Marketing Digital Asset Management

Marketing Digital Asset Management Capturing, Storing, and Retrieving Digital Media to Deliver Strategic Value

January 2008

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Executive Summary Research Benchmark

Aberdeen’s Research Benchmarks provide an in-depth and comprehensive look into process, procedure, methodologies, and technologies with best practice identification and actionable recommendations

This research focuses on technologies that allow marketing departments to capture, store, retrieve, and manage digital content. For the purpose of this research, Digital Asset Management (DAM) is viewed as a subset of Enterprise Content Management (ECM). In December 2007, Aberdeen surveyed 187 organizations to identify how Best-in-Class companies maximize the strategic value of digital assets through technology and organization capabilities.

Best-in-Class Performance Aberdeen used three key performance criteria to distinguish Best-in-Class companies. Best-in-Class achieved:

• An average of 22% performance increase in year over year Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)

• 58% improved brand effectiveness over the past year

• 62% reduced time to market over the past year

Competitive Maturity Assessment Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance shared several common characteristics:

• 57% centralize access to all digital marketing assets

• 57% use technology to support the marketing asset lifecycle (built into workflow)

• 43% have formalized processes for periodically identifying the most effective content and how it is being used

Required Actions In addition to the specific recommendations in Chapter Three of this report, to achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies must:

"How do we deliver strategic value with DAM? Right now all we have is a document repository."

~ VP Marketing, Midsize Financial Services Company

• Develop an enterprise asset management strategy for centralizing unstructured content

• Move away from storing marketing content on individual hard drives- this creates versioning issues, rigid workflows, and reduced productivity

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Table of Contents Executive Summary....................................................................................................... 2

Best-in-Class Performance..................................................................................... 2 Competitive Maturity Assessment....................................................................... 2 Required Actions...................................................................................................... 2

Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-Class ..................................................... 5 Top Pressures and Challenges .............................................................................. 6 The Maturity Class Framework............................................................................ 6 Tactics for Managing Digital Marketing Assets.................................................. 7 Marketing Digital Asset Management Use ......................................................... 8 The Best-in-Class PACE Model ............................................................................ 8 Best-in-Class Strategies........................................................................................... 8

Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for Success ..................................12 Measuring Qualitative Value from DAM ..........................................................13 Competitive Assessment......................................................................................15 Capabilities and Enablers ......................................................................................17

Chapter Three: Required Actions .........................................................................20 Laggard Steps to Success......................................................................................20 Industry Average Steps to Success ....................................................................21 Best-in-Class Steps to Success ............................................................................21

Appendix A: Research Methodology.....................................................................24 Appendix B: Related Aberdeen Research............................................................26

Figures Figure 1: Pressures Driving Adoption of Marketing DAM.................................. 6 Figure 2: Current Management of Digital Marketing Assets............................... 7 Figure 3: Adoption Trends - Marketing DAM versus DAM (All Respondents)........................................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 4: Strategies for Increasing Strategic Value from DAM........................... 9 Figure 5: Level of Priority for Digital Asset Management....................................10 Figure 6: Current Access to Marketing Asset Management Tool ...................10 Figure 7: Stakeholder Access to Marketing Content (Best-in-Class Companies)...................................................................................................................11 Figure 8: Qualitative Value in Digital Asset Management (Improvement as a Result of Implementing a DAM Technology) .......................................................14 Figure 9: Top 3 DAM Features ................................................................................19

Tables Table 1: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status.............................................. 7 Table 2: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework ....................................................... 8 Table 3: Measuring the Impact of Marketing DAM on Key Metrics ...............12 Table 4: The Competitive Framework...................................................................16



Table 5: The PACE Framework Key ......................................................................25 Table 6: The Competitive Framework Key ..........................................................25 Table 7: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework.........................................................................................................................................25



Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-Class

Fast Facts

√ 78% of respondents are using or planning on using a digital asset solution for marketing

√ 42% of respondents plan to increase the budget for marketing digital asset management spending in 2008 - 52% plan on keeping spending unchanged from 2007

For the purpose of this research, Digital Asset Management (DAM) is viewed as a subset of Enterprise Content Management (ECM). The research focuses on technologies that allow marketing departments to capture, store, retrieve, and manage digital content. These capabilities are commonly provided by:

• Marketing Resource Management (MRM). This term is generally used by marketing automation providers. MRM technologies typically provide document storage and retrieval as a subset of a larger group of features supporting marketing operations activities (event management, campaign management, etc.).

• Digital Asset Management (DAM). Provides functionality to manage, store, and retrieve structured and unstructured data. DAM is often used by marketing for digital archiving, document management, and workflow (for collateral, text, photos, rich media, video, audio, and more). Many DAM solutions integrate with creative tools to support the creative process.

