Implementing DAM software: Your guide for maximum project success

The introduction of DAM software has some pitfalls. We have listed for you what they are and what you should pay attention to when introducing a new DAM solution in your company:

Wrong people involved

Choosing the right team is crucial. Without cross-departmental expertise, you risk missing important requirements. Therefore, try to involve one key user per department in order to cover a holistic requirement profile.

Too small budget

Not infrequently it happens that savings are made in the wrong places and e.g. supposedly unimportant features are omitted, which in turn can significantly reduce the half-life of your DAM software, because it lacks usability in practice!

Wrong scheduling

Good Ding wants some time. Incorrect scheduling can lead to deadlines, delays, and frustration for your project team. Divide the project into meaningful, measurable phases and calculate enough time as well as possible buffers.

Project implementation in 3 phases

Consider the files of all the departments involved. The initial acquisition and tagging of old data is crucial for a smooth transition to the day-to-day business with DAM.

Altdatenübernahme beachten

Andere Abteilung, andere Dateien: Berücksichtige bei der Planung die verwendeten Dateiformate aller Abteilungen, die das DAM-System nutzen werden. Die initiale Übernahme und Indizierung der Altdaten ist entscheidend für einen reibungslosen Übergang in den DAM-Alltag.

Before you start the DAM project and start the search for suitable suppliers, it is advisable to take some precautions. This minimizes the chance that something unforeseen will happen and your project will be delayed.

Interdisciplinary project team

To make your DAM software truly a holistic solution, you should assemble an interdisciplinary team of experts from different disciplines. In this way, you gain a better insight into the real needs and requirements that currently prevail in the company.

Collect requirements

There is no clear solution without clear requirements. Therefore, create a specification to define all the needs of your company precisely and to formulate them comprehensibly. This helps your team, as well as the DAM provider.

Obtaining budget approval

Clarify financial issues in advance. The budget release before the project starts is a decisive step to keep the selection processes as short as possible. Not infrequently, it is only after months of the selection process that the financial resources in the company are insufficient.

Outlining workflows

Visualize your workflows. Outlining workflows helps to keep an overview and avoid misunderstandings. Likewise, it helps you develop more clarity about which features are nice-to-have or a must-have.

After the go-live of your new DAM solution, there are some measures that should be done to be able to design the system landscape sustainably. It is advisable to start these tasks after a successful transfer of old data.

Clean up duplicates

Cleaning up duplicates is the first step towards efficient use of DAM software. Features such as AI search in 4ALLPORTAL automatically detect duplicate records, so you can remove them with a few mouse clicks.

Tag all assets

Keywords are the key to easy findability. Thanks to an individual metadata concept and automatic tagging features, each uploaded file receives keywords to make it searchable for every party in the company.

Maintain release status

Just hold it. An easy-to-understand share status helps you and your colleagues know if a file can be used or not. Especially for “open” files, such as the Adobe Suite, access control at the file level is important to prevent unauthorized editing or deletion.

Maintaining versions / variants

The development does not stand still. Maintain all versions and variants of your files to stay up-to-date and keep track of them. Opaque naming conventions via pre- or suffix usually only lead to confusion of users.

Upload local data

To prevent file loss and re-creation of files, all locally stored content should also be transferred to the DAM. This is the only way to make all the files in the company visible and get the chaos under control.

Getting feedback

A DAM system should be dynamic, constantly evolving and adaptable to user needs. Regular feedback from departments is recommended in order to implement improvements in the DAM.

Implementing workflows

To further increase cross-departmental productivity, your workflows should (if possible) be mapped directly to the DAM. This applies, for example, to content releases, correction loops or the joint work on open files with external agencies or service providers.

As you can see, the successful implementation of a DAM solution is no witchcraft. However, there are some measures, before and during vendor selection, that can significantly influence the process — both positively and negatively.

If you are unsure whether you have really thought of everything, feel free to contact us and get one of our experienced consultants on board to check your requirements and wishes.