My Other DAM is a Self-Service Intranet Portal

Running a digital asset management system without a self-service DAM intranet portal is like buying gas in Oregon — the “drivers” (end users) must rely on an “attendant” (a person in charge of managing digital assets) just to get to work.

It’s illegal to pump your own gas in the US State of Oregon. Anytime you take a pit stop in southern Core Cascadia you must wait for an attendant to come over, grab your cash or plastic, and start pumping. You then wait again for the attendant to come back over, remove the nozzle, and hand you a receipt. God forbid the tank unexpectedly stops pumping mid-refuel. It’s a nice regional perk on a cold and wet Portland day but infuriating when you’re in a hurry.   

Why don’t they just let everyone pump their own gas like the other 48 sane states? (New Jersey has similar laws.) A big reason is security. Back when this legislation passed, there were concerns about equipment safety and so it was decreed that only ordained gas dispensing professionals would be allowed to operate the pumps.

Controlling the Flow

The same concern is also true for the security of your DAM. You don’t want anyone helping themselves to whatever images and videos they find and then blowing themselves or the company up. Someone might pump a high-res TIFF file into their screen-res PowerPoint presentation, similar to putting gasoline into a diesel engine — the thing just isn’t going to run right. Another security concern is someone using something they shouldn’t, perhaps something not properly licensed or released or just plain embarrassing (like putting curb feelers on an Audi R8).

While permissions in DAM provide some security, what works best is an interface designed specifically for the common DAM motorist. Something that is easy to use, provides relevant search options, and connects the end-user and the DAM collection. Most importantly, it should allow users to find what they need on their own without relying on someone else.

Getting Around the Gatekeepers

Let’s take a look at the other role in this analogy: the gas station attendant. They’re pretty busy with other customers, and would rather be doing other things like being inside their warm booth or smoking cigarettes (30 feet away of course).

People in charge of managing digital asset management collections feel the same way. The DAM manager would rather be working on something besides being an asset concierge. Instead, as a gatekeeper they become a bottleneck and are frequently interrupted with requests for assets. As one DAM attendant recently bemoaned, “They need my brain to find anything!”

So what does this DAM intranet thing do? It helps the motorists get to work and helps the attendants work more efficiently while maintaining their sanity (or what’s left of it). A self-service DAM intranet portal usually offers one or more of the following functions:

• A simple user interface, compared to the expert interface of the main DAM application 
• Easily customizable search interfaces that display relevant options, as opposed to all search options
• The ability to pre-filter search results based on metadata rules. For example, only publish assets tagged with the keyword “approved”
• Options for downloading assets in alternative formats. For example, links for downloading JPEGs for PowerPoint and TIFFs for print
• Digital rights management and watermarking capabilities.

As a native Oregonian, it was easy for me to figure out how to pump my own gas when I first traveled out of state. The pump interface was easy enough, I didn’t spill any gas and I didn’t blow myself up. If you’re currently exploring or using DAM, I encourage you to travel outside your state and consider where a self-service DAM intranet can take you.

Title image courtesy of RetroClipArt (Shutterstock)

Editor's Note: Ed knows his DAM. Want to read more?

— Digital Asset Management Trends

About the Author

In his current position at Extensis, Edward Smith is the in-house expert for all things digital asset management related and contributor to the DAM Learning Center.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Marketing Automation Provider Act-On Software Launches Partner Exchange

Marketing automation provider Act-On Software is launching a partner program, bringing together partners and customers.

The Beaverton, Oregon-based company said that the new Act-On Partner Exchange (APEX) offers a resource for its customers, which currently number about 1000 and which are constantly looking for new products and services from Act-On partners for their online marketing.

Three Act-On Partner Types

Act-On said its partners fall into three categories. There are Technology Partners, whose product integrates with Act-On’s marketing automation platform. Agency Partners can extend the Act-On platform with their expertise in marketing and creative services, and Referral Partners offer specialized marketing services while referring customers to Act-On for online marketing.

As an example of a Referral Partner, the company pointed to Portland, Oregon-based Albertson Performance Group. CEO Eric Albertson said in a statement that, with his company’s expertise in “helping technology marketers design and execute campaigns to get more leads with better quality,” the Albertson Performance Group can help Act-On’s customers “get the most out of their investment in marketing automation.”

Other partners include Cisco WebEx, Pipedream, Estuate and Port25.

Act-On Chief Revenue Officer Shawn Naggiar told news media that there has already been “an exponential increase” in customers working with APEX partners, since the program is designed to be a “simple and effective” way for partners to join the Act-On ecosystem and for customers to find products and services.

Marketing Automation for the Mid-Sized Org

Act-On was founded in 2008 by CEO Raghu Raghavan with the intent of providing what it called “an equalizer” for small- and mid-sized companies. Its cloud-based platform offers an email engine with one-click integration to web conferencing and CRM, as well as tools for website visitor tracking, lead scoring, lead nurturing and social media prospecting, and design tools for web forms, landing pages and emails.

The company’s platform is designed to enable those companies, which it calls the Fortune 5,000,000, to “easily and swiftly create and execute” multi-channel integrated marketing campaigns, find and nurture qualified leads, and conduct analytics.

While the company said its focus is on smaller businesses, it noted that its platform is also used by divisions of some large companies, including Motorola, Progressive, IBM, Associated Bank, InsideSales.com and Liberty Tax Service.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Webtrends Updates Analytics on Demand, Adds New Social Measurement Solutions

Webtrends has added new social measurement capabilities to its Analytics on Demand offering,as well as packaged some new social analytics solutions.

The Portland, Oregon-based company said that these new additions, which combine social strategy, implementation, analysis and optimization, will allow marketers to better achieve success with social marketing.

Social Updates to Analytics On Demand

Steve Earl, Webtrends director of product marketing for analytics, said in a statement that marketers are increasingly “focusing on social channels, particularly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to meaningfully and profitably engage with customers.” He added that the new solutions help in the “extremely challenging” task of measuring customer engagement and understanding social marketing success.

The updates for Analytics on Demand include enhancements to the existing Webtrends’ Facebook reporting, which now include the nature, influence and success of Facebook Page posts.

There is also now a capability to measure engagement of YouTube and Twitter channels. The new YouTube tools offer measurements of customer engagement, content viewership and campaign performance, for videos that are on that site or on a brand’s website.

Twitter metrics are intended to offer a better understanding of which content generates more engagement, and which tactics are successful enough to bear repeating. The Twitter analytics measure the reach of Tweets, reTweets and followers.

New Social Measurement Bundle

Analytics on Demand is the company’s unified platform for digital measurement of social, mobile and site traffic and trends. The new FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube measurements, which are bundled as Social Measurement solutions, are available to Analytics customers at an additional fee to the base subscription.

Webtrends said that its social measurement tools answer a need articulated in an August 2012 report by Forrester Research.

In that report, entitled The State of Customer Analytics 2012, the research firm noted that many organizations lack the expertise or experience to measure social media campaigns, although such analytics were a priority. Accordingly, the report said, companies will need to look for vendors that specialize in analytics and data mining to assess customer behavior.

Webtrends said that its measurement tools for digital marketing relevance and customer engagement management are used by more than 3500 global brands, including the New York Times, Microsoft, Hitachi, the Associated Press and BMW.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com