• Marketing Asset Management (MAM). Provides DAM functionality that is exclusively focused on marketing applications and frequently integrates with collateral customization and marketing automation technologies to provide seamless asset management through content distribution workflow.

• Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Provides management for all unstructured information wherever that information exists in an organization. Suite providers of ECM help manage content for multiple business functions (sales, operations, finance, marketing, legal, etc.). Common functionalities include DAM, web content management, document management, workflow and business processes, and records management. Subsets of ECM may be used to support the marketing or advertising department.

• Web Content Management (WCM). These solutions typically provide functionality for managing and optimizing marketing content online. Web content management is usually a separate offering from DAM; however, many organizations leverage DAM or ECM as part of their overall web content management strategy.

This study explores best practices in the use of digital asset management by the marketing function. As a result, the term “marketing digital asset management” will be used to refer to any digital asset solution leveraged by a marketing department (DAM, MAM, ECM, WCM, etc.). Aberdeen research reveals the average organization uses two to three different solution providers to deliver DAM. Twenty-two percent (22%) of respondents are using a digital asset management solution exclusively for the marketing department (27% are planning on implementing one in the




next year and 29% are planning on implementing one in the future). The study identifies the role of digital asset management in attaining or supporting Best-in-Class performance. How do Best-in-Class organizations leverage marketing DAM to deliver more than a document repository? What are the strategic benefits to implementing or leveraging DAM in marketing?

Top Pressures and Challenges The top two pressures causing companies to invest in digital asset management technologies for marketing are the need to manage brand consistency (64%) and the need to improve ROMI (61%) (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Pressures Driving Adoption of Marketing DAM

64%

61%

38%

37%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Manage brand consistency

Improve return on marketing investments

Need to improve customersatisfaction/loyalty

The proliferation of marketing channels

All Respondents Source: Aberdeen Group, January 2008

In 2007, brand consistency showed up as a key pressure for marketing individuals in multiple Aberdeen studies (Success Strategies in Marketing Automation, July 2007; Online Content Speaks Volumes, June 2007; This Time it’s Personal: Making On-Line Experiences Unique, August 2007). Organizations are seeking ways to manage and re-purpose existing content across multiple channels. In Chapter Two, we will see how Best-in-Class organizations are attaining strategic value from marketing digital asset management technologies.

The Maturity Class Framework Aberdeen used three key performance criteria to distinguish the Best-in-Class from Industry Average and Laggard organizations: ROMI, perceived brand effectiveness, and time to market. Research revealed that the performance between Best-in-Class, Industry Average, and Laggards was significantly different (Table 1).


http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/4133-RA-marketing-automation.asp


http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/4010-RA-online-content.asp

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Table 1: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status

Definition of Maturity Class Mean Class Performance

Best-in-Class: Top 20%

of aggregate performance scorers

22% performance increase in year over year ROMI 58% improved brand effectiveness over the past year 62% reduced time to market over the past year

Industry Average: Middle 50% of aggregate

performance scorers


Laggard: Bottom 30% of aggregate

performance scorers


Source: Aberdeen Group, January 2008

Tactics for Managing Digital Marketing Assets Best-in-Class organizations are six-times more likely than Laggards to leverage a digital asset management solution to support the marketing department. Research demonstrates Laggard organizations are primarily using a combination of shared and individual storage media to support marketing asset management (Figure 2). Note, respondents were asked to select multiple answers for the responses shown in Figure 2. We will explore the strategic value of these tactics in Chapter Two.

Figure 2: Current Management of Digital Marketing Assets

38%29%

55%

33%

67%

52%

19%

67%

10%

47%

15%12%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Digital AssetManagement

Solution

MarketingAutomation

Shared Drive onInternal Network

Store files onindividual

employee harddrives

Best-in-Class Average Laggard

“We currently use an FTP server to store files. However, I would love to have some kind of solution that had the power to manage our processes, brand, and content storage / distribution.”

~ Lynn Anderson, Director of Marketing, Skytide





Marketing Digital Asset Management Use Aberdeen reveals 57% of Best-in-Class organizations leverage a digital asset solution for marketing (through marketing automation, DAM, ECM, etc.). In fact, the Best-in-Class are 3.2-times more likely than Laggards to leverage some sort of digital asset management solution.

Figure 3: Adoption Trends - Marketing DAM versus DAM (All Respondents)

57%30% 24%

27%

57%

86%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


Using Digital Asset ManagementUsing Marketing Digital Asset Management


The Best-in-Class PACE Model Best-in-Class maximize investments in marketing content through a combination of strategic actions, organizational capabilities, and enabling technologies (Table 2).

Table 2: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework

Pressures Actions Capabilities Enablers Manage brand consistency

Standardize and Centralize all enterprise content Develop / leverage an enterprise wide corporate asset management strategy (for people, process, technology)

Formalized processes for identifying the most effective content and how it is being used Automated document approval and review process Cross departmental collaboration through asset management technology Standardized metrics for measuring content consumption- number of downloads, asset utilization, etc.

