PHILIP SPIEGEL - DAM Ideas

What about the Content?

If you are sitting on top of an Everest-sized mountain of content then where do you start and how do you prioritize to create an effective content strategy? This is distinctly not a technology question but instead a business operations question.  How and why is content determined to be of priority and who is driving that definition?

Depending on the business, the content strategy can be defined by factors that can include:

• Condition, native format and overall stability and integrity of the original physical asset
• Is it an obsolete or soon-to-be obsolete format?
• What is the subject matter of the content? Do you even know and if you do then what is the criteria for determining value and importance?
• What type of media? (ie. film, video, photos, audio, documents, props, artifacts, etc)
• What are the rights issues? Or, what do you know about the rights?
• What are the urgent business needs from the content that will bring the most relief to business front lines?
• What about budget and available resources?
• Any combination of some or all of the above

The type of media in a content strategy is second to understanding the processes needed to manage, find and deliver the content. Also, there are different technology issues managing different types of media content but the prioritization process is separate and can be "type" agnostic.  The goal should be to identify the low-hanging fruit that will be return the most value from the effort in the fastest time (see previous post on ROI).

This all sounds easy and in some respects it is. Filtering out the noise that comes from the various interests involved to hone in on a path is the second step after gathering all the needs requirements up front.  Look from above the silos..what is needed to support the current and / or future revenue goals?  Having this will help identify a path for proceeding but its important to remember that the content strategy has to be dynamic and nimble enough to shift as changes in the business dictate.

Listen.

Mapping an R-O-I...Where to Start?

In planning for a DAM project, ROI comes up early in the discussion ... it has to.  The business owners in any organization will be challenged with the basics: How much does it cost? What are the savings? What are the operational benefits and new opportunities? What are the intangibles and the lost opportunity costs? What are the risks of not doing anything?

So, how do we empower these managers with the tools to present a winning argument for change?

I believe it has to begin by identifying and documenting the existing workflow, capturing each step, each process, each hand-off, each person, each repeated process, sneaker-net, unnecessary dubs, copies, etc.  Get it all..everything. It can be at an enterprise level or at a departmental level. Document and define your world....map it out. It may not be pretty but it will help to find the pain points.  Challenge yourself..how do you really do what you do? Who is involved? WHY? What are the timelines, obstacles, limitations, etc?

Next, gather and apply the known hard costs associated with all of the steps; labor, material costs, transportation, machine use, wear and tear, time and vendor costs, etc. Roll it all into an annual total.  This, at its most basic, is the number to beat in the ROI discussion, but wait there's more. Now lets explore the lost opportunity factor to this argument.  Don't kid yourself, doing nothing has real costs associated with it. Modest annual increases in basic costs (labor, supplies, vendors, etc)along with the liability of aging physical assets in almost obsolete formats will undermine the viability of your assets, you'll lose market share and new opportunities because you can't compete.

You've documented the workflow and captured the costs....lets put it all to good use. What are the obvious changes you can make (technology, process, cultural, etc) that can bring improvement and value back now? Do you really need to encode that tape 5 times? Can we do it once instead and manage the additional needs via transcodes and file delivery?  This is just one example of the types of things that will become apparent in this process.

The corporate-wide big picture view is important for overall planning but I believe with the info from this start managers, division leaders, and business owners, can identify and execute small achievable projects that can bring significant value to the overall process at relatively low cost and move the entire group closer toward a optimized digital workflow.  Simple things can start the process, help build momentum for larger charge and build a portfolio of successful changes that brings greater credibility to the bigger ROI discussion. 

You have to start somewhere.

"DAM isn't a system...it's an Eco-system."

That comment made by Marjorie Cromb of TVO Toronto really sums up the DAM reality.

Back from the DAM briefing in Toronto last Friday. My presentation seemed to be well received though I was going quickly through the material.  I got asked a couple of excellent questions from the group as I wrapped things up (always a good sign…and being in the slot right after the first coffee break mid-morning definitely helps) and had the chance after to get into some really interesting discussions with others one on one.  

Overall, the session was intimate and informative group that featured speakers from a wide range of industries all challenged with managing and delivering diverse digital assets in a variety of medias to users… be it B2B, consumers, the public or parishioners.  

 

The day started with an outline of the day’s events by the conference chairperson; Linda Burman of LA Burman & Associates. Each subsequent presentation drilled deeper and deeper into the details of the process.  Bob Schaffel, Director, Content Services with IATA (Int’l Air Transport Assoc.) and a fellow ex-NY’er began with a talk on identifying the ROI opportunities and building a viable business case for pursuing a DAM implementation.  After Bob, there was an entertaining presentation from Jarrod Gingras of CMS Watch.  CMS Watch is basically a “Consumer Reports” of the DAM world. They offer independent reports on all of the players in the DAM space and outline in detail their respective strengths, weaknesses, features and support, etc.  His talk outlined some good basics on budgeting, how to vet through the different tools and vendors and offered sound advice like watching out for hidden costs on top of the tech build.

 

After the aforementioned coffee break it was my turn…my session went broadly over the Planning for DAM, Content Strategy, Resource Management and Operations, and creating a Metadata Strategy.   I touched on a lot of issues but the overarching theme was to understand the business needs, listen to the end users, understand the workflows, and collaborate on solutions.  Simple stuff, but it can get lost in the sauce of the tech build and the workplace group dynamics. 

After lunch, Lindsay Rosenberg gave an fascinating presentation on the city of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program, its roots, mandate and the challenges of how a non-technical, non-profit deals with the challenges of a DAM for their assets.  Following that, Roger Roy from Canada's House of Commons ave an overview on his world and the challenges of broadcasting, webcasting and podcasting thousands of hours of government content to the public.   

The afternoon continued with Jim Sippel from Willow Creek doing an overview of how the Mega-church installed a DAM solution to manage their assets and the multi media environments they support for the mega-congregation.  His presentation began with the question, “Can DAM be said in church?” and by the last slide of his powerpoint it was clear that the answer was YES.  

 

The day concluded with a panel with some of the days presenters.  They had a lively discussion and Q&A about the state of DAM, the workflows, business cultures and ROI challenges that are par for the course in a DAM implementation.

All in all it was a good trip, lots of good information, good people and good exchanges of information and ideas.  Next session is New York in June.