DAM: Building Utility into Media

Buy vs. Build

Many vendors claim that, despite the technicalities of DAM, the biggest competition comes not from other DAM companies, but from corporations intent upon building their own DAM systems from scratch."Probably our biggest obstacle is companies that think they can do this on their own," says Bill Foulkes, vice president of marketing at Context Media, a company that specializes in content management. "They can probably do part of it, with total cost of ownership of about $15 to 20 million to do it well and scale."

But Piesanen notes that currently available DAM systems have their origins in "home-built" DAM systems. "In the early days it was a viable choice to think you could build it yourself," he says. "It’s still an option, but it’s not a particularly wise one." Many person-years have already gone into these commercial, off-the-shelf solutions, he says. "That’s already been built — why recreate the wheel?"

However, it is a tall order for one solution to meet all of the diverse needs of the many companies with large media assets. For an example of an in-house created DAM system, see "Streetwise"

Check back on Thursday, December 6 for Part II of DAM: Building Utility Into Media.

MAM and DAM Evolve Into the Cloud, Going Beyond the Basics

Managing media assets is about far more than storing and finding clips, and cutting-edge MAM and DAM systems are moving to the cloud and taking on VR and 4K.

30 Sep 2017