“Others got a headache just thinking about meta data, I saw potential for streamlining tasks”

Can you share with us your journey into the world of Digital Asset Management (DAM) and what inspired you to specialize in DAM within the retail sector?

"My DAM enthusiasm awoke around 10 years ago, when I was still working in Marketing. I had a natural “thing” for streamlining our ways of working, as well as organizing and renaming all the assets we were using in our Marketing campaigns."

"As the processes were very time consuming and manual, I got super excited when I was initially introduced to my first DAM system adoption! Where other people felt a headache coming up adding metadata, I saw great potential for streamlining and automating redundant tasks. A couple of years later, I found myself passionately driving a DAM implementation project at my then new employer, while finalizing my Master’s Thesis on the subject simultaneously. I was hooked."

Can you share which topics we’ll be able to read about in your guest articles on the WoodWing blog?

"As I have plenty of experience with DAM in retail, I'll be covering different aspects of utilizing DAM in the retail sector. These include topics such as ”Selecting the right DAM system for retail needs”, “Understanding Metadata & Taxonomy in organizing digital retail assets”, and “Agile methodologies in DAM implementation”. Additionally, I'll delve into the crucial role of DAM integrations, highlighting how they can really help your DAM solution to become a core component of the business’s technology ecosystem."

What are the most common challenges retailers face when selecting a DAM system, and how do you propose they navigate these challenges?

"Some commonalities might be difficulties with recognizing all the business processes and requirements involved, getting leadership buy-in (and budget), finding the right solution provider, or just simply getting different business units aligned, with centralization of the company’s digital assets and unification of processes."

"It’s usually very much possible to overcome these questions or challenges, but many times it might require a lot of time, effort and internal discovery phases and communications to get it done. Often it might be a good investment to find someone within the organization, who is passionate about driving the DAM endeavor – or even to get outside help to support in making it all come together."

In light of the challenges retailers face in choosing a DAM system, what are the emerging trends in DAM technology that you believe can address these challenges, and can you provide a glimpse into your approach?

"There are countless possibilities in DAM development these days, with all the advancements in technology in recent years! The rise of API architecture made integrations much easier to handle, made exchanging data between systems more real time - as well as automates your DAM processes very efficiently. Be it acquiring, managing or distributing assets - API’s are your friends!"

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) is another topic that we can’t miss, when talking about digital asset management. There are so many automation possibilities with AI & DAM, but some in which I personally see a lot of potential is image editing (eg. color corrections, and background removals), as well as vocabulary harmonization, or adding of metadata. These will help with making time-to-publish a workflow of seconds or minutes, rather than hours or days (which might be the case with a manual workflow)."

"It is important to make sure that your DAM solution will support these types of use cases and that the solution provider continuously will keep on improving the system in its technical maturity."

Considering the rapid pace of digital transformation in retail, what is your vision for the role of DAM in the future of retail, and how do you think retailers can best prepare to adopt these changes?

"Ten years ago, when I started exploring the DAM world, I could already see a lot of potential in streamlining processes like marketing, with the help of DAM. Back then it could be a tricky thing, to ge buy-in for a DAM investment “just to” get your assets and production processes in order."

"Today, DAM is so much more than “just a place where we store our assets”. More than ever before, DAM is now an integral part of any business that creates or utilizes a lot of digital content. By properly utilizing a DAM, a retail business can align and scale the creation and usage of digital assets, to basically serve assets to any touchpoint where customers (or even employees in their work) interact with the company. In a matter of minutes."