Cheat Sheet: Digital assets
You know, hopefully, how to manage your networks and computer systems. Steve Cassidy explores the challenge of managing less tangible properties
Steve Cassidy explores the real challenge of managing your less tangible property.
Digital assets? You mean like our company logo?
Yes and no. This is one of those cases where a broad phrase has come to refer to something quite specific. Digital asset management means keeping track of all the various bits of information from which your business generates value. That means simple graphics such as logos, but also Word files, photos, that bit of royalty-free music you used on the YouTube corporate video that everyone hates: all of these are digital assets, and there’s a whole industry of tools designed to help you manage them.
Why do we need software to manage all this stuff?
A simple list of files doesn’t tell you everything about the information you have to hand. Keywords can be crucial in tracking down pictures and videos. You might also need to check author and production team information, legal status and so on. In most operating systems it’s possible to attach such metadata directly to files, but you’re better off with a dedicated database that’s made for the job.
This sounds like a specialised tool that most businesses don’t need.
You might not deal with large libraries of video footage, but as we’ve mentioned, it extends to all types of data: the dream is to be able to reach into an unstructured pile of documents and instantly pull out the precise ones that relate to a particular order, project or unhappy customer. Admittedly, though, nobody has quite got there yet.
Don’t assume that its usefulness is limited to certain departments, either. Access to digital assets isn’t the same as access to files and folders on a server: digital assets are raw material and use cases come and go. For example, imagine that you’ve captured CCTV footage of a delivery truck catching fire in your loading bay. Suddenly there are good reasons why your legal teams and external bodies might need access, in a managed way.
Can’t we just keep everything in a central folder?
Aside from the metadata issues we’ve mentioned, such systems fall apart as soon as you want to work with cloud-served digital assets. One designer I know recently became obsessed with a red-tinged foggy picture of an avenue in Paris at dusk, and wanted to find the photographer, figure out which street it was, compare 200 different versions and much more besides. You can’t deal with that kind of situation just by having a shared folder. You need something smarter.
How does that smartness manifest itself?
Smartness comes partly from design: some systems use AI to automatically apply tags to images. There’s a smartness in connections too, which comes into play with cloud-hosted assets. A day-long photo shoot might generate many gigabytes of assets, of which you’ll probably use only a tiny percentage. Hauling all that data down to a local server to browse and filter is not what modern workplaces think of as smart.
Do we need a big, powerful server to run asset-management software?
It’s possible to start small: for example, there are NAS devices with a bias towards media and photo storage. These aren’t necessarily AI or search powerhouses, however – and once you’ve got such a system in place then moving up to a more powerful platform, migrating your databases and translating all your metadata is a project of about the same magnitude as the initial work. So if you want that powerhouse thing, it may be best to jump to a big iron solution on day one.
So how do we get started then?
A trial run is always a good idea, but be clear about what you’re testing. The priority is finding out what your workflow and use pattern is for image data because, in this case, those things matter much more than is normal in implementation planning. It’s tempting to just throw everything onto a NAS and make do, but the limitations of that model will become more frustratingly apparent the more you come to rely on it.