Library asset management system Production asset management system Web content management Rich media support (i.e., video, audio) Dashboards for DAM Content indexing


Best-in-Class Strategies Research reveals small variances between the strategies Best-in-Class, Industry Average, and Laggard organizations currently use, or plan to use, to extend the strategic value of marketing digital asset management solutions.




Best-in-Class are focused on standardizing and centralizing all enterprise content within one solution (43%). Interestingly, on average, Best-in-Class organizations (that currently use a DAM solution) leverage 2.3 asset management solutions (versus Industry Average at 4.2 and Laggards at 1.6). Fifty percent (50%) of all respondents are currently devoting resources to develop / leverage an enterprise asset management strategy.

Figure 4: Strategies for Increasing Strategic Value from DAM

43%

33% 33%39%

28%

43%39% 39%

30%

0%

20%

40%

60%

Standardize/centralizecontent on one solution

Develop/leverage anenterprise asset

management strategy

Extend access to theDAM solution to the entire

marketing supply chain



Industry Average organizations are 30% more likely than the Best-in-Class to currently extend (or plan to extend) access to the digital marketing tool to the entire marketing supply chain. Fifty-four percent (54%) of the Best-in-Class already extend access to their digital marketing solutions to the entire marketing supply chain (agency, consultants, channel partner, etc.) versus 19% of other organizations that do the same, one possible explanation for why Best-in-Class do not rate this strategy as high as peers. (Respondents were asked to select multiple answers.)

Aberdeen Insights — Strategy

The Strategic Importance of Digital Asset Management Research demonstrates that all organizations are heavily focused on digital asset management. Marketing typically seeks dedicated solutions to help manage brand consistency and maximize marketing investments (Figure 5).





Figure 5: Level of Priority for Digital Asset Management


6%

16%

26%

46%

8%

38%

52%

10%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Not important at all

Low Priority

Neutral

High Priority

Top 2 Priority

All Others Best-in-Class Source: Aberdeen Group, January 2008

Democratize Marketing Content Best-in-Class organizations are three-times more likely than peers to extend access to the marketing digital asset management tool to key stakeholders in the marketing value chain.

Figure 6: Current Access to Marketing Asset Management Tool

99% 99%75%

90%

62%

33%

0%

50%

100%

Marketing Sales Operations

Best-in-Class All Others Source: Aberdeen Group, January 2008

Best-in-Class organizations maximize investments in marketing collateral by allowing key stakeholders to consume marketing content on-demand (with access to the marketing DAM system). Almost 100% of Best-in-Class organizations provide sales access to the marketing asset management system. Best-in-Class organizations also currently provide access (or are planning to extend access) to other key stakeholders (Figure 6).

"We were also looking to provide a basis for enhanced quality and brand consistency, by leveraging our collective knowledge, and our creative and strategic skills.”

~ Russ Gannon, Director of Marketing Development, Hospital Corporation of

America




Figure 7: Stakeholder Access to Marketing Content (Best-in-Class Companies)

33%42%45%42%

50% 52%

75% 77%67% 70%

58%67%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

CustomerService

DirectShop

AdvertisingAgency

MediaAgency

PR ChannelPartners

Have Access Planning to Provide Access Source: Aberdeen Group, January 2008

In the next chapter, we will see how these strategies and tactics deliver strategic value and superior performance to Best-in-Class organizations.




Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for Success

What is the Strategic Value of Marketing DAM? Unfortunately, there is no single metric for measuring the strategic value of marketing digital asset management. Best-in-Class companies demonstrate unique processes and capabilities that enable them to maximize investments in people, process, and technology (Table 4, The Competitive Framework). Strategic value is derived from making technology an integral part of the marketing workflow and day to day operations. Thirty-three percent (33%) of Best-in-Class companies exemplify this by maintaining an enterprise wide asset management strategy- 42% plan to develop a strategy in the future. However, strategic value from digital asset management only trickles into the overall ROMI when an organization devotes time and resources to maximizing and optimizing digital asset management on an ongoing basis. This requires the use of best practice capabilities which we will discuss later.

In the following sections, Aberdeen explores the qualitative and quantitative value of marketing digital asset management. As we will see, Best-in-Class clearly demonstrate an aptitude for delivering strategic value from digital asset management.

Measurable Benefits of Digital Asset Management By isolating all organizations that have been using a marketing asset management solution for approximately one year, and calculating the year-over-year mean class performance on key metrics, we can isolate the measurable impact survey respondents have realized as a result of leveraging marketing asset management technologies (Table 3).

