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Why WoodWing Solutions

Content Creation

icon-woodwing-content-creation

Content Creation

Collaborate and create high-quality channel-neutral content

icon-woodwing-dam

Digital Asset Management

Manage and distribute digital assets for streamlined content

icon-woodwing-multichannel-publishing

Multichannel Publishing

Maximize reach with seamless multi-channel content publishing

icon-woodwing-content-orchestration

Content Orchestration

Managing content at scale has never been easier or more profitable


Content Management

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Document Management

Centralize and control your documents, ensuring secure access

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Information Management

Become more agile, reduce risks and benefit from available data

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Knowledge Management

Bring knowledge and people together to work on quality

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Process Management

Describe and organize processes and make them accessible to everyone

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Quality Management

Collectively ensure that you do the right things in the right way

icon-woodwing-risk-management

Risk Management

Gain insight and control over every aspect of risk management.


Content Services

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AI Governance

Develop and distribute your own AI policies and stay compliant

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Creative Workflow Services

Unleash creative potential with tailored support from experts

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Digital Publishing Services

Enhance digital publishing strategy with expert services

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App Integrations

Integrate WoodWing seamlessly into your existing tech stack

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WoodWing Cloud

Experience stress-free hosting, software maintenance, and more


FEATURED CONTENT PIECE

Der Spiegel

How one of Germany’s largest news publications increased editorial and production workflow efficiency using WoodWing’s publishing software.

Read this case
Products

Take charge of your content

WoodWing Studio

Streamlined content creation and multichannel publishing solution

WoodWing Studio

Collaborative content creation and multichannel publishing solution that simplifies workflows and streamlines production processes.

Assets Logo (base)

Enterprise-grade digital asset management for streamlined workflows

WoodWing Assets

Enterprise-grade digital asset management solution that streamlines your creative workflow and simplifies collaboration among team members.

WoodWing Swivle

Cloud-based DAM for seamless file management and collaboration

WoodWing Swivle

Cloud-based DAM solution for managing, sharing, and collaborating on digital files from anywhere and on any device.

WoodWing Scienta

Software to collaborate on quality and have control over and maximize the benefits of the knowledge present in your organization.

WoodWing Scienta

Quality management platform for regulated industries that simplifies compliance, knowledge sharing, and collaboration.

WoodWing Xtendis

Secure digital archiving and document management system

WoodWing Xtendis

Digital archiving and document management system that allows organizations to store, manage, and access their digital assets securely.

Connect Logo (base)

Powerful integration suite for seamless connectivity and automation

WoodWing Connect

Powerful integration suite, including APIs, webhooks, plugins, and the best-in-class iPaaS solution (powered by Workato).

WoodWing Smart Styles

Efficient plugin for enhanced Adobe InDesign design workflows

WoodWing Smart Styles

Plugin for Adobe InDesign that streamlines design workflows by allowing designers to apply predefined styles quickly.

Industries

We know your challenges

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Agencies

Optimized workflow, improved collaboration, and brand consistency

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Finance

Modern document and quality management helps you manage risks and improve processes

icon-woodwing-franchise

Franchise

Ensure unity with document, quality, and knowledge management

icon-woodwing-healthcare

Healthcare

Always access the latest version of each process, protocol, guideline, or agreement

icon-logo-woodwing-housing-corporations

Housing Corporations

Document management from context, always up-to-date, complete and accurate documents

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Manufacturing

Consistent branding, accelerated launches, and integrated content management

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Publishing

Efficient content creation, collaboration, and multichannel publishing

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Retail & eCommerce

Streamlined catalog and marketing content production for faster time-to-market

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Trade & Logistics

Increase efficiency with process, document, and quality management

Featured content piece

Bavaria

How Bavaria significantly improved its global brand management.

Read this case
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Latest articles

Innovation, Insights, and Community come together at WoodWing Uncovered APAC

Innovation, Insights, and Community come together at WoodWing Uncovered APAC

What is quality management? And how do you approach it?

What is quality management? And how do you approach it?

Beyond theory: effective risk management in practice

Beyond theory: effective risk management in practice

View all blog articles

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Medium Rare

How Content Agency Medium Rare delivers better client experiences and outcomes with WoodWing.

Read this case
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Home Inspiration Blog | WoodWing

Digital Asset Management

5 minutes of reading

Cloud storage vs DAM: what’s best for in-house marketing teams?

Cloud storage is often lauded as the pinnacle of online access and collaboration. However, for creative industries and marketing teams, simply storing files on the cloud isn’t enough.

Shape

If your team relies on high-quality, on-brand assets to deliver competitive advantage – but you’re using cloud storage to manage them – your systems are almost certainly holding you back. Cloud-based DAM provides a more agile and intuitive way to store, organize, and access digital assets – maximizing ROI, reducing time to market, and improving brand throughout your business.

What’s the problem with cloud storage?

Clumsy cloud storage and poor asset organization causes bottlenecks, redundancies and risk to your business. Not to mention reducing your time to deliver core objectives and increasing your time to market. Whereas cloud-based DAM can streamline processes across your entire organization.

Take asset requests, for example. As in-house marketers, you’re stretched in every direction – developing digital campaigns, assessing analytics, producing publications, smashing it on social… You could do with twice the team and double the budget.

