We have talked to hundreds of people about how they create, organize and share their content. In this article I would like to share the top 5 frustrations we come across, and how you might solve them with a DAM like Swivle.
1. "I don't even know what I have anymore!"
This is definitely one of the most common triggers to start looking for a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution. The traditional solutions like network drives or cloud storage solutions limit your options to browsing or searching by filename. So if you don't know the place or name or your file, you have a serious problem. Content gets lost, and even re-created. This is where a DAM comes to the rescue with extensive metadata options to enrich your content with the needed information. Swivle has more than 400 metadata fields available, but we usually recommend to start with tagging. A very powerful way of making your archive searchable.
2. "My clients or colleagues are using outdated or unapproved material..."
How frustrating is it when you spend countless days on a re-branding, and your colleagues are still using the old logo? Or maybe they already started using the content before the campaign went live? Or what about the usage of stock photo's for which you don't own the rights anymore? The solution can lie in a curated, centralized content Portal to allow access to only final and approved material. With Swivle's public or password-protected Portals, you can make sure only the right content is available: final material for which you own the rights. Content can for example automatically appear or be removed from the Portal based on metadata fields like license startdate and license enddate.
3. "Our other offices or remote teams cannot access our content"
If you are using a local file server or network drive, the performance is generally quite good in the local office. But what about your other offices or any remote teams? You could opt for using a VPN to make the server available, but this frequently leads to slow and unstable connections. By storing all your content in one easy to use hub in the cloud, you make sure that everyone has the right access: anytime and everywhere. If you add a technique like Amazon Transfer Acceleration you also guarantee optimal global performance.
4. "My files are scattered all over the place!"
File servers, cloud storage providers like Dropbox and Google Drive, email inboxes, local desktops: the sources where your content is stored can grow quite quickly. By choosing one central place for all your content, you make sure you and your team always know where to turn to. Whatever solution you might choose, you better make sure you choose an easy to use and intuitive solution. This makes sure people actually like to use your platform of choice, to prevent them from sticking with their current scattered places.
5. "My colleagues keep asking me to resize a banner or logo."
A lot of marketers and designers get these requests daily or weekly. These tasks are small, but it can be quite interruptive of your daily workflow. A proper DAM solution will empower your colleagues or clients to instantly download the right version of your images. In Swivle you can easily download a custom rendition or you can create presets so they can download the right version with 1 click.
Want to discuss your frustrations in person? I'm available for some catharsis! Or start optimizing your file management with Swivle now!