Top 5 File Management frustrations and solutions

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 solution like WoodWing 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 browse or search by filename. So if you don't know the place or name of your file, you have a serious problem. Content gets lost, sometimes even recreated. This is where a DAM comes to the rescue, with extensive metadata options to enrich your content with the needed information. WoodWing Swivle has more than 400 metadata fields available, but we usually recommend to start with tagging, which is 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 "My clients or colleagues are using outdated or unapproved material..."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 rebranding, 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 be found in a curated, centralized content Portal, in order to allow access to final and approved material exclusively. With Swivle's public or password-protected Portals, you can make sure only the right content is available: the finalized material for which you own the rights. For example, content can automatically appear or be removed from the Portal based on metadata fields like license start date and license end date.

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 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, anywhere. 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 search. Whatever solution you might choose, you'd better make sure you choose an easy to use and intuitive one. This ensures 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 can be quite interruptive with regards to your daily workflow. A proper DAM solution will enable your colleagues or clients to instantly download the right version of your images. In WoodWing Swivle, you can easily download a custom rendition, or you can create presets so they can download the right version with one click.

Want to discuss your frustrations in person? I'm available for some catharsis! Or start optimizing your file management with WoodWing Swivle now!