Catalogue and search your content more effectively? P. 2

This week we finish discussing how to catalogue and search for content more easily. We’ll be discussing some of the features promoted by various providers who provide basic catalogue and search functionality. We’ll also determine how practically useful they are likely to be.

We’ll also highlight how the Woodland Trust now uses some of those technologies to manage it’s content. We have been very pleased to help the Trust to catalogue and search more easily. They have had a DAM system with us for over 5 years. 

What are the trends and technologies? 

We are very aware of the current and potential trends and technologies available by other digital solution providers. This can be a mine field for those actively seeking a new system solution. Firstly we advise disseminating the flashy marketing and geeky terms bandied about from provider to provider. You will come to find that numerous providers offer very similar tagging/search technology. 

Many promote what is referred to as ‘advanced search’ and ‘boolean search’ technology. Coupled with good training within organizations most providers will be able to offer organisations a DAM with basic functionality. This is achieved by good use of tagging and metadata which does deliver modest improvements for users in terms of search times for users. And for some organisations this improvement is a satisfactory and vast improvement on their current ways of working. 

There is still room for DAM related improvements

Despite the progress thus far made with DAM development, there is still significant improvements that can be made. Many system providers on the market today can still improve what they offer. It is staggering what professionals could achieve if they had just some of the latest innovations out there.  The TNW back in 2015 finding that they could save up to 76% of the time they currently spend finding assets. 

Furthermore most correspondents believed that between 25-50+% of assets are underutilized or never used. However, a  better DAM system would ensure content is far better utilized by stakeholders. Moreover, in the digital age, marketers now need to create much larger volumes of personalized. Add in smart phone/device and multi-formatted content. Post-DAM 97% of DAM using correspondents reported a reduced cost for creating assets of 10% or more.

Some are and some aren’t experiencing these technology benefits

We are pleased to say that some companies enjoying more than just these modest improvements and ROI. Those with DAM systems that contain the right category tree, the nodes and the personalized language contained in the tool itself. Some aren’t as you’ll hopefully now have realized the untapped potential many systems are not yet pursuing. Advanced search by whatever name is but a window dressing, a dilapidated 30’s bi-plane when compared to current jet fighters. With our innovations in facetted tagging/searching you can take advantage of the next generation DAM solution.

Woodland Trust – Now Conserving effort Cataloguing/Searching content

The Woodland Trust, ‘the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity’ had difficulty cataloguing and searching for content. It has over 250K members and volunteers involved in the organisation. As such,the team has numerous live projects and handles large volumes of marketing content. Their database contained hundreds of thousands of images that needed managing and accessing on a regular basis.

Many colleagues were frustrated by the length of time it took to find the images they were looking for. In most cases, they weren’t getting the right images or none. This process was taking up a lot of their valuable time that was a drain on their resources.

A better media library was delivered for the Trust

We created for The Woodland Trust a new Media Library. In the 5 years since it has proven vital to supporting the way the Charity manages and searches for their Digital Assets. “I’d just like to say what a fantastic job you have done in creating the new media library. The interface and ease of use is just amazing. Now it can be accessed remotely is just a dream come true. Well done!” Colin Wood Freelance Designer at Grapefruit Creative.

Want to discuss these technologies and other innovations which might help you and your team? Want to save time or implement improvements to your existing systems. Feel free to get in touch, or read more on our innovations page.