The best DAM system in 2023

Today, every company, every club and every other organisation has a large amount of digital content to manage, including photos, videos, Office files, animations and other multimedia content. These are also called assets. A digital asset management system (DAM) helps to store and organise this digital content. This means it can not only be found again quickly and easily, but also shared and published in just a few clicks.

The age of USB sticks and hard drives is over. But which DAM system should you choose, and which parameters do you need to consider? We have compared the most important DAM systems on the market and show you the differences.

First of all, you should decide whether the software is to be installed and operated on your own network (on-premise) or whether you would rather opt for a cloud solution. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. With the former, the company itself is responsible for the data. This also means costs for maintenance, staff and support. Protection against natural disasters is likewise the responsibility of the company. Updates also have to be handled in-house. On the other hand, access is possible without an internet connection. If you opt for