DAM 2020: Expectations From Digital Asset Management Of The Future

A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper Commissioned By Cognizant assetserv March 2016 DAM 2020: Expectations From Digital Asset Management Of The Future

Table Of Contents Executive Summary... 1 Rich Media Content Enhances Consumer Experiences... 2 Business Silos Impede Effective Use Of Rich Media Content... 3 DAM Solutions Enable Better Consumer Experience... 6 Enterprise DAM Capabilities Must Evolve To Meet Business Needs... 6 Key Recommendations... 9 Appendix A: Methodology... 10 Appendix B: Survey Demographics... 10 Appendix C: Endnotes... 10 ABOUT FORRESTER CONSULTING Forrester Consulting provides independent and objective research-based consulting to help leaders succeed in their organizations. Ranging in scope from a short strategy session to custom projects, Forrester s Consulting services connect you directly with research analysts who apply expert insight to your specific business challenges. For more information, visit forrester.com/consulting. 2016, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester, Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com. [1-WFKOA5]

1 Executive Summary Today s consumers expect deeper interactions across the entire consumer journey with the companies they patronize. As a result, businesses have increased the use of rich media content, such as video, audio, and interactive, for engaging consumers. However, many companies lack a comprehensive digital asset management (DAM) strategy and processes to effectively leverage content across the business. The prevailing strategy ad hoc and siloed leads to inefficiency, higher operating costs, and missed opportunities across the business. In January 2016, Cognizant assetserv commissioned Forrester Consulting to investigate the future of DAM, specifically evaluating the hypothesis that DAM of the future will be cloud-based and will integrate with broader technology ecosystems to effectively manage rich media content across the content life cycle. To test this hypothesis, Forrester conducted an online survey of 150 IT and business decision-makers at North American businesses responsible for digital asset management. We specifically selected participants from the following industries: 1) retail/ CPG; 2) banking and financial services; 3) healthcare and life sciences; and 4) universities/ museums. In this study, we discuss the trends we discovered across all industries and highlight the similarities and differences in the ways these industries use DAM to manage rich media content. KEY FINDINGS Most companies have immature DAM solutions but: 1) Are seeing increased usage of rich media content. 2) Are using systems that are not designed or intended for the management of rich media content. 3) Want more-centralized control of rich media content and content operations. Forrester s study yielded four key findings: Across all industries, improving the consumer experience is the top reason for increased use of rich media. Companies also plan to spend more to manage that content: The healthcare and life sciences industry and universities and museums average the highest in expected budget increases in technology spend for rich media management over the next two years. Most companies have immature DAM solutions that don t focus on rich media content. Our survey found that, on average, companies use three or more different tools to manage their rich media content. Retail/CPG, financial services, and healthcare and life sciences industries most commonly use web content management solutions, while universities and museums are more likely to use file shares and network drives. Companies struggle to manage rich media content within their broader technology ecosystem. Business silos create technical and process challenges that hinder efficiency of using content broadly across an organization. Having a large number of internal groups requiring access to content is a challenge for 41% of the financial services companies surveyed, and for other industries, the primary challenge lies in having the right set of skills to integrate content between various business applications. Cloud-based offerings can lower overall costs, improve collaboration, and increase business agility. Retail/CPG respondents are most interested in the agility of cloud, likely because their brand-centric environment demands agile, quick-to-implement solutions. Financial services firms and universities and museums see cost savings as cloud s key benefit, whereas healthcare and life sciences cited ease of information sharing and collaboration. 4) Are prioritizing agile, cloud-first solutions to help achieve goals more quickly.

2 Rich Media Content Enhances Consumer Experiences Organizations can no longer think of consumers as passive eyeballs that they track, target, and message to. Consumers now decide how they seek, filter, and consume experiences across thousands of channels. As a result, organizations can t just rely on pushing out messaging in hopes of delivering results. Instead, they need to create valuable content and stories that attract audiences, build valuable relationships with consumers, and generate positive business outcomes. Our survey shows that 87% of companies expect the volume of rich media content to increase over the next two years, with 75% expecting rich media content budgets to increase as well. Consequently, companies have increased creation of interactive, rich media content such as images, videos, and audio as a key to winning, serving, and retaining consumers. Survey respondents indicated they were looking to use rich media to (see Figure 1): Enhance consumer experiences. Consumers expect an interactive, personalized, and consistent digital experience. However, it s no small feat for a company to deliver all three simultaneously, and it takes a wellexecuted rich media strategy to be able to scale the digital experience. Rich media is some of the most engaging and interactive content for consumers today, which is why 56% of respondents identified enhancing the consumer experience as their top objective. This was the top objective across all industries surveyed, with 72% of healthcare and life sciences respondents calling it such. 87% of companies expect to increase the volume of rich media content produced over the next two years, and 75% expect budgets for rich media content to increase. FIGURE 1 Enhancing Consumer Experience Is The Top Driver Of Rich Media Content Creation What are the key objectives driving the production of more rich media content with your organization? (Select all that apply) Enhance consumer experience Create more interactive marketing campaigns Support richer brand experiences Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management (top three responses shown) Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016