Table 3: Measuring the Impact of Marketing DAM on Key Metrics

Performance Metric (Year Over Year)


Average Performance for

Best-in-Class

Average Performance for

All Others

Average Performance

Using DAM (1Yr)

Average Performance

Not Using DAM ROMI 22% 7% 22% 11%

Customer satisfaction 11% 4% 11% 6%

Customer churn rate 2% 1% 6% 1%

Time to market 5% 3% 4% no change

Cost of content creation 2% 3% 6% 5%

Brand effectiveness 12% 5% 4% 9%

Brand consistency 12% 5% 7% 9%

Shipping costs 2% 2% 7% 2%

Fast Facts

√ The average Best-in-Class marketing department uses their marketing asset tool two times per day. The average Laggard uses their DAM two to three times per week.

√ 75% of Best-in-Class companies integrate marketing asset management with other in-house technologies (marketing automation, CRM, etc.) versus 36% of all other companies.

2% 1% 7% 2%Production costs




Table 3 proves that technology alone cannot propel an organization into Best-in-Class status. One of the top two pressures causing companies to adopt marketing DAM solutions is the desire to manage brand consistency. As we can see from year-over-year performance, on average, companies that do not currently use a digital asset management technology report higher brand consistency and brand effectiveness than those organizations that have recently adopted a marketing digital asset management solution. Best-in-Class on the other hand show superior performance in both of these metrics. We will explore how Best-in-Class deliver this performance in Table 4.

Measuring Qualitative Value from DAM Best-in-Class demonstrate an aptitude for constant measurement, which allows them to optimize and maximize investments in digital asset technology:

• 28% of the Best-in-Class identify measurable goals and anticipated results prior to DAM implementation (versus 3% of Laggards)

• 41% of Best-in-Class use pre-defined metrics to measure the performance after the DAM implementation (versus 0% of Laggards)

Best-in Class organizations are actually measuring the strategic value of the technology investment and have processes in place to do so prior to implementation. More importantly, Best-in-Class follow-up with post implementation measurement and adjust processes accordingly to maximize ROI. Of course, strategic value is also delivered through qualitative improvements which are typically expressed as key benefits to DAM technologies: time savings, cost reduction (often a quantitative metric as well), employee productivity, asset utilization, etc. Best-in-Class rely on technology to identify asset usage statistics. By identifying what content is being consumed, marketing can consistently maximize marketing effectiveness and content relevancy. Figure 8 demonstrates that the Best-in-Class (that are currently using a marketing digital asset management solution) consistently achieve superior performance in qualitative metrics.



Figure 8: Qualitative Value in Digital Asset Management (Improvement as a Result of Implementing a DAM Technology)

43%

49%

30%

26%

33%

43%

67%

83%

58%

42%

50%

75%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Asset Utilization

Employee Productivity

Employee Satisfaction

Shipping Cost/File Transportation

Time Spent Transferring Files

Time spent locating content

% Reporting Improvement

All Others Best-in-Class

Incr

ease

dD

ecre

ased


Figure 8 shows that the Best-in-Class recognize strategic value in people and process from the implementation of digital asset management technologies. From a process standpoint, DAM allows Best-in-Class organizations to reduce the time spent locating files enhancing employee productivity. From a people standpoint, DAM has a measurable, positive impact in Best-in-Class organizations in the form of increased employee satisfaction. Not surprisingly, the Best-in-Class are able to identify an increase in asset utilization because these organizations actually measure and monitor asset use.

Case Study — Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)

The Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) is the largest healthcare provider in the country, with over 170 hospitals and 90 surgery centers located throughout the U.S. and Great Britain. HCA has a decentralized marketing department with some centralized corporate support.

“Over the past several years HCA has nurtured a decentralized system of marketing, which has hampered our ability to share best practices, including campaign materials; such as broadcast, print ads, outdoor, brochures, sales collaterals, and other promotional items” said Russ Gannon, Director of Marketing Development for HCA. “Our number one priority was to cut production cost by implementing a system that would allow us to share and repurpose marketing collateral across our network of 170 hospitals (spread nationally). We were also looking to provide a basis for enhanced quality and brand consistency, by leveraging our collective knowledge, and our creative and strategic skills.”




Case Study — Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)

When fully implemented, the system will become a centralized resource for marketing to find best practice marketing materials to enable more effective marketing strategy. As a one-stop shop for marketing, HCA “MediaWorks” (the internal name for the HCA digital asset management solution) also contains a searchable photo library (with archived internal photos and photos purchased from third party providers). “We have also included links through the site to our health content provider, making thousands of pages of health content in various formats available in both Spanish and English. Our marketers also have access to the most recent marketing agreements, policies and other planning tools.”

Measuring the Strategic Value of MediaWorks “Looking at the ROI on the solution itself, we expect to be able to compare pricing assumptions of outsourced pieces to the pieces produced using HCA MediaWorks. (For example, the design of new three panel brochure [average outsource cost in the thousands of dollars] versus redesign of existing piece $0.) The system also allows us to leverage our print volumes and direct print with a limited number of preferred vendors, delivering a projected 25% savings on our digital print. We are also able to realize saving by purchasing stock photos and seat licenses from one preferred provider instead of buying individual photos throughout the year. We estimate that approximately 4,000 images will be downloaded from the HCA MediaWorks site annually.”

