Digital Asset Management

What is digital asset management?

Digital Asset Management (DAM) is the process of storing, organizing, categorizing, and sharing non-text based digital content such as images, videos, and pdfs. DAM software gives organizations the ability to host and manage digital assets for use on websites or other digital channels and platforms. DAM software can be purchased and used as a standalone tool, or as part of an enterprise content management system.

What is a DAM Taxonomy?

DAM Taxonomy typically refers to the folder structure, metadata, and tagging that users can assign to make it easier for content owners to find and manage assets.

DAM folder structure

When implementing DAM software, one of the first things to align on is where each asset will live in the folder structure. It’s important to arrange assets in a folder hierarchy or taxonomy that reflects your organization's structure, workflows, and user needs. Folders and subfolders should have meaningful and intuitive naming conventions to aid discoverability.

DAM user roles and permissions

Large organizations will usually have a lot of different types of DAM users across roles and departments. Some may be responsible for uploading or approving new assets, while others may use it to find and distribute those assets across any number of channels. In some cases, you may even want to restrict access to sensitive or confidential assets to ensure data security and compliance. That’s why defining user roles and permissions is critical to facilitate the creation, approval, and distribution of assets.