3 Create more interactive marketing campaigns. In today s environment of self-directed, self-educating consumers, organizations must get creative in how they acquire consumers. Forty-three percent of surveyed companies aim to use rich media for interactive marketing campaigns. Specifically for retail/cpg companies, Forrester s research shows that the real [consumer experience]/revenue growth winners will be sellers with strongly differentiated concepts that lure shoppers away from competitors with highly engaging experiences. 1 Support richer brand experiences. Rich media plays an important role in sustaining and maintaining current relationships with consumers. Quality experiences with a brand will improve loyalty and support an ongoing, positive consumer experience, and 41% of companies said this is a top objective when producing more rich media content. With such widespread recognition of its potential to improve consumer and employee experiences, it comes as no surprise that businesses are producing rich media content at a rapid pace. Business Silos Impede Effective Use Of Rich Media Content Many companies look to best-of-breed DAM solutions to improve their rich media content management. According to our survey, only 31% of companies currently have a DAM solution, but 40% are planning or undergoing implementation, and an additional 25% expressed interest in implementing one. Only 4% of companies expressed no interested in DAM solutions (see Figure 2). By industry, we see that retail/cpg, healthcare and life sciences, and universities and museums have high adoption rates of DAM solutions (either implemented or undergoing implementations), at 44% to 54%. The financial services industry is slightly lower, at 37%. Only 31% of companies have a DAM solution. Although this is not a largely significant difference, it does illustrate that the retail/cpg industry, being highly brandcentric, has long had many rich media needs. The healthcare and life sciences industry, on the other hand, often has complex content approval processes, and universities and museums typically manage a significant amount of internal-facing rich media content for which DAM solutions would be useful. FIGURE 2 Rising Interest In DAM Solutions Has your organization implemented, or does it plan to implement, a dedicated digital asset management (DAM) solution? Retail/CPG Banking and FS Life sciences Universities/ museums Implemented Undergoing implementation Planning Interested 32% 32% 5% 31% 12% 11% 19% 28% 14% 41% 28% 38% 13% 40% Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management 12% (not all responses shown) Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016 With the volume of rich media content rapidly expanding, companies find themselves unprepared to effectively manage their growing libraries of rich media assets. When asked about their methods for managing this content, 65% of companies agreed that processes are mostly ad hoc. Our survey found that, while many organizations claim to have an enterprisewide standard solution for managing rich media content (nearly 50% claimed this), they are actually using, on average, three different technology products or solutions. In fact, the most commonly used solutions such as web content management, enterprise collaboration software, and network drives are not designed or intended for the management of rich media content (see Figure 3).

