“Sustainable business” is a phrase we hear more and more often in corporate circles, and it’s no coincidence. Many companies are adopting growth practices that demonstrate social and environmental responsibility.
With growing concerns about environmental issues, like climate change and pollution, sustainability has become a key consideration. In this context, Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a fundamental tool that helps businesses operate more sustainably.
How Does DAM Contribute to Sustainability?
In a nutshell, DAM refers to the storage and management of all digital media assets for a business in one place. These assets might include images, documents, videos, audio files, logos, fonts, and more.
There is hardly a company in the world that does not have digital resources. With this comes the need to organize and centralize this entire volume of information. This is where DAM comes to the rescue.
If you aim to achieve and maintain sustainability, using DAM is your best bet. Here’s why.
Reducing Paper Waste
From documents, invoices, and references to notes to unnecessarily printed sheets, the amount of paper that is used for business purposes daily can be extremely large. DAM does three main things to put printing and storing actual documents out of the picture:
- Digitizing in-house brand assets
- Adopting electronic document use
- Implementing cloud storage solutions
We all know where paper comes from. Deforestation is one of the biggest issues of our time. 24 trees equal one ton of paper. And did you know that around 10 liters of water are used for the production of a single A4 sheet?
It's apparent that digitizing every aspect of a business is both necessary and desirable.
Streamlining Workflows
At first glance, DAM seems to be mostly favorable for the environment, while in fact, it's highly beneficial to businesses of all sizes, too. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
Using a DAM system can help you reduce manual labor through automation and artificial intelligence (AI). This saves a substantial amount of time and money.
What’s more, DAM platforms are usually cloud-based, which brings you closer to reaching your sustainability goals.
- They don’t consume much energy compared to other types of servers while offering optimal performance.
- Hardware and software purchases are no longer needed. The same goes for maintenance and upgrade costs. All of this reduces energy consumption.
- Cloud-based DAM solutions are characterized by scalability, meaning that companies can adjust them to their changing needs, minimizing waste.
Furthermore, noteworthy is the fact that most employees find it encouraging and motivating when a company adopts sustainable practices. This is particularly true for Gen-Zs and millennials, who are very conscious of preserving the environment.
Enabling Remote Work
Remote work is both the present and the future. The flexibility that comes with it is a core value for many working people today.
However, the lack of human interaction poses some challenges, such as miscommunication. Take, for example, the time zone difference between multinational teams. Instead of having a long gap of time between asking a question and answering it, one can simply look at DAM. Providing simultaneous access to important files for everyone involved facilitates collaboration in remote settings.
Transport emissions from commuting are significant contributors to climate change. Office spaces require a significant amount of electricity to power office equipment, lighting, and other infrastructure.
Remote work eliminates or reduces the need for such energy-intensive resources, resulting in lower energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
By encouraging the use of digital tools and technology for collaboration, documentation, and communication, remote work also lessens the demand for paper and other physical resources and, consequently, waste.
Centralizing Digital Assets
DAM systems let you logically classify and arrange your materials so that you can quickly locate the ones you need. These systems are equipped with strong security measures, such as encryption, watermarking, and access control. There’s a high level of protection for digital assets against data breaches and leaks, as well as unwanted access.
The version-control features of DAMs allow team members to manage the different file versions, spotting edits and backing up to previous versions. DAMs simplify the process of finding specific versions of files by categorizing and tagging them. As a result, manual searches are reduced, and duplicate files are less likely to occur. Even if there are duplicate files, the system will detect them in a matter of seconds.
Promoting Sustainable Branding
First, let’s make it clear what brand identity is. It’s everything that can be associated with a brand, such as a logo, slogan, colors, font, website, style, communication, emotion, and many others.
Using DAM helps maintain brand consistency across all digital and print materials because everything they keep can be easily utilized. This reduces waste and inefficiency.
Consistent branding makes customers see the brand as serious and trustworthy, which increases the chance of customer renewal.
Moreover, when a brand builds a good image and is recognizable, employees feel better about working for it. When they believe in the company's goals and mission, they are more dedicated to their jobs.
Integrating With Sustainability Tools
The best thing about today's technologies is that they can be integrated and act as a whole, without interruptions. This significantly optimizes workflow, reducing the need for manual data entry. DAM is no exception.
The list of DAM integrations is extensive, however, we’ll narrow it down to three main ones:
- Product Information Management (PIM)
When DAM and PIM work together, all digital assets and product information are in total sync. No need for additional data entry, and it enhances the customer experience.
- Marketing automation tools
Such integrations can enhance your content marketing efforts, making the content creation and distribution processes more streamlined. No more endless downloads and uploads.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
If you integrate your DAM with your CRM, it will become easier to provide your customers with relevant information all the time. You’ll be able to easily insert any of your digital assets into omnichannel marketing campaigns, for example.
Conclusion
Sustainability is not just a fancy word thrown around. It’s the new way to do business, and it’s here to stay. Sustainable businesses are more attractive to both customers and investors in the long run.
One of the key steps to embracing sustainability is using a DAM system. Thanks to it, you can finally say goodbye to paper records and documents. You’ll have all your important files neatly arranged in a digital library, making them accessible to every single person who needs them. The possibility to integrate DAM with other tools and platforms only multiplies its undeniable benefits.
Are you curious how DAM can support your sustainable development? Adopt a DAM system and witness its advantages firsthand.
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is a skilled SEO expert who is dedicated to helping businesses thrive. He is the esteemed founder of InBound Blogging, where his expertise lies in search engine optimization and crafting effective content strategies. Throughout his career he has had the pleasure of collaborating with a wide range of companies regardless of their scale and has consistently aided them in accomplishing their objectives online. During his leisure time. He finds joy in engaging in football matches and dance routines.
