Outcomes Frame The Approach
In Part 1 of this DAM Perspectives series, we encouraged everyone to follow an outcome-oriented approach to building DAM success. OK, so where should we start? Well, how about if we start with the end, and ask ourselves, what are we really trying to achieve?
We think there are two outcomes we should strive to achieve, which should guide all DAM initiatives.
Key Outcome #1
First, we’re not just standing up a DAM – we’re building an Operational System of Record (OSR) for the entire enterprise. That means it must be:
- Complete: it must be the Single Source of Truth (SST) for all assets across all teams throughout the enterprise.
- Accurate: all assets and metadata must be error free, properly taxonomized and fully compliant at all levels.
- Current: meaning it must offer the latest and active versions of all assets, honoring usage rights, with control and archival of expired assets.
Key Outcome #2
As for the second thing we’re trying to achieve: we’re not just building DAM capabilities – we’re also driving enterprise-wide Adoption of that Operational System of Record we just talked about. That means it must be:
- Engaging: it has to generate willing participation from end-users, where their ideas and feedback are welcome.
- Helpful: or as we often say, it has to be supremely helpful to end users – it needs to be convenient and accessible and embedded within their daily work context.
- Instrumental: in fact, it has to be so insanely helpful that users feel they are much better off with it than without it, and therefore they demand it out of their own volition, not because of some heavy-handed mandate.
The Approach Aligns to Outcomes
OSR and Adoption are critically important for creating a successful DAM, not just because they are worthy goals, but also because they serve as our guiding light and compass as we embark on our transformational journey.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that everything we do should be in support of, and in deliberate alignment to, these two key outcomes. To achieve these goals, each and every action we take along a DAM transformational journey should be a purpose-driven step in their direction.
There are hundreds of discrete activities involved in the design, implementation, execution and maintenance of a DAM solution. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in identifying and prioritizing everything. To stay on course, try to keep these guiding principles in mind as you embark on your DAM journey:
- Alignment matters: everything we do must align toward the creation and maintenance of an Operational System of Record (OSR) for all assets across the enterprise
- Propulsion matters: everything we do must propel Adoption
- Context matters: we must keep our focus on the specific point-of-view of business units, teams, individuals
- Sequence matters: we should follow a deliberate sequence of audiences targeted & capabilities offered
- Threshold matters: we should always deliver full and meaningful capabilities (in the eyes of our target audiences) with emphasis on Key Factors for Success (KFS)
Closing Thoughts
In the world of marketing, alignment to goals is considered a key pillar. Similarly, in the world of DAM, alignment to outcomes – OSR and Adoption – should be considered a key pillar as well.
Alignment really is that important!
In fact, from a conceptual standpoint, building a successful DAM is remarkably similar to how you would formulate campaigns in a marketing strategy:
- Keep an eye on the objectives you want to achieve for each target audience you wish to serve
- Define activities within the context of each target audience
- Sequence activities in a manner that progressively builds toward goals
- Deliver on Key Factors for Success (KFS) from the audience’s point of view
Next Steps
“DAM Perspectives” is a series of posts that came from the work we did to develop a new DAM maturity framework. So, as a next step, we invite you to check out some of the other posts in this series:
- DAM Perspectives (Part 1): The Need for a New Approach
- DAM Perspectives (Part 2): The Two Key Outcomes
- DAM Perspectives (Part 3): The Target Audiences
- DAM Perspectives (Part 4): Building the Foundation
- DAM Perspectives (Part 5): Building the Solution
- DAM Perspectives (Part 6): Building Conformity
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