4 65% of companies agree that rich media management processes are mostly ad hoc. As organizations look to better leverage rich media content across the business, they find that these ad hoc solutions aren t cutting it. Key challenges of managing content without a dedicated DAM solution include: Lack of content accessibility across the organization. Content has no value if people can t find it when they need it. Using management solutions not specific to rich media has created a content visibility problem. Sixty percent of our survey respondents agreed with the statement that users can t find the rich media content they are looking for in a timely and efficient manner. It is particularly challenging in the retail/cpg industry, where firms are creating an incredible amount of brand-centric content for multichannel campaigns, product packaging, and owned digital experiences. The challenge was so great in this industry that 79% of respondents agreed that users can t find the content they are looking for. Lack of structure around the content life cycle. Many firms that Forrester has spoken with manage content creation processes ad hoc. Thirty-one percent of survey respondents cited the lack of definition of these processes as a challenge. In previous research, a company Forrester spoke with said that it still approves images and videos manually via phone calls and emails. Centralized DAM solutions help create a single place to manage rich media assets throughout the content life cycle, from ideation and creation through use and eventually retirement. Reduced opportunity for collaboration across business units. Only 17% of survey respondents said there was a high level of collaboration and content sharing between internal business teams. This was even lower for sharing across offices or regions. This is challenging both when it comes to creating an asset (e.g., collaborating to create a finished asset) and when distributing finalized assets (e.g., sharing final assets between groups). This low incidence of sharing could result in unintentional duplication of existing content and miscommunications during the content creation process. FIGURE 3 Rich Media Content Is Managed In Varied Business Silos What products or solutions does your organization primarily use to manage rich media content? (Select all that apply) Web content management solution Enterprise collaboration solution File shares, network drives, and folders/ftp sites Third-party content sharing/ collaboration platforms Enterprise file sync and share Enterprise content management solution Dedicated DAM or media asset management solution Dedicated marketing asset or brand asset management solution Retail/CPG Financial Services Life Sciences Universities/Museums 12% 12% 15% 24% 32% 38% 19% 16% 16% 27% 30% 30% 46% 13% 23% 21% 23% 33% 36% 36% 44% 11% 14% 23% 31% 40% 46% 51% 46% Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016

5 60% of survey respondents agreed that users can t find the rich media content they are looking for in a timely and efficient manner. ORGANIZATIONS STRUGGLE WHEN RICH MEDIA CONTENT IS SILOED Many organizations not only forgo best-of-breed DAM solutions, but they also silo DAM strategies from the rest of their organization. As a result, DAM solutions can be siloed in two ways: Technically. DAM solutions that are technically siloed are not integrated into broader technology ecosystems, meaning other solutions can t read or access content from the DAM solution. With people and processes. Siloed DAM solutions also lead to siloed processes: siloed content and governance processes and siloed ownership. Our survey found that the greatest challenges stemming from siloed solutions were (see Figure 4): Lack of technical skills for supporting integration. Integrating DAM with business solutions creates challenges for technical teams trying to connect digital content with the right systems and users. This was the most common challenge identified, affecting over 33% of companies surveyed. However, it was less of a problem for financial services companies; only 24% of them identified this as a top three challenge. Difficulties managing metadata models from various groups. Without consistent and well-thought-out taxonomy and metadata structures, organizations can t enable effective exploration of content. For example, marketers need taxonomy structures to help define how and what they re tagging, such as subject matter, campaign, seasonality, and product line. This challenge was the least common for healthcare and life sciences companies, at. However, it was the most common for retail/cpg companies, at. These companies may be managing multiple taxonomy models due to the different needs of various brands and products. Lack of clear content ownership and permissions. Many firms lack centralized permissions and rights, which leads to legal and brand challenges. For example, after implementing a centralized DAM solution, a multinational consumer goods manufacturer we spoke with saved millions of dollars in legal fees over misuse of content. Other firms we spoke with have to control access and permissions internally, to ensure that only the proper business users have access to content. Our survey found FIGURE 4 Organizations Struggle To Manage Rich Media Content Within Their Broader Technology Ecosystem What are your organization s top challenges with rich media content integration processes? (Select up to three) Retail/CPG Financial Services Life Sciences Universities/Museums Lack of technical skills needed to support integration with other business applications 24% 36% 37% Managing various metadata models from separate business groups Large number of business systems requiring access to content 30% 41% 33% 17% 29% Lack of clear content ownership 32% 24% 28% 29% Lack of clear owner/ gatekeeper for data governance 21% 24% 18% 34% Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016