So endless asset requests are the last thing you need. But with your company’s current cloud storage system – like SharePoint, OneDrive or Google Drive – you get a lot of them. The CEO wants photos for his PowerPoint, the sales manager can’t find the latest logo, the PR team needs visuals to send to the press... and you’re their go-to person.

You haven’t really got time to help. But you know that – if you don’t - there’s a risk of colleagues using out-of-date, copyrighted or poor-quality assets that damage your business brand. There’s nothing worse than discovering a colleague has created a DIY brochure using Microsoft Publisher and grainy clipart they found online.

 As digital assets multiply – and we’re increasingly working remotely – you need a more effective way to store, distribute and provide access to your brand assets. One that gives everyone in the organization effortless self-service access to the latest files, without needing to come through you at all. You need a cloud-based DAM.

What is a cloud-based DAM?

A cloud-based DAM is somewhere you can keep all of your organization’s assets online – usually specifically tailored for visual assets like images, logos, video and artwork. Unlike cloud storage, it’s more than just a collection of folders for keeping files safe online. It’s designed to maximize the ROI of your assets by making them easily accessible to others. Users are never more than three clicks away from finding an asset, via an intuitive interface that allows for browsing or searching on a wide-range of features.

What is cloud storage?

Cloud storage is also an online platform for storing and organizing files. It lets you store files securely on the cloud and grant permission for colleagues to access them. However, it isn’t built with discoverability in mind, which means it is more labor-intensive to access files. Plus, it isn’t built specifically for visual assets, so doesn’t have the same functionality to add meaningful metadata or allow advanced search.  

Why is a cloud-based DAM better than cloud storage for in-house marketing teams?

1.  Discoverability and access

The fundamental difference between cloud storage and a cloud-based DAM is ease of access. DAM makes it easy for anyone in your organization to access up-to-date, on-brand assets for use in their materials. Whereas cloud storage requires files to be actively shared between colleagues or discovered through different folder structures.

A cloud-based DAM starts with the assumption that all uploaded assets are shared and people need to be able to find them. By making all of your assets readily available across the organization, you benefit from:

  • Improved brand control and consistency
  • Better ROI by making assets re-usable
  • Reduced servicing of support requests
  • More time to deliver creative work 

What makes assets so easy to find in a cloud-based DAM?

The foundation of findability is metadata. This is the information that gets attached to a file to make it discoverable through search. In cloud storage, metadata is usually the bare minimum – file name, date and some technical information that no-one understands.

In a cloud-based DAM, you can have detailed, bespoke metadata to help users find files. This might be metadata you add yourself, like which department commissioned a photo shoot or which campaign artwork belongs to. Or it could be added automatically by AI, such as the subject, colors or even emotions conveyed by an image.

This means that the CEO can search for ‘product launch 2021’ and the PR manager can search for ‘smiling staff’ and still discover the same image for their needs, without having to navigate complicated file paths or request access from a colleague.

DAM users can also find assets by browsing through curated collections that make it each to discover suitable assets, even if they don’t have anything specific in mind to search for. Not only that but – unlike cloud storage that simply serves up a file ‘as is’ – a DAM can automatically resize or convert file types for different uses. This means the CEO can choose to download a reduced resolution RGB file that won’t slow down his PowerPoint, whilst the PR Manager can access a high-quality CMYK print-resolution image for the press.

 2.  Increased control

Although improved access is a key tenet of cloud-based DAM, it doesn’t mean your assets are now a free-for-all. You’re still able to protect assets that you don’t want everyone to use – such as embargoed images or commercially sensitive artwork – by setting up permissions. These can range from broad categories for whole teams, to granular access permissions for individual files or folders.

3.  Version control

A cloud-based DAM lets you embed assets across multiple channels by easily integrating with other software in your stack. This means that you can update a master asset and see those changes applied immediately across all digital uses. You can also easily see which assets are the most up-to-date version with built-in version control and audit trails.

A cloud-based Digital Asset Management solution could be beneficial for large teams because it offers the possibility to collaborate and increase team productivity

 4.  Sharing options

You can easily share assets internally or externally with a cloud-based DAM. No more copying-and-pasting a file path or waiting to transfer big files via a third-party site. Simply create a folder in your DAM and send your colleague a link so they can immediately access the contents.

5.  Collaboration

Whilst some cloud storage offers the opportunity to collaborate on documents within their platform, cloud-based DAM can take things further. Seamless integration with Adobe Creative Suite and productivity tools means DAM is more than just ‘storage’, it’s also a creative hub for all your content creation. 

6.  Analytics

Marketers know measurement is key to maximizing ROI. But you can’t measure much with cloud storage. Whereas, with cloud-based DAM, you can analyze downloads and see where assets are used. This builds a picture of what assets work best and where to prioritize future budget.

7.  Reusing images, designs, and content

Designers and writers frequently repurchase or recreate assets that closely resemble ones that already exist in some shape or form, but are hidden away in different locations. Having one centralized place to access and find all your assets promotes content reuse, which in turn reduces the need to purchase new images and recreate assets, leading to significant cost savings. 

If you’d like to explore WoodWing’s intuitive cloud-based DAM, WoodWing Swivle, contact team@swivle.com 

Shape

Published on January 14, 2022

Magdalena Ivanova

Magdalena is a digital marketer and tech enthusiast with multiple marketing disciplines under her belt. Her articles cover various topics, including all things marketing, digital asset management, interviews, and opinions.

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