Defining Enterprise Digital Asset Management

Let's begin by clarifying what we mean by enterprise digital asset management. But first we should define what we mean by a digital asset.

A digital asset is an asset that exists only as a numeric encoding expressed in binary form. Or, to be slightly less abstract, as computer storage files. Images, music, video and computer software distributions are all examples of digital assets. It is important to note that, in enterprise Digital Asset Management, we are only concerned with managing the finished product, the asset. Works in progress are better managed by domain-specific management solutions. Enterprise digital asset management is about gaining maximum value from these valuable resources, with the key aims being to:

• Maintain a record of ownership and location of digital assets;
• Protect the economic value of digital assets and rights;
• Maximize the future benefit of digital assets and rights.

Digital asset management infrastructure should be distinct and complimentary to related systems, such as web content management, document management and publishing systems. Integration between systems can, in many cases, optimize the value of an Enterprise Digital Asset Management solution.

Is this something that you should be considering for your organization? The answer to that question is certainly yes, if your organization:

• Cannot say for certain that it is not paying a number of times for the rights to use a particular asset;
• Does not know if it is breaking license agreements by using assets in ways that it does not have the right to;
• Does not know if its own assets are being used by others without agreement/payment;
• Does not keep track of where particular assets are stored;
• Is not able to easily find digital assets that it owns or has rights to in order to re-use them;
• Does not know how much it is costing to store and manage the same assets many times in different places;
• May lose valuable digital assets in the event of a major systems failure.

If any of these statements apply to your organization, then you should consider whether there is a business case for Enterprise Digital Asset Management through a Digital Asset Management strategic review process.