The future of Digital Asset Management
manifesting a positive future
It’s summer and I’m sick of the doom-scrolling, doom-reading, and doom-thinking. Talking with friends across our industry, I have been hearing more and more about the fear of AI, lower investment in technology, and the lack of promotions. Large companies are acquiring smaller ones and layoffs mean we lucky remainers still have jobs but we might be doing more with less.
Why am I positive in this environment? Because I can look back and look forward.
Not to get too woo-woo, but when I look back and see when I have been the most successful - personally or professionally - it was when I was open to positive opportunities. When I tried to force an opportunity I just felt burnt out. You cannot explain your way into having someone see your worth or even your project’s worth. What you can do is get yourself ready to change and position yourself to be a part of that change.
I’ll give a quick recent change. I was supposed to give a certain talk to a group of people but it was cut for time. I could have worried and stressed and felt disappointed. And maybe I did for a minute. But I was simultaneously offered an opportunity to speak on a different subject that I would not have been able to if I was still doing the canceled talk. I’m not usually a “look-on-the-bright-side” person, since it diminishes people’s pain. But I am a “be-open-to-change” person who tries to balance that pain with the opportunities that can only come from change.
Another example? Once I was planning to go to Italy and work remotely (when working remotely wasn’t as common), only to have my company tell me 2 weeks before I was leaving - tickets purchased, apartment rented - that I couldn’t do it. So I quit. I had been feeling stuck in that role, with nowhere to move up, for about a year. I still loved my team and would have probably stayed another year. But I was forced to leave. Because I was open to change, after my time in Italy (where I learned some of the language, improved my cooking and photography, and traveled), I returned to NYC ready for a new opportunity. I started freelancing and found plenty of work. We had children and I had a much more flexible work/motherhood balance (no maternity leave, though) and when it came to my next corporate role, I was ready to dive back in. I had clarity and drive and direction.
What does this have to do with the future of DAM? We are at a point where we can focus on the people telling us how bad it will be - AI will take our jobs, companies are cutting back on staff, global workforce means a race to the bottom on salary. And that might be our future. Or, we can see the opportunities.
What are the worst parts of DAM life? Most of us would love to see these removed from our workdays - those are the repetitive tasks, aka things AI can do well. We would like to have more time to use our brains for strategy and planning - something that needs people. We are looking at how to work across silos in our teams - a global workforce that’s connected via Zoom can help us do that no matter the hour. We want to travel, work remotely and spend more time with family and friends - remote work can give us that.
And what about the future of the digital asset management industry? I asked a scary GenAI tool (Google Bard) and here’s its response:
The future of digital asset management (DAM) is bright. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, businesses will need to find more efficient and effective ways to manage their digital assets. DAM solutions can help businesses to:
Improve collaboration: DAM solutions can provide a central repository for digital assets, making it easy for team members to find and share the assets they need.
Optimize workflows: DAM solutions can automate tasks such as asset tagging, version control, and asset delivery. This can help to free up time for team members to focus on more creative and strategic work.
Gain insights: DAM solutions can provide businesses with insights into how their digital assets are being used. This information can be used to improve marketing campaigns, target customer segments, and make better business decisions.
Here are some of the trends that are shaping the future of DAM:
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI): AI is being used to automate tasks in DAM solutions, such as asset tagging, version control, and asset delivery. AI is also being used to provide businesses with insights into how their digital assets are being used.
The growth of cloud-based DAM solutions: Cloud-based DAM solutions are becoming increasingly popular, as they offer businesses a more scalable and cost-effective way to manage their digital assets.
The increasing importance of mobile DAM solutions: Mobile DAM solutions are becoming increasingly important, as more and more people are using mobile devices to access digital assets.
Overall, the future of DAM is bright. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, DAM solutions will become increasingly important for businesses of all sizes.
Here are some specific examples of how DAM is being used in the future:
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR): DAM solutions are being used to store and manage VR and AR assets. This allows businesses to create more immersive and engaging experiences for their customers.
Intelligent content delivery: DAM solutions are being used to deliver content to the right people at the right time. This is done by using AI to analyze user behavior and preferences.
Data-driven marketing: DAM solutions are being used to track the performance of digital assets. This information can be used to improve marketing campaigns and target customer segments.
These are just a few examples of how DAM is being used in the future. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative ways to use DAM to improve business performance.
The very things that make DAM a valuable tool are not going anywhere. We will need to keep learning and training and developing new systems, but what’s new about that? As long as we stay open to the future, we can find a path together to where we actually want to go.