How Do You Protect Your Digital Assets: What’s what in Digital Asset Management solutions Apr 25, 2006 – By Barrie Locke, REC Staff Writer
Digital Asset Management (DAM) is rapidly gaining recognition as a key
component of an enterprise content management strategy. The proliferation of
digital assets – in multiple formats – is presenting significant challenges
to IT departments as organizations are coming to realize that systems to
manage these assets are essential, valuable and a best business practice.
Recognizing this growing need to create, store, retrieve and manage rich
media files, DAM solution providers are offering a variety of options to
manage digital assets, including installed software managed in-house, hosted
solutions managed outside the organization or the best of both worlds –
systems that begin as hosted solutions and then, as an organization’s IT
infrastructure becomes more sophisticated, can be easily converted to an
installed solution.
According to Frost and Sullivan, hosted alternatives are rapidly gaining
momentum as the solution of choice for the SMB market over installed systems
as users look to best manage their financial and human capital. For some
companies, hosted DAM services are an end in themselves – a deployment
alternative that avoids a major investment in infrastructure or the addition
of IT staff necessary to manage an enterprise DAM system. Hosting
alternatives also allow companies to gain critical capabilities quickly,
while they are building out their infrastructures or developing a proof of
concept to help refine requirements and demonstrate ROI.
Seeking the Right Solution
In searching for a DAM solution, users are faced with three basic choices –
installed software/inhouse management option; a hosted solution; or a
combination of the two.
Organizations that have a sophisticated IT operation are most likely to
choose an in-house solution. They have the hardware, software, budget and
network infrastructure to support an internal system.
A hosted solution offers significant advantages to companies with constrained
IT resources – staff and budget – or companies whose use-case requires
maximum uptime with the failover and redundancy that a hosted solution can
provide.
For some organizations, a compelling alternative is a hosted solution that
can seamlessly transition in-house. This allows the organization to implement
a pay-as-you-go pilot, launching the solution immediately – and realizing the
benefits - while concurrently building out their infrastructure, staffing,
and modifying requirements to prove maximum value before making the
commitment to a large investment.
There are several companies providing hosted solutions including Corbis, a
solid solution through its acquisition of eMotion, but it cannot readily
convert to an in-house application. Interwoven, MediaBin and Northplains are
also recognized solution providers although they provide their hosting
services through third party providers. ClearStory Systems touts an
enterprise-level system that can be delivered as a hosted service or an
in-house application. And ClearStory manages the hosting model itself – not
through a third party.
When choosing an enterprise DAM product and vendor, a system that is
available on both a hosted and installed basis provides a best of both worlds
scenario in terms of flexibility. But this benefit can only be gained if the
system is fully browser based, with full user functionality and consistent
user experience – whether it’s hosted or installed. Another point to consider
is that a system that can seamlessly transition from a hosted service to an
in-house solution accommodates changing business models without interruption.
“Hosted services are rapidly gaining in popularity among a variety of end
users primarily because of their versatility and ability to be rapidly
deployed,” said Mukul Krishna, DAM expert and analyst with Frost &
Sullivan. “Hosted systems are managed by experts, which alleviates the
necessity for a massive in-house investment in both staff and equipment. It
also gives the organization the ability to better focus their resources on
core business efforts.”
Worldwide Television Network Chooses Hosted Services
National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) provides award-winning
cable television programming to more than 230 million subscribers throughout
the world. NGCI chose a hosted solution to simplify management of the
thousands of hours of program tapes, photos and marketing materials that need
to be accessible to its 29 regional offices around the globe.
The DAM system serves as a virtual creative services network for NGCI offices
worldwide. NGCI uploads promotional and programming content including still
photos, videotapes and scripts into a secure central repository. This central
resource enables any office to be the creative hub and distribution point for
marketing materials on behalf of their particular region – and in some cases,
to the global group. Access and usage rights are fully controlled by NGCI
headquarters.
According to Abigail Grossman, manager of Operations and Technical Services
for NGCI, a hosted DAM system was the only answer. Already responsible for a
massive broadcast management system, Grossman knew that her organization
didn’t have the resources to manage a complex DAM system. “The solution we
chose was quickly implemented and gives us 24/7 technical support just about
anywhere in the world any time of the day or night, something we could never
have tackled in-house,” said Grossman. “It also seamlessly manages all
content, keeps that content updated, and provides accessibility and secure
storage.
Hosting allowed Grossman’s organization to get up and running much more
quickly than if they had tried to create the same structure in-house.