Competitive Assessment Aberdeen Group analyzed the aggregated metrics of surveyed companies to determine whether their performance ranked as Best-in-Class, Industry Average, or Laggard.

In addition to having common performance levels, each class also shared characteristics in five key categories: (1) process (the approaches they take to execute their daily operations); (2) organization (corporate focus and collaboration among stakeholders); (3) knowledge management (contextualizing data and exposing it to key stakeholders); (4) technology (the selection of appropriate tools and effective deployment of those tools); and (5) performance management (the ability of the organization to measure their results to improve their business).

These characteristics (identified in Table 4) serve as a guideline for best practices, and correlate directly with Best-in-Class performance across the key metrics.



Table 4: The Competitive Framework

Best-in-Class Average Laggards Technology is an integral part of the marketing asset lifecycle- (built into workflow)

57% 45% 18% Formalized processes for periodically identifying the most effective content and how it is being used

Process

43% 20% 6% Adopt an enterprise wide integrated approach to digital asset management

24% 13% 3% Sales and marketing work together to maximize the effectiveness of marketing collateral

57% 30% 15% Cross departmental collaboration through asset management technology

Organization

38% 20% 15% Centralized access to all digital marketing assets- documents, rich media, etc.

57% 30% 15% Seamless multiplatform access to digital asset repository from creative tools

Knowledge

29% 19% 9%

DAM features currently in use:

Technology

52% rich media support (video, audio) 41% dashboards for DAM 43% content indexing 43% rights management 33% content usage analytics 48% search capability



Standardized metrics for measuring content consumption- number of downloads, asset utilization, etc.

30% 12% 6% Mechanisms are in place for users to provide feedback and rate content usefulness

Performance

20% 13% 3%




Capabilities and Enablers “We have a licensed corporate DAM solution. It’s great for storing content, but marketing would benefit far more if it were integrated into our marketing workflow. We need something to help us approve documents and manage versioning.”

~ Director of WW Marketing, Midsize Telecommunications

Company

Based on the findings of the Competitive Framework and interviews with end-users, Aberdeen’s analysis reveals that Best-in-Class capabilities are the keys to realizing strategic value with marketing digital asset management.

Process Best-in-Class organizations are seven-times more likely than Laggards to periodically review marketing content to maximize marketing effectiveness and overall ROMI. By leveraging formalized processes for periodically indentifying the most effective content and how it is being used, Best-in-Class organizations allow marketing and sales to optimize collateral and marketing messages.

Furthermore, Best-in-Class are 11-times more likely than laggards to leverage content usage analytics and 14-times more likely to use dashboards for DAM to deliver asset utilization statistics. The Best-in-Class are also three-times more likely than Laggards to automate the document approval and review process using a marketing digital asset management solution- automating these processes provides greater flexibility and faster time to market.

Organization Best-in-Class sales and marketing departments work in alignment to maximize content effectiveness. This organizational capability in conjunction with periodic review processes provides marketing with feedback on content effectiveness enhancing the ability to deliver the right message to the right customers at the right time. As we saw in the previous chapter, 99% of Best-in-Class organizations provide sales and marketing access to the marketing digital asset management solution, further enabling the technology to support the business.

Knowledge Management Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Best-in-Class centralize access to all marketing assets (documents, rich media, audio, presentations) making them three-times more likely than their peers to deliver a centralized repository of marketing content to the organization. This repository supports content re-use by multiple functions - thus delivering a higher ROMI on third-party asset acquisitions or in-house creative. On average, 44% of Best-in-Class marketing material is re-purposed (versus 32% of all other companies).

Seamless integration between creative tools and digital asset management helps deliver a tighter workflow and increases employee productivity. This also provides rapid centralized access to existing content for re-use. Best-in-Class are three-times more likely than Laggards to leverage a solution that integrates with creative applications, delivering tighter workflow and higher return on investment from marketing assets.




Technology Best-in-Class organizations extend the usability of rich media through marketing asset management solutions (52%). Aberdeen interviews with end-users reveal that marketing video / audio are often re-used by sales to close deals. The challenge for many organizations is storage and delivery of rich media. Content tagging enables rapid searchability of rich media files. Additionally, 57% of Best-in-Class leverage library asset management capabilities (versus 27% of Laggards) and Best-in-Class are 2.4-times more likely to also leverage content indexing capabilities.

Research also revealed Best-in-Class organizations support performance management capabilities using technology. Best-in-Class are 11-times more likely to calculate content usage analytics within their marketing asset management system. Best-in-Class deliver these analytics through dashboards, enabling the organization to take executive level ownership, and accountability for marketing effectiveness.

