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It seems like every year, leaps and bounds are made when it comes to how much information our computers and systems can handle. As the years pass, the numbers only get larger.
On the digital end of things, this year shows tremendous growth. The current digital universe will hold 44 zettabytes of data this year, according to the World Economic Forum. In more easy to visualize terms, that means the amount of bytes we have now is 40 times more “than there are stars in the observable universe.” This year alone, 306 billion emails are expected to be sent. Five years from now, experts predict 463 exabytes of data to be created every day. Companies schedule meetings one after another, and the routine is usually tough & wearisome.
The hardware we have in our machines can also handle larger and larger volumes of data. On the market currently are solid state drives that have a capacity of two terabytes. Even better, they are easy to install and let businesses store and handle even more files, whether they’re videos, images, or audio.
But these advancements can be a bane as much as they are a boon to companies. It’s quite easy to imagine a small business being overwhelmed by all of the data at their fingertips.
This is where digital asset management comes in.
Digital asset management is how companies and businesses access, control, and report all of these digital assets both internally and between them and their suppliers, partners, and customers. A good digital asset management system handles media files and their metadata, correctly delivers the content people are looking for, and even tracks and measures the engagement it gets.
Digital Asset Management and Productivity
When used smartly, digital asset management software can also improve a company’s productivity. In the list below, we outline just how it accomplishes that.
1. It makes collaboration easy between teams
Within a company, different departments work with different data and files. If there is no system in place, these different departments may come up with their own ways of organizing, sharing, and retrieving needed files. This makes it difficult when departments need to collaborate, as they may need to familiarize themselves with how the other department does things. Time spent familiarizing with processes could end up in delays and lower productivity.
One of the capabilities of digital asset management software is to provide users with a uniform way of accessing, searching, retrieving, tracking, and monitoring the contents and assets available. There are fewer delays and quicker turnaround, which translates to better productivity.
2. DAM makes it easy to sort, organize, and retrieve assets
Digital asset management software can do this for a number of file types and can also do it for just one specific kind. If a company specializes in images, they can avail of photo asset management software. With it, a company can come up with a digital photo library that can be organized, searched, shared, and administered from a single location. Rather than sifting through thousands of images for the right one, they can utilize the software’s keyword and metadata features to quickly find what they need. These frees up more time to work on other things, finish more tasks, and overall increase productivity.
3. It can easily integrate with other software
On its own, digital asset management software helps out a lot. They become even more useful when you pair them with other technologies. It wouldn’t be unusual for businesses to look at a list of free project management software solutions that they can pair up with the digital asset management software that they have.
Picking the right add-on to Google, for instance, can easily result in a well-executed marketing campaign. Companies can make it easier to switch between design, video, or photo files. Colleagues can be easily tagged so that revisions can be made on time and cause no delays. Media libraries can be easily equipped with geolocation, keywords, and tagging. All of these results in a smoother workflow that translates to a boost in team productivity. It also means deadlines are met, which ensures that customers have a favorable view of the company and make them want to continue working with them.
4. It makes it easier to ensure the latest file versions are being used
This is another benefit of easy integration with other programs and the cloud-based nature of digital asset management software. Rather than chasing down members of other teams to make sure that the files being worked on are the latest ones, all collaborators have to do is either update or refresh a network link. That way, there is very little interruption to the workflow and, therefore, little to no impact on a team’s productivity.
5. It frees up space on the hard drives of office computers
If a company works with a lot of media files, sooner or later the computers or laptops that they work with will fill up. Once these machines are near their full capacity, all other functions end up being bogged down, working much slower than before. This, in turn, starts a chain reaction. Slower machines mean slower output from workers. Slower output means lower productivity. Lower productivity means missed deadlines and an overall bad look on the company. With digital asset management software, these files can be saved in the cloud instead, freeing up space and ensuring that these machines work as quickly as they can.
6. It can grow with the company
The cloud-based nature of digital asset management software is also useful in another way — it makes it easier for it to be scaled up along with the company. It isn’t as difficult or as costly as activating additional server space. Downtime can be minimized as companies scale up, ensuring that business proceeds as usual and team productivity remains the same.
Improve Company Productivity with the Right Software
The amount of data and media files that businesses will be working with in the future is only going to get bigger and bigger, so businesses should really have systems and software in place to handle all of that, else they run the risk of being overwhelmed and see their productivity plummet because of it.
There are a number of this kind of software out there in the market that businesses can choose from. One software available is Pics.io. This software easily integrates with Google Drive and can serve as a centralized hub that holds audio, video, brand materials, creative files, photos, and a host of others. Since Pics.io works as a centralized hub teammates no longer have to spend too much time looking for the digital content they need. With Pics.io, comments can be easily exchanged and task assignments can be done with a minimum of fuss. Versioning, approvals, and a team’s entire workflow can be streamlined. Comments from teammates and customers can be easily viewed and resolved for quick turnaround. All these different aspects work together to increase a company’s productivity.
A company who uses digital asset management software like Pics.io will definitely start 2020 on the right foot, as it ensures that they continue being productive and effective in a constantly changing digital business environment.
Wanna know about other tools to streamline your workflow? Take a look at our posts Top 4 Tips to Make Your Teamwork More Effective, 7 Best File Management Tools in 2020, 9 Simple Ways to Boost Your Team's Productivity, and How to Manage Multiple Projects at the Same Time.
