google Drive or Dropbox folders. And avoids the need for time-consuming WeTransfer-type services.

The software supports better hybrid working in several respects.

Everyone Works in the Same Way

DAM enables everyone to save and access files in the same library, regardless of where they’re based. This benefits colleagues, as well as agencies, freelancers and other third-party collaborators.

External parties usually need access to files, but it’s often not appropriate to give complete access to a shared drive or folder. Splitting files into more folders or sending individual files warrants time-consuming admin. Using DAM, and with a few clicks, admins can provide access to only the files that need to be shared, avoiding duplication or file transfer. This is particularly useful for projects requiring confidentiality.

Many organisations are recruiting right now. For new hires, being able to find files by searching for keyword tags and with the help of AI and image recognition, means they can get straight on with the job. They don’t need to distract team-mates as they gain an understanding of how their team operates and where things are saved.

If you work with key partners, stakeholders or media, you can create branded ‘Portals’. This allows invited parties to login and download assets in a dedicated space which you can keep updated.

Tools, Features and Integrations

This is where DAM excels. For example, image recognition, facial recognition and optical character recognition (OCR) technology are all used within DAM. This means team members can find all files featuring objects, people, locations, projects or designs in a click or two.

Integration with software your team already uses – like Microsoft Office and Slack – means DAM is easily embraced. It can be used by designers too. Integration with Adobe design programmes allows for faster image and video editing and saving. Latest file versions immediately sync to the DAM library for all to see.

Being cloud-based also enables innovation and seamless updates. New product features and integrations are regularly released and made instantly available to users.

Get Started and Grow

DAM platforms make file migration a simpler process and ensure you’re better organised. Uploading folders from a shared server, desktop, and storage services like SharePoint, Dropbox, Box and Google Drive is possible.

If your DAM usage increases over time, it won’t cause you a problem because it uses the likes of Amazon Web Services to offer ample storage capacity. Usage often grows once DAM is embedded into workplace culture with benefit to more teams and departments. As SaaS (Software as a Service), there are DAM subscription models to suit every type of organisation.

By Mike Paxton, digital asset management expert and VP Sales at Canto.

Mike Paxton leads a team of DAM experts at Canto. He helps organisations across all industries to boost team productivity and external collaboration with digital asset organising, retrieval and sharing capabilities. He started his career in operations for the London Metropolitan Police before working in software and equipment procurement for the RSPCA. It was here he learned the importance of working with reliable partners – an ethos he has developed at Canto.

Guest Contributor
Guest Contributor
Follow on Twitter @eWeekUK
Get the Free Newsletter
Subscribe to Techrepublic UK for weekly updates from Techrepublic and eWEEK on the latest in UK top tech news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.
Get the Free Newsletter
Subscribe to Techrepublic UK for weekly updates from Techrepublic and eWEEK on the latest in UK top tech news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.

Popular Articles