6 that this was a more prevalent challenge for universities and museums (34%) and the least prevalent (18%) for healthcare and life sciences. DAM Solutions Enable Better Consumer Experience Many decision-makers looking to implement DAM solutions perceive that the benefits will be more than internal and will, in fact, directly expand the consumer experience with: Enriched interactive consumer experience. Consumers expect and demand more than ever today from the businesses that serve them. Thirty-nine percent of companies surveyed identified interactive, rich media content as a key way to provide a richer experience to consumers. Because businesses can use their content across multiple consumer touchpoints, there is greater potential to improve consumer experience and realize other positive outcomes, such as increased revenue. More consistent brand and messaging. Effectively managing rich media content is critical for brand consistency, and this was identified as a top benefit of DAM solutions by 41% of companies. It also helps promote a consistent look and feel for newly created assets. Nextgeneration DAM solutions will provide visibility into how content is being used, to ensure that consumers are getting a consistent brand message across all points of contact. Increased operational efficiency at creation and approval. Consumers today won t wait months for your new interactive experiences if your competitors can deliver those experiences in days. To meet rising consumer expectations, companies can benefit from having greater efficiency with new content production, which includes a more streamlined approval process. Our survey showed that of companies that have implemented a DAM solution, 48% found increased efficiency in the creative process, compared with 29% of companies that have not implemented a DAM solution. Efficiency in the approval process was a key benefit for financial services, at 41%, and for universities and museums, at 49% both were significantly higher than retail/cpg, at only 18%. Enterprise DAM Capabilities Must Evolve To Meet Business Needs Companies know to what extent rich media can influence consumers, and they re taking steps to address the challenges they face with it. When asked which specific capabilities would best enable better use of rich media content, the top responses from companies were (see Figure 5): FIGURE 5 Organizations Want More Centralized Control Of Content And To Improve Integration/Collaboration Going forward, what specific capabilities would be most helpful for enabling your organization to better leverage rich media content? (Select all that apply) Retail/CPG Financial Services Life Sciences Universities/Museums Centralized control of content 38% 27% 54% 31% Improved security 32% 33% 43% Improved support to facilitate collaboration internally between different groups 21% 41% 28% 49% Improved integration between different rich media management solutions and other business solutions 22% 49% 29% Improved search capabilities 29% 22% 38% 40% Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016

7 Centralized control of content. Centralized control means better visibility and management of content, and 39% of companies see this as a key component for better use of rich media. Healthcare and life sciences respondents were particularly keen on centralizing content, with 54% saying it would be helpful. This is likely because of their heavily regulated environment, in which centralization and audit trails are critical. Businesses also see value in dedicated tools. When asked if they see the need for a resource focused solely on digital transformation and managing digital content (i.e., rich media), 44% of survey respondents said yes, and 50% said potentially in the future. Again, healthcare and life sciences respondents were the most ardent supporters of a dedicated resource, with 54% saying they saw it as a need. Improved security. Rich media content often comes with numerous rights and restrictions on how it can be shared internally or used by consumers, such as by geography, campaign, or date. Improved security was a key capability for 36% of companies, the second-most-required capability for better leveraging rich media content. Improved support for collaboration between groups. Thirty-four percent of organizations use DAM solutions to improve collaboration between groups. This can be achieved through improved shareability of content, improved content approval processes, improved creative agency collaboration, and improved content creation processes. 39% of companies see centralized control of content as a key component for better use of rich media content. DAM IN THE CLOUD Cloud-based solutions can offer valuable benefits when considering the process efficiencies and integration requirements that many businesses have for new DAM solutions. When asked why they have implemented, or would implement, a cloud-based DAM solution, respondents highlighted (see Figure 6): FIGURE 6 Organizations Look To Cloud To Lower Costs And Increase Agility Going forward, what specific capabilities would be most helpful for enabling your organization to better leverage rich media content? (Select all that apply) Retail/CPG Financial Services Life Sciences Universities/Museums Lower overall costs 38% 41% 49% Improved business agility 53% 30% 28% Easier information sharing and collaboration 24% 19% 49% 37% Speed of implementation and deployment 30% 46% 31% To support a large number of mobile and remote users 15% 24% 44% 40% Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016

8 41% of businesses see lower costs and consider improved business agility as key advantages of using cloud-based DAM solutions. Improved business agility. A rapidly changing consumer environment requires companies to be agile and responsive to remain competitive. Cloud offers the agility to scale DAM solutions quickly as needed. It also reduces the time required for implementation and gets users up and running quickly. It comes as no surprise that business agility is an even greater priority for the digitally disrupted industries of retail/cpg, where 53% of respondents cited this as a chief reason for moving DAM to the cloud. Potentially lower overall costs. By purchasing DAM capabilities through a cloud-based model rather than as a full technology purchase, respondents believe they can reduce overall costs. When asked why they chose, or would choose, to use a cloud-based solution to manage rich media content, the most common response, at 41%, was to lower overall costs. Often firms prefer the monthly operating expense rather than an upfront license fee. Easier information sharing and collaboration. Tied closely with agility, companies want data to be more freely visible and accessible across the organization. This will enable greater synergies across business units and foster a more unified rich media strategy. FIGURE 7 Openness To Cloud Varies Depending On Content Stored Regardless of current cloud usage or interest in cloud, what type of content would your organization be comfortable putting in the cloud? (Select all that apply) Customer experience content Marketing/PR content General internal business content Learning management content 41% Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016 Security is also top of mind for many organizations, and our survey supports this, with 61% of survey respondents saying that security, risk, and compliance were their top concerns with moving rich media content to the cloud. One of the most common reasons organizations are hesitant to move content into the cloud is the concern of protecting consumers data. 2 To mitigate these risks, some firms look to private, cloud-based models, such as platform-as-aservice, in which the vendor manages the application in a single tenant cloud environment, or infrastructure-as-aservice, in which only the infrastructure is managed in the cloud. However, rich media content often comprises marketing content or content for consumer interaction, so security concerns about consumer privacy are moot. When asked which specific forms of content they would feel comfortable with putting in the cloud, 43% of respondents said that they were comfortable with consumer experience content and marketing content (see Figure 7). 43% of respondents said that they were comfortable putting consumer experience content and marketing content in the cloud. 43% 43% 42%

