What are Digital Assets? When does Content Become a Digital Asset?

The term “Digital Asset” has several definitions depending on its context. DigitalAssetManagementNews.com defines it as follows:

A simple definition of a digital asset is that it is a collection of binary data which is self-contained, uniquely identifiable and has a value.

What are Digital Assets?

Here are a few of most known:

• Photos
• Videos
• Audio files
• Presentations
• Graphics
• PDFs
• Spreadsheets
• Documents
• Design files
• 3D files

But there’s much more to that. By definition, an asset is anything tangible or intangible that can be owned or controlled, found, and used to produce value - the word “value” being the key here. When we talk about digital assets, we’re talking about any digital content or object (images, videos, documents, metadata, etc.) that can be used to produce value.

Theresa Regli, one of the most reknown DAM expert, insists on the value concept.

A digital asset corresponds to a media file or files that have an intrinsic or acquired value.

Why are Digital Assets Valuable?

Take a video for example. A video file by itself has no “value”. The real value is derived when an organization has the ability to find and use the video to generate revenue or achieve a specific business goal. Metadata, data and content security, workflows and actionable insights are all required for an organization to realize the full potential of that video file, thus transforming it into an asset.

Let’s consider a video streaming company that licenses movies from film studios. The company defines a “Movie” object as the original video file and everything that that enables the company to use the movie in their business processes. The Movie object includes:

• The original, full-size, HD 1080p video file
• Trailers and previews
• Movie posters and additional images
• Metadata about the movie, such as year released, actors, location, genre, ratings, etc.
• Usage rights for how long the company can use the movie, as well as the channels, devices, and geographies where the movie can be shown

To achieve strategic business goals and grow revenue, the company must use a highly scalable Digital Asset Management system that provides advanced media management capabilities, workflows, a flexible data model, and the ability to define any content object with an unlimited number of attributes and properties that can be used across business processes and integrated with other systems.

This is why DAM is important.

How to Make your Digital Assets Searchable

Taxonomy

Search is only the beginning. Assets are able to produce value when they are findable. A digital assets taxonomy is important because it provides a consistent language for users to find and reuse content. DAM users can navigate to assets by using optimized predefined categories, so they don’t have to search for content through ad-hoc tags, metadata or a traditional folder structure. Ultimately, the more streamlined your asset management process is, the less chance you have of losing assets, and the easier it will be for your employees to find creative assets and produce high-performance and high-level marketing campaigns.

Metadata

Advanced metadata for digital assets are also key to deliver value. With the DAM industry changing gears from being a ‘photo library’ to an enterprise system, any service that makes managing media files easier is giving a competitive advantage to its users.

Security

In addition to managing and distributing assets such as movies and images, the DAM application must also address user permissions and security for who can find, use, and modify content.

Performance

The application should automate the creation of various renditions to publish on multiple devices, and approval workflows for campaigns and downstream delivery. Insights into user activities and content actions are also critical to optimize the user experience and application performance.

Benefits of DAM

A streamlined DAM solution offers many advantages to modern organizations and product companies. Some of the main benefits of Digital Asset Management solutions are:

• Greater visibility of creative assets
• Less manual admin
• Streamlined collaboration
• Faster time-to-market
• Enhanced security
• Better brand consistency

Using the right DAM application allows organizations to produce value from any asset. If an organization can identify when an asset can be shown, to which audience, at which times, and on which devices, all while providing an optimized user experience, then the organization can achieve their strategic business goals.

Learn how Nuxeo helps organizations realize the full value of your content.Request a custom demo today!