What is a DAM system? : Cartlann

What is a DAM system and how can it help me?

Let’s start with the basics.

In this video our founder, Kelly McLees, describes what digital assets are, what a DAM system is, and how you know if you need one.

What is a DAM System?

A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is a software solution that helps your team organize, locate, and share digital assets.

These are systems that comprise not only existing digital assets like photos and videos, but also contain digitized versions of legacy media like prints, slides, negatives, and image-related documents.

What are digital assets?

Images like photos, illustrations, and graphics

Videos like shorts, animations, and gifs

Audio recordings like interviews, podcasts, and music

Image-related text files like pdfs, Excel files, and Word documents

Presentations like slideshows, pitch decks, and PowerPoints

Brand assets like logos, social media graphics, and ad creative

How can a DAM help my organization?

A DAM system isn’t just a collection of storage folders.
It is a powerful tool that organizes assets intuitively for easy retrieval and sharing and allows you to:

1

Quickly access the most impactful images

2

Keep all teams speaking with one voice

3

Track versions and usage rights

4

Control what you share and who you share it with

5

Streamline photo review and selection processes

6

Search the way you think with custom tags

7

Easily export image versions for social media and other uses

8

Integrate the library with applications you already use

9

Preserve historical images to use at special milestones

What about ROI?

A DAM is a must-have at a time when your teams are being asked to do much more with much less, due to budget cuts, strained staff capacity, and turnover.

Here’s a quick calculation of how much time and money a DAM can save each year.