Assets are things that a company owns that have value. There are two types of assets: tangible assets and intangible assets.
Tangible assets are things you can touch, like computers and furniture. Intangible assets are things you can’t touch, like software and ideas
IT or Digital Asset Management refers to the management of a company’s technological assets. This includes computers, software, and other technology-related equipment.
Using IT asset management software and good practices, a business can ensure that its technology is current and functioning correctly. This can help them save money and maximize the value of their technology assets.
Also, IT asset management helps businesses maintain track of their technological equipment, allowing them to determine what they have and what they require.
Using software for IT asset management, businesses can effortlessly manage their technology assets and transform them into “gold.”
What is IT or digital asset management (DAM)?
An IT or digital asset management solution is a software and system solution that systematically stores, organises, manages, retrieves, and distributes the digital assets of an organisation.
Digital Asset Management (DAM) is both a business process and a type of information management technology, also known as a digital asset management system. Organisations can establish a centralised location from which to access their media assets with the aid of DAM functionality.
The digital asset is essential to the DAM procedure. It is any file type of value that is possessed by an organisation or an individual, is available in a digital format, is searchable via metadata, and includes access and usage rights.
Digital assets include, but are not limited to, images, audio content, media files, graphics, videos, animations, presentations, and documents.
Why is Digital Asset Management important?
By establishing a centralised digital asset management system, a DAM solution streamlines asset management and optimises the production of rich media, particularly within the sales and marketing departments.
It enables brand consistency via automated asset updates and reinforcement of brand guidelines, providing a single source of truth for businesses and a more consistent user experience for external audiences.
Modern digital content management teams and marketers rely on DAM to repurpose content, thereby reducing superfluous production costs and redundant workstreams with its invaluable search capabilities.
Due to the high visibility of brand assets and marketing assets through digital channels, such as social media, it is crucial for brands to maintain consistency in imagery and messaging in order to establish brand authority and promote business growth.
As a result, it should come as no surprise that digital asset management platforms are becoming essential elements of digital transformation initiatives.
Benefits of IT or Digital Asset Management (DAM)
Top 6 benefits of digital asset management (DAM) for your business:
1. Effectively monitor all digital assets
One of the most challenging aspects of managing a business is keeping track of all digital assets, including documents, images, sounds, and videos, among others.
With effective digital asset management, it is simple to manage all of these assets from a central location.
This will save you time and effort because many of your duties can be automated in real-time.
2. Repurpose your most successful content to save time and precious resources.
DAM systems can extend the value of assets through reuse and repurposing by providing a comprehensive view of available content.
Adapting existing copy, imagery, video, or other creative content for another use involves reimagining content for new purposes, not just repurposing it.
By building on existing assets, teams can save time, money, and resources while giving past initiatives new life if they have easy access to both historical and current content.
3. Ensure brand consistency by aligning creators and communicators with brand guidelines and content.
DAM solutions ensure that all team members utilise the same, brand-compliant files. By directing everyone to a centralised content repository with straightforward search capabilities, marketers can eliminate the use of obsolete or low-quality file versions.
This consistent use of the appropriate content ensures brand messaging cohesion across all consumer touchpoints.
4. Facilitated Collaboration
One of the many benefits of Digital Asset Management (DAM) is the ability to speed up employee collaboration. Working on digital assets as a group can be an effective way to complete tasks, as multiple people can contribute at different times.
This can be useful if you have a big project and want to divide the workload, or if you need people with different skills.
5. Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Content
Many DAM systems include analytics tools that track who uses which assets, when, where, and how.
This information can be used to improve the system and make important content strategy decisions. By using data to guide content strategy, teams can identify opportunities to reuse their most successful content, saving time and resources.
6. Consolidate Redundant Tools
When organizations centralize their content, they often find that they have multiple tools that do the same thing across different teams and departments.
This not only wastes money, but also increases the chance of inconsistent assets and data. Consolidating these tools saves money, makes content management easier, and helps maintain brand consistency.
Digital Asset Management Best Practices
By following simple DAM best practices, businesses can cut costs, keep their technology up-to-date, and make sure everything runs smoothly.
These best practices will help keep track of all technology assets, make sure they are used correctly, and update and replace them as needed. Companies that follow these best practices can get the most value out of their technology assets.
Choose the Right ITAM Software
IT asset management is not easy, as it involves many processes, from cataloging IT assets to eventually disposing of them. In the past, this was done by hand, but it has become too time-consuming and nearly impossible to manage with spreadsheets.
An IT asset management software will help organize the hardware and software inventory in one place and have other useful features like batch vendor import and contract management.
Make sure the ITAM software you choose has all the features and scalability your organization needs.
Manage It Assets Throughout Their Lifecycle
IT assets have a lifecycle and become less valuable over time. Managing these assets throughout their lifecycle is crucial. Using a lifecycle approach will help your organization monitor how assets are used and their value.
This also helps determine when new assets are needed and when old ones need to be disposed of.
Use Automation When Possible
Automation can greatly improve the efficiency of the ITAM process. Tasks such as application deployment and reporting can be automated to reduce manual labour.
Service centres are constantly implementing new automation techniques to improve efficiency and accuracy.
Align Asset Management with the ITIL Framework
IT asset management cannot work alone; it must be aligned with other processes to be effective. An integrated service desk will give you a complete view of assets and a deeper understanding of issues, incidents, and changes that may affect them.
Aligning everything reduces business risks such as security and compliance.
Determine if a CMDB (Configuration Management Database) is Necessary
The bigger the organization, the more important it is to have a database of all the hardware and software assets currently in use. A CMDB can be useful for smaller organizations with plans to grow.
It can bring together information from multiple sources. In this case, the CMDB will have a list of all hardware and software, as well as the services they support.
Related: What Is CMDB (Configuration Management Database)?
In Summary
IT asset management is a crucial component of any organization’s technology strategy. Companies can reduce costs, make the most of their technology, and keep everything operating smoothly by maintaining their technology assets.
Using an IT asset management software and adhering to best practices, businesses can readily transform their technology assets into “gold.”
This will fuel their continued growth and success in today’s fast-paced technological world. Therefore, for companies looking to maximise the value of their technology assets, it is highly recommended to incorporate IT asset management into the organization’s strategy.
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