It occurred to me whilst reading some DAM predictions this year that I usually don’t agree with the predictions I read. I’m not sure why my gut says something so different than the guts of others who ought to know better than me, but there you have it.
Here are my DAM predictions for 2015:
DAM vendors will remember that digital asset management is not always about marketing. They will scramble to reconnect with the Education, Cultural, Research and other segments that do not see what they do as marketing, and don’t relate to all this “customer experience management” bullshit.- The notion of metadata schemas that can change over time (Adaptive Metadata, as Picturepark coined it) will become the flavor of the month. All DAM vendors will claim to have some new feature that addresses this need, but it won’t be until 2016 that they actually realize they didn’t fully understand what Adaptive Metadata is, so they got it all wrong. Whoops.
- Multi-DAM vendors will realize that they’re going to have to pick a favorite between their multiple offerings and stick with it. No DAM vendor is big or competent enough to manage and grow more than one DAM system. And if you think I’m wrong, create a document in Pagemaker or Freehand that illustrates my error.
- DAM Lite vendors will realize that in order to stay relevant, they have to add a feature…and then another feature…and then another feature, and then, before they know it, their DAMs will pack all the calories of a full system and their customers will say, “Remember when this used to be easy?” (Hint: Today’s dinosaur DAMs didn’t start out complicated either.)
- By year’s end, it will be tough to find a DAM vendor that’s willing to admit it makes DAM software. In fact, the term “digital asset management” will be replaced with so many different (stupid) alternative terms, that customers won’t know what to think.
- As DAM vendors give up on the term “digital asset management,” CMS and other technology vendors will hijack it and turn it into a menu option. This will further threaten the viability of the DAM industry as an industry. Then, in 2016, all the DAM vendors who have started playing dress-up as “marketing technology stacks” and “customer experience management systems” and god knows whatever else, will realize they’ve confused Google, so they’ll reintroduce the term to their websites.
With predictions out of the way, I want to thank CMSwire for not only enabling me to speak my mind on some controversial topics, but to name me one of their top contributors of the year and pick one of my articles as their #1 piece in the DAM category.
I also need to thank the Createasphere organization and its judging panel for awarding me “DAMMY of the Year” last year. I appreciate it so much! I’m so sad that I was not in New York to accept the award, and I’m even sadder that there will be no opportunity to honor a 2014 (or beyond) recipient.
2014 was both interesting and boring for the DAM industry. It was boring (as hell) in the sense that there was no technology innovation going on. Perhaps that changes in 2015.
But 2014 was interesting in that we’ve never before been introduced to so many newcomers who are talented and worth listening to. In many respects, we have DAM Guru Program to thank for giving DAM newbies a vehicle with which to connect to others so they can lose that newbie status. It’s happening all the time now, and it’s benefiting this entire industry.
As I mentioned to my pal John Horodyski the other day, I see a whole new generation of DAM professionals percolating to the top. I can’t wait to read what they write, learn from their expertise, and then get the hell out of their way.
Bookmark this page and set a reminder to come back in a year and see how I did with the predictions.
I hope everyone has big plans for 2015. Make it your best year yet.
DAM & Content Management Books 