Have you ever spent hours searching for a digital asset, only to realize it was stored in a different folder, application, or device?
Or have you ever wasted time and resources creating a new asset when you could have reused an existing one that was already optimized and approved?
You are not alone if you answered yes to any of these questions.
Managing digital assets can be challenging, especially when scattered across multiple locations, formats, and versions. That’s why you need a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution to help you streamline your content creation, management, and distribution processes.
But, buying a DAM system is not as easy as making an online purchase. Several factors must be considered, including stakeholder requirements to be met and long-term business objectives to be managed.
Even if you have narrowed down the most suitable DAM systems for your business, you still need to ask the right questions during the demo to ensure you make the right choice.
A demo is the best opportunity to see how a DAM solution works in action and understand whether it can address your specific needs and challenges.
Of course, no definite list of questions can fit all. But there are a few essential questions you cannot miss out on. Let’s run through them in this blog.
Questions to Ask During a DAM Demo
A DAM damo might extend for half an hour or an hour. If it extends beyond that, you can split it into multiple sessions so that you and the sales rep giving the demo can go through it comfortably and gather relevant information to decide.
Q: How does the DAM system handle different types of digital assets, most importantly, images and videos?
Handling images and videos on a regular basis poses some serious challenges, such as:
- They require a lot of storage space and bandwidth
- They should be optimized and resized to ensure compatibility with different devices and platforms
- They might need editing and transformations to meet design and brand guidelines
- They should not impair website performance by taking too long to load.
To meet these challenges, you should look at a cloud-based DAM solution that offers a cloud-based storage system that can upscale bandwidth based on the demand and usage of the assets.
To smoothen everyday operations. The DAM solution should also provide a user-friendly interface that allows users to easily upload, categorize, tag, search, and access their images and videos.
Q: How does the DAM solution optimize and resize images and videos for different devices and platforms?
Image and video resizing is usually done with the help of dedicated editing software that only designers and video professionals can handle. But that is not the case anymore. State-of-the-art DAM systems come with built-in image and video resizing, making delivering content for all devices and platforms easy.
During the demo, ask if the DAM system has dynamic resizing capabilities that will make it easy to automatically adjust the assets' quality, format, size, and resolution according to the device, platform, or delivery channel.
Q: How does the DAM solution edit and transform images and videos according to the design and branding guidelines?
Media resizing and editing are two different things. You should often add or remove elements from the image or video to customize it to your needs. For example, crop, rotate, flip, watermark, overlay, annotate, or add effects to your assets to personalize them.
Ensure the DAM system provides these image transformations and video transformations and can be implemented easily without designer or developer dependence.
Q: How does the DAM solution deliver images and videos fast and reliably to the end-users?
The biggest challenge in image and video delivery is that assets rendered in high quality become heavy files. These heavy files can be hosted online, but they slow down websites and could run into glitches on other platforms.
Hence, it is essential that images can be rendered in high quality while keeping their file sizes as small as possible. A CDN network can help here. A content delivery network (CDN) helps distribute the assets to the nearest server location to the end-users. It does not slow down the website or compress the assets drastically, and it affects their file size.
Q: How does the DAM solution facilitate communication and feedback among team members and external stakeholders?
Compared to any cloud storage service, a DAM system distinguishes itself by providing specific communication and collaboration features. For example, you can leave comments on various versions of the same aset without creating multiple files. This is called version control.
Q: How does the DAM solution enable workflow creation and management for different content types and use cases?
DAM workflows automate the asset approval process. It makes defining, assigning, tracking, and automating tasks and workflows for different content types and use cases easy.
Q: How does the DAM system authenticate and authorize the users and devices?
A DAM system makes it easy for users to discover and use assets. However, it should also allow you to put in place controls to prevent unauthorized users from accessing or using those assets. Sometimes, org-level and tem-level user access management may have to be implemented to ensure the right usage of digital assets.
Q: How does the DAM system provide support for its users?
Almost all SaaS tools offer support to their customers via email, chat, phone, social media, and even through a dedicated knowledge base. Sometimes, based on the pricing, the availability of these support channels could be time-restricted.
For example, some channels might be available round the clock while some channels could be available only during working hours. Also, phone and chat might be reserved for higher pricing plans, while a knowledge base might be available for all customers at all times.
It is necessary to get an idea of the level of support provided for the pricing plan you have in mind before signing on the dotted line.
Q: How does the DAM system charge for bandwidth consumption?
Unlike other SaaS tools, a DAM system provides storage space and transformations differently. The image and video transformations are often calculated based on units or points. This is called usage-based pricing. Based on the pricing plan, there will be a ceiling on the storage bandwidth as well as media processing units. Estimate these requirements and check if your target pricing plan can accommodate your requirements.
Final thoughts: Making the most of your DAM demo
The questions discussed above are only a few you can ask during a DAM demo. Ideally, These should give you a direction on how to understand the tool better and evaluate if it will meet your needs.
You can clearly understand how the DAM solution can support your digital asset management requirements by asking these questions during a demo session or call with a DAM provider.
Still better, sign up for the tool and use it.
ImageKit offers a forever-free trial with 20 GB bandwidth, 20 GB media storage, 1000 video processing units, and 500 extension units.
Sign up now to know why ImageKit is the best business choice.