9 Key Recommendations Rich media content helps businesses create outstanding consumer experiences, which is good from both a marketing and consumer loyalty perspective. However, the challenges of effectively managing that content have become more apparent as volume grows. Businesses today struggle to integrate and share rich media content across the enterprise. This is a result of rich media content being stored in siloed business applications that serve merely as content repositories. Businesses need to create a clear DAM strategy and implement solutions to overcome the inefficiencies with both the creation and use of rich media content. To achieve this goal, you must: Re-imagine rich media strategies to engage with an increasingly distracted consumer. To keep consumers attention, firms must invest in more engaging content. A critical way to create engaging content is through rich media, as images, audio, and video are some of the most interactive and engaging content a firm can create. One CPG company, for example, partnered with parent bloggers to create online viral videos to promote marketing objectives and gain market attention. Re-evaluate your current rich media management approaches. Research data shows that rich media content is poised to grow exponentially. However, many firms lack a clear rich media content management approach and are trying to make do with other enterprise applications that don t focus on rich media. This approach creates challenges with content access, integration, and usability (specifically with emerging rich media formats such a facial recognition or text-to-speech). Enterprises need to examine and future-proof their rich media management approaches. Retool your rich media management strategies throughout the content life cycle. DAM solutions aren t just a parking lot for your rich media assets; they are rich media enablement tools. On top of managing content, DAM solutions improve creative and content processes so that organizations have more visibility into and control over content being created. This shortens time-to-market for new assets and helps adhere to brand governance standards. For regulated industries like healthcare, life sciences, and financial services, DAM provides reporting support for potential regulatory audits in the future. The content creation life cycle requires end-toend management, and enterprises need to align their tools to provide this capability. Revamp thinking from DAM silos to a coordinated digital technology ecosystem. DAM solutions must serve as the hub for interactive and rich content and integrate into other solutions that deliver that content (the spokes) in the marketplace. This hub/spoke model positions DAM solutions as content enablers and not merely content repositories. Enterprises need to leverage DAM solutions that work in concert with other parts of the digital ecosystem to create powerful customer experiences.

10 Appendix A: Methodology In this study, Forrester conducted a global online survey of 150 IT and business professionals responsible for decisions related to digital asset management. Respondents were from organizations with 500 employees and above in the US and Canada. Companies were from the retail/ CPG; banking and financial services; healthcare and life sciences; and universities and museums industries. Respondents were all at a manager level or higher within their organization. Respondents were offered a small incentive as a thank you for time spent on the survey. The survey was completed in January 2016. Appendix B: Survey Demographics FIGURE 8 Industry And Company Size Which of the following best describes the industry to which your company belongs? Universities/ museums, 23% Other 3% Retail/CPG, 23% Using your best estimate, how many employees work for your firm/organization worldwide? 10,000 employees or more 5,000 to 9,999 employees 19% 37% 1,000 to 4,999 employees 25% Life sciences, Banking and financial services, 25% 501 to 999 employees Base: 150 IT and business decision-makers responsible for decisions related to digital asset management Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant assetserv, January 2016 19% Appendix C: Endnotes 1 Source: Does Consumer Experience Really Drive Business Success? Forrester Research, Inc., July 15, 2015. 2 Source: An S&R Pro s Guide To Security To, In, And From The Cloud, Forrester Research, Inc., December 31, 2013.