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We recently wrapped up a poll exploring our readership's Digital Asset Management challenges. The question was: What's your biggest Digital Asset Management challenge? The top response? Usability. Are you surprised?
We discussed the poll results with a few DAM specialists, including CMS Watch analyst Theresa Regli. Here are the highlights and take-aways.
First the Poll Results
Our DAM poll brought in 477 votes, here's how they stacked up:
CMSWire Poll Results: Digital Asset Management Challenges
The results were actually very close, but usability of the system took a slight lead with Taxonomy/Meta Data development close behind.
We asked four people in the DAM industry their thoughts on the poll results, they are:
- Theresa Regli, Principal, CMS Watch
- Seth Earley, President, Earley & Associates
- Jeremy Wilker, founder, TWEAK Digital
- Stephanie Lemieux, Taxonomy Practice Lead, Earley & Associates
How Complicated Can Storing Digital Assets Be?
Now maybe you are sitting back asking just how complicated can a digital asset management system be to use. All you are doing is storing assets like images, videos, audio, etc. Tag'em and let people do searches. That's not complicated is it?
Well, it really isn't quite that straightforward as our experts tell us. And for the most part, they aren't surprised that usability topped the list of challenges. As Seth Earley told us:
Digital assets (images, photos, etc) are notoriously difficult to tag and if they are not tagged then there really isn’t any way to access them. So for DAM, poor tagging = poor findability = poor usability.
Stephanie Lemieux said that this is a top concern with many of her clients who are going through tool selection and customization projects. Along with a lot of really good functionality, many DAM solutions have issues related to complex interfaces, multi-step processes and alignment with current work processes.
Theresa Regli, agrees saying that usability is partly an issue because organizations tend to make product selection based on functionality and don't always test the tools to see how usable they are.
You need to really USE a tool before you can say it's usable - looks aren't everything. Sometimes when I work with product selection teams the best-looking tool ends up losing out after hands-on testing because it's just not as functionally useful as another tool.
Jeremy Wilker isn't quite as convinced usability is as big an issue though. He believes the results may have been different if user responses were separated between "current users" and "potential users".
In my experiences, the usability of the system isn't so much the user interface (most users seem fairly comfortable after a day or two) but the workflows they have already established and trying to fit the DAM into these long-standing processes.
According to Regli, who authors the CMS Watch The Digital & Media Asset Management Report,
Most of the 20+ DAM vendors we evaluate have debuted new interfaces in the last six months, or are about to debut new interfaces. So the usability challenge may well be on the way to being better met. The user needs tend to evolve and change more quickly than software vendors can improve their products, however.
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