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Future Proof Your DAM
Henry Stewart New York May 2, 2013
John Florance
Arsalan Siddiqui
Future Proofing
WHAT is Future Proofing?
Future Proofing is about anticipating disruption to your DAM strategy and formulating a plan of actions for those occasions.
WHY do it?
• Provides security while stabilizing the DAM methodology
• Why NOT?
Future Proofing
WHEN should it be done?
• ALWAYS ... throughout the lifecycle of the assets
WHERE does it apply
• Everywhere assets are managed
Future Proofing
WHO should do it?
• Take a wild guess!
• DAM Owners, Admins, Users
HOW can we get there?
• Depends on the specifics around business and technology needs
• Mostly it’s about sound planning
Phases of DAM
1. Identify the Opportunity
2. Idea Conceptualization
3. Resource Planning
4. Requirements Gathering
5. Solution Formation
6. Implementation
7. Support & Maintenance
DAM Lifecycle
Your DAM has 3 basic stages 1. Planning – Business rationale 2. Implementation – The project 3. Program Management – Monetize the investment
Planning
Conceptualization
• DAM will provide following for our collections of media.
• Accessibility
• Structure
• Consolidation
• Security
• As business evolves, what will provide stability to DAM?
• Stakeholders have distinct viewpoints
• Business agility
Planning
Securing Resources
• Leave space in the budget for activities such as:
• Future integration points
• Platform updates
• Resource changes
• Contingency plan testing
• Disaster recovery
• Business continuity
Planning
Gathering Requirements
• Business Analysis
• AS IS and TO BE states
• Distinguish between WANTS and NEEDS
• Power of ‘NO’
• Infrastructure Needs
• Uptime (QOS) and Service Levels (SLA)
• Centralized or Distributed setup
Planning/Implementation
Finding a Solution
• Formulating RFP
• In-house versus off-the-shelf system
• Product Components • Database
• Content Storage
• Middleware Technology
• Interfaces
• Integration points
Implementation
First steps
• Know your way out before going in
• Digital Content • Format
• Storage
• Asset Metadata • Structured and Non-structured
• Referential data
• Digital Rights
Implementation
Keep your design practical
• Configurations – don’t hack the user interface
• Customizations – do it the right way
• Understand mime types and network technology
• Metadata - Product Models
• Integration points
• Identify IT stakeholders for now, and for program management
Program Management
DAM operating assumptions
• Post implementation and the DAM is functional
• No outstanding implementation issues
• Seeing positive adoption indicators
• But remember…the DAM is not software, it is you!
Program Management
What if one of these happened tomorrow?
1. Senior management has moved on to the next cool project
2. New executives are hired and have new goals
3. Your funding shifts to more immediate needs
4. There is a perception that you are stuck in break/fix mode
Program Management
Review your strategy
• Look at your business’s value drivers today and down the road • They most likely have changed since the RFP
• All strategies tend to change over time
• How does the DAM fit in at the enterprise level?
• Fill architectural gaps, even if not optimal • Social, YouTube, domestic to international, trends, etc.
Program Management
Changes within the organization
• Business strategy adjustments • Changes in leadership - CIO, CTO
• Adoption - Goes both ways
• Stakeholder checklist • Business partners (hint: the ones with the P/L)
• Frontline users
• Extranet partners
Program Management
Changes in the business environment
• What of your company has new system options through acquisition
• Are the original justifications still valid?
• Do you maintain metrics or report cards?
• Documentation, use cases and metrics?
• Do you have an Exit Strategy?
Program Management
Support and Maintenance
• Short Term support
• Break fixes
• Service packs
• Long Term
• Product upgrades
• Re-evaluation of the feature set
Program Management
Work on Offense
• Align with the revenue side of the business
• Be prescriptive - Protect the business from itself
• Balance required fields with user efficiency
• Make Description and Version fields required
• Rights management - It has to be managed somewhere and the DAM is a great place to start
• Look for integrations opportunities - Contribute to other initiative’s success
• Don’t just think of your application, care about the enterprise
• Always drive value!
Myths Busters
Myth: Is Future Proofing the same as Disaster Recovery?
• Similar concerns but differ in focus.
• Father Time versus Mother Nature
Myths Busters
Is Future Proofing the same as CYA?
Not really...more like Cover Your DAM (CYD)
Myths Busters
Is Future Proofing a phase of DAM?
FP should be a focal point of the DAM strategy.