Performance Management Performance management capabilities within Best-in-Class demonstrate moderate use of standardized measurement practices to maximize content effectiveness. While Best-in-Class are on average almost six-times more likely than laggards to use standardized metrics for measuring content or standardized processes to collect and analyze content effectiveness, these capabilities do not represent the foundation for Best-in-Class performance. This does not mean Best-in-Class are not measuring performance. Technology capabilities demonstrate Best-in-Class companies automate content usage analytics using asset management tools.

Aberdeen Insights — Technology

Aberdeen research reveals that Best-in-Class companies that are currently leveraging marketing digital asset management technologies consider searchable access to assets (75%) and integration with creative technologies (75%) to be key enablers to delivering strategic value with DAM. Interestingly, Best-in-Class organizations are two-times more likely than all others to consider integration with creative tools to be a key enabler. Figure 9 highlights the top three features that organizations identified as essential to delivering strategic value with digital asset management. Respondents were asked to select two features.



Aberdeen Insights — Technology

Figure 9: Top 3 DAM Features

75% 75%

42%

87%

33%

93%75%

38%

75%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Searchable Access toAssets

Integration withinCreative Technologies

Version Control

BIC AVE LAG



Interviews with respondents indicated integration with creative tools delivered strategic value for marketing when creative integration was a part of a broader workflow process supporting the entire marketing asset lifecycle. In addition, interviews with Best-in-Class organizations indicated these companies derived a great deal of strategic value from version control and were now primarily focused on achieving further value from the other two features - given the option to select two, searchable access to assets and integration with creative technologies were most important.

Based on survey results, the average Best-in-Class company that is currently leveraging a marketing asset management solution has been using DAM for one to two years. Industry Average and Laggard organizations that currently leverage marketing asset management solutions average around two to five year ownership.



Chapter Three: Required Actions

Fast Facts

√ 38% of Best-in-Class are using an ECM solution (versus 9% of Laggards)

√ 86% of Best-in-Class use role based security for digital asset management

Whether a company is trying to move its performance in ROMI or brand effectiveness from Laggard to Industry Average, or Industry Average to Best-in-Class, the following actions will help spur the necessary performance improvements:

Laggard Steps to Success • Democratize access to marketing assets. Ninety-nine percent

(99%) of Best-in-Class organizations provide both sales and marketing access to the marketing digital asset tool. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Laggards leverage a shared drive on an internal network and 52% store marketing content on individual employee hard drives. Digital asset management solutions can speed the time it takes to locate a file, manage versioning, and centralize content for remote individuals or regional locations. Delivering centralized access to content doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Small to medium sized businesses can leverage content indexing functionalities on shared drives to deliver rapid searchable access to content - but these typically do not provide workflow or document management - which Best-in-Class heavily leverage. On average, 79% of organizations indicate search functionality is a key enabler for delivering strategic value with digital asset management technology.

• Measure asset utilization (using technology, if it exists in the organization). Best-in-Class companies are 11-times more likely than Laggards to use content usage analytics functionalities and 13-times more likely to implement dashboards to report on digital asset utilization. By measuring the effectiveness of digital assets, Laggards can identify how assets are being utilized and ways to maximize marketing effectiveness. On average 42% of Best-in-Class content is repurposed (versus 21% of Laggards). Re-purposing assets allows for greater economies and cost savings.

• Identify business drivers and formalize a process for measuring the return on technology investments prior to implementing the technology- then measure the change in key metrics / business drivers after implementation. The Best-in-Class demonstrate that strategic value is delivered through continuous optimization of asset management processes. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Laggards are currently using a digital asset management solution and 24% use a digital asset solution specifically for marketing. The remaining 54% of Laggards that are planning on implementing marketing asset management in the next one to two years need to identify business drivers prior to implementation. As discussed, there is no single metric for measuring strategic value. Aberdeen research reveals technology alone will not enhance brand consistency, brand effectiveness, or improve ROMI. Laggards need




to invest in people and processes to support the technology, making it an integral part of day to day marketing operations. Best-in-Class differentiate use of DAM by leveraging initiatives, strategies, and organizational capabilities that are clearly focused on maximizing investments in digital assets on all three fronts: people, process, and technology.

Industry Average Steps to Success • Extend access to the marketing asset tool to key

stakeholders. On average, Best-in-Class companies are 46% more likely than Industry Average companies to provide access (or plan to provide access) to key stakeholders beyond sales and marketing. By extending access to other members of the value chain, the Best-in-Class are able to realize synergies and cost savings (from reduction in content re-creation or acquisition). More importantly, the marketing department can extend the value of marketing assets to other departments, delivering higher ROI on marketing investments.

• Standardize on one asset management solution. Multiple solutions reduce the ability to realize strategic value. Industry Average organizations support an average of 4.2 asset management solutions (versus 2.3 for Best-in-Class). While marketing may own one of these solutions, many times content resides on multiple sources which creates versioning issues and reduces the ability to deliver ROI. On average, 40% of respondents indicated one of the top strategies for delivering strategic value with digital asset management was the centralization of content. Industry Average organizations clearly see the need; the task at hand is executing on this strategy.

“Looking at the ROI on the solution itself, we expect to be able to compare pricing assumptions of outsourced pieces to the pieces produced using or DAM solution."

~ Russ Gannon, Director of Marketing Development, HCA

• Integrate technology with all workflow processes. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Best-in-Class indicate the DAM technology is an integral part of the marketing asset lifecycle (vs. 45% of average organizations). Forty-seven percent (47%) of average organizations plan to leverage this capability by 2010. Additionally, Best-in-Class are 2.3 times more likely to indicate that integration between DAM and creative tools is a top three driver for delivering strategic value. Industry Average organizations must integrate digital asset tools and creative tools. This capability enables Best-in-Class to reduce time to market and reduce cost through content re-use.

Best-in-Class Steps to Success • Extend access to external members of the marketing value

chain. Fifty-two percent (52%) of the Best-in-Class currently offer direct shops access to the marketing asset solution, 42% offer access to advertising agencies, and 43% offer access to media and PR. Aberdeen research reveals that over the next one to two years, approximately 83% of Best-in-Class will extend access to their digital marketing solution to members of the entire marketing value chain.




• Integrate digital asset management technology with creative tools. Only 29% of Best-in-Class currently have seamless access to digital assets from marketing creative applications. However, all organizations have clearly indicated this capability is one of the top three ways to deliver strategic value with marketing digital asset management solutions. Since 86% of Best-in-Class currently leverage a DAM solution (57% are using a tool specifically for marketing) it's a bit surprising to see such low adoption of integrated capabilities. Best-in-Class can continue to squeeze further value from DAM investments through seamless interaction between creative and asset management solutions.

• Formalize a process for users to provide feedback and rate content usefulness. This helps align sales and marketing by allowing both organizations to contribute to the effectiveness of marketing collateral. Today new technologies exist to support sales and marketing integration through content rating, feedback, and editing. The Best-in-Class need to support processes that enhance collateral effectiveness to continue realizing strategic value from technology investments.

• Invest in people and process / workflow to support the technology. Best-in-Class organizations need to continue to devote resources and investments in optimizing all digital asset solutions (MAM, DAM, ECM, WCM, etc.). These technologies deliver continuous strategic value because Best-in-Class organizations optimize and support the technology with strategy, people, processes, and organizational culture.

Aberdeen research demonstrates marketing asset management capabilities vary widely across the maturity classes. The clear differentiator for Best-in-Class companies is the focus and attention these organizations devote to optimizing DAM on an ongoing basis through formalized processes and organizational capabilities.

Aberdeen Insights — Summary

Best-in-Class organizations achieve superior performance in time to market, ROMI, and brand effectiveness by supporting technology investments with people and process. Research reveals that digital asset management technologies can deliver strategic value; however, Best-in-Class tactics maximize the strategic value. The proliferation of marketing channels and globalization remain key challenges for every organization. Digital content will continue to expand exponentially as new marketing channels surface. This makes effective management and efficient use of content essential to maximizing ROMI.



Aberdeen Insights — Summary

Best-in-Class deliver superior performance in key metrics; however, even Best-in-Class are well below the 50% adoption threshold for key capabilities. Many organizations are struggling to maximize legacy investments in digital asset management. The future will demand organizations develop enterprise asset management strategies and technologies that enable the entire organization to maximize unstructured data. Best-in-Class tactics will help marketing departments maximize these investments and leverage technology to improve brand effectiveness, brand consistency, and ROMI, ultimately delivering strategic value from marketing asset management technologies.





Appendix A: Research Methodology

Between December 2007 and January 2008, Aberdeen examined the use, the experiences, and the intentions of more than 187 enterprises about the use of Digital Asset Management (DAM).

Study Focus

Responding executives completed an online survey that included questions designed to determine the following:

√ The use or planned use of DAM for marketing

√ The structure and effectiveness of existing DAM installations

√ Current and planned use of strategies used to identify strategic value from DAM

√ The benefits, if any, that have been derived from digital asset management

The study aimed to identify emerging best practices for measuring the effectiveness of DAM and to provide a framework by which readers could assess their own digital asset capabilities.

Aberdeen supplemented this online survey effort with telephone interviews with select survey respondents, gathering additional information on the marketing asset management strategies, experiences, and results.

Responding enterprises included the following:

• Job title / function: The research sample included respondents with the following job titles: marketing (52%); sales (11%); IT (10%); other (27%); executive and VP level (31%); director and manager (49%); staff (20%).