Grossman chose a hosted solution that was not managed by a third party but
managed directly by the provider. “We didn’t have to worry about building out
the infrastructure and didn’t have to worry about acquiring in-house experts
to manage the process. We were up and running is just a few months.”
A hosted solution is clean and efficient, according to Grossman. There’s no
software or hardware to buy, no internal maintenance costs, no upgrade or
support costs. Patches and upgrades are handled by the hosting vendor. The
system can support multiple users in widespread geographic areas and it’s
highly scaleable. “Experts configured the system to map to our business
model, and they provide support the solution, which has alleviated that
pressure from our organization.”
Functionality without the Difficulty
When it comes to hosted services, it’s critical for the solution to pass
every test of functionality, security, scalability and performance. When we
took a closer look at Corbis, Interwoven, Media Bin, Northplains and
ClearStory, all had good functionality and security although ClearStory seems
to have a leg up on scalability and performance as a result of its
significant investments over the past few years to improve and expand its
underlying architecture.
Like most companies that consider a hosted service, National Geographic
sought quick deployment, persistent performance and rapid ROI. More
importantly, NGCI needed round-the-clock availability for its global
constituency. They required a DAM service provider they could trust to
provide high-availability and that would assume the burden of maintaining and
upgrading the system as well as provide the management and operational
expertise. These functions require real labor investments, which NGCI
preferred not to make themselves. For this reason, they selected a vendor who
was dedicated to sustaining a state-of-the-art hosting facility and which has
a demonstrated commitment to delivering hosted services long-term.
Yet even if a company ultimately wants to have the solution in-house, opting
to start with a hosted service still has numerous advantages. For one, it can
help companies build the business case for resource allocation by
demonstrating the effectiveness and ROI potential of the solution. This
prevents the delays that can occur while struggling to achieve buy-in, which
can result in significant losses and missed opportunities.
Once implemented, the customer should have complete control of the system
through a non-technical, web-based interface. The system should easily
accommodate the addition of new users, metadata definitions, other rich media
assets, expanded storage, and other administrative changes. And internal
system administrators should be able to make these changes independent of the
hosted service provider.
Secure, Flexible, Scalable & Available
Hosted services should be available as a standalone, or able to be integrated
with existing enterprise applications, either inside or outside network
firewalls. Hosting facilities should feature high-level security including
24/7 monitoring, CCTV surveillance systems, and even biometric entry scanning
to ensure maximum protection for valuable customer data. Considering that
rich media files are often very large in size, it is important to confirm
that the vendor has technology to support high bandwidth for maximum
performance, including redundant lines and multiple points of entry.
At NGCI multiple point connectivity is critical for the worldwide group.
Their system provides high speed, redundant internet connections. “If there’s
an issue with one service provider, service can be seamlessly picked up by
another,” Grossman said.
Vendors should be able to provide uptime guarantees and offer an
infrastructure with redundancy at every key level to ensure automatic
recovery in the event of a component or software failure. The provider should
also offer a level of redundancy that provides additional protection in the
event of a regional disaster or other catastrophic event. Although this level
of redundancy, availability, and security would exceed those of a typical
in-house implementation, they can be a big benefit of a hosted service.
Look for Variable Options
Look for a vendor which can provide a variety of pricing models, including a
pay-as-you-go contract or a licensed software option with managed services.
This allows a company to begin with a small pilot project to refine
requirements and processes before launching the deployment on a large scale.
Corbis, which acquired eMotion, offers an ASP DAM model that consists of a
set up price and then a monthly per user free. ClearStory provides a
subscription DAM pricing model but, because it has built-in scalability as
part of its infrastructure, the company can also offer to host
enterprise-licensed software and deliver managed services. MediaBin and
Northplains offer installed software as their core business and a third party
subscription model if users want a hosted solution.
Look for a vendor that has extensive expertise in providing both hosted and
non-hosted applications. For hosted services, ask the vendor about their
hosting facility, its security measures and infrastructure and confirm their
commitment to the model.
Look for a vendor that can customize the solution. Their system should be
able to handle a full spectrum of media – from video to Photoshop, Quark and
other graphic file types.
Look for a vendor that can provide 24/7 service wherever you need it –
worldwide.
Insist on scalability, which is important not only for storage and user
licenses, but also for the ability of the system to adjust to the growing
needs of the organization.
And, finally, look for ease of use. You want a solution that embodies all the
technical attributes but that can be easily and efficiently managed by all
end users.
How Do You Protect Your Digital Assets: What’s what in Digital Asset Management solutions