• Industry: The research sample included respondents from high tech (24%), finance and banking (11%), computer equipment and peripherals (12%), publishing and media (17%), manufacturing equipment (9%), telecommunications (9%).

• Geography: The majority of respondents (74%) were from North America. Remaining respondents were from the Asia-Pacific region (14%) and Europe (12%).

• Company size: Twenty-three percent (23%) of respondents were from large enterprises (annual revenues above US $1 billion); 25% were from midsize enterprises (annual revenues between $50 million and $1 billion); and 52% of respondents were from small businesses (annual revenues of $50 million or less).

• Headcount: Twenty-nine percent (29%) of respondents were from large enterprises (headcount greater than 1,000 employees); 36% were from midsize enterprises (headcount between 100 and 999 employees); and 35% of respondents were from small businesses (headcount between 1 and 99 employees).

Solution providers recognized as sponsors of this report were solicited after the fact and had no substantive influence on the direction of the Marketing Digital Asset Management Benchmark Report. Their sponsorship has made it possible for Aberdeen Group to make these findings available to readers at no charge.




Table 5: The PACE Framework Key

Overview Aberdeen applies a methodology to benchmark research that evaluates the business pressures, actions, capabilities, and enablers (PACE) that indicate corporate behavior in specific business processes. These terms are defined as follows: Pressures — external forces that impact an organization’s market position, competitiveness, or business operations (e.g., economic, political and regulatory, technology, changing customer preferences, competitive) Actions — the strategic approaches that an organization takes in response to industry pressures (e.g., align the corporate business model to leverage industry opportunities, such as product / service strategy, target markets, financial strategy, go-to-market, and sales strategy) Capabilities — the business process competencies required to execute corporate strategy (e.g., skilled people, brand, market positioning, viable products / services, ecosystem partners, financing) Enablers — the key functionality of technology solutions required to support the organization’s enabling business practices (e.g., development platform, applications, network connectivity, user interface, training and support, partner interfaces, data cleansing, and management)


Table 6: The Competitive Framework Key

Overview


The Aberdeen Competitive Framework defines enterprises as falling into one of the following three levels of practices and performance: Best-in-Class (20%) — Practices that are the best currently being employed and are significantly superior to the Industry Average, and result in the top industry performance. Industry Average (50%) — Practices that represent the average or norm, and result in average industry performance. Laggards (30%) — Practices that are significantly behind the average of the industry, and result in below average performance.

In the following categories: Process — What is the scope of process standardization? What is the efficiency and effectiveness of this process? Organization — How is your company currently organized to manage and optimize this particular process? Knowledge — What visibility do you have into key data and intelligence required to manage this process? Technology — What level of automation have you used to support this process? How is this automation integrated and aligned? Performance — What do you measure? How frequently? What’s your actual performance?


Table 7: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework

PACE and the Competitive Framework – How They Interact Aberdeen research indicates that companies that identify the most impactful pressures and take the most transformational and effective actions are most likely to achieve superior performance. The level of competitive performance that a company achieves is strongly determined by the PACE choices that they make and how well they execute those decisions.




Appendix B: Related Aberdeen Research

Related Aberdeen research that forms a companion or reference to this report includes:

• CMO Strategic Agenda: Demystifying ROI in Marketing, February 2008

• Sales Effectiveness: Leveraging Content to Close Deals, November 2007

• Contact Center Analytics, October 2007

• Demand Generation: Kick-Start Your Business, September 2007

• This Time It’s Personal: Making Online Experiences Unique, August 2007

• Sales Effectiveness: Getting Sales Back to Selling, July 2007

• Success Strategies in Marketing Automation, July 2007

• Online Content Speaks Volumes, June 2007

• Contract Lifecycle Management and the CFO, April 2007

• Web Analytics: The Crystal Ball of Customer Behavior?, March 2007

• Automating Leads to Sales, March 2007

• Web Site Search: Revenue in the Results, February 2007

Information on these and any other Aberdeen publications can be found at www.aberdeen.com.

Author: Ian Michiels, Sr. Research Analyst - Marketing Management & Digital Marketing, Customer Management Technology Group, [email protected]

Founded in 1988, Aberdeen Group is the technology- driven research destination of choice for the global business executive. Aberdeen Group has 400,000 research members in over 36 countries around the world that both participate in and direct the most comprehensive technology-driven value chain research in the market. Through its continued fact-based research, benchmarking, and actionable analysis, Aberdeen Group offers global business and technology executives a unique mix of actionable research, KPIs, tools, and services. This document is the result of primary research performed by Aberdeen Group. Aberdeen Group's methodologies provides for objective fact based research and represent the best analysis available at the time of publication. Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Aberdeen Group, Inc. and may not be reproduced, distributed, archived, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent by Aberdeen Group, Inc.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information – Opportunity – Insight – Engagement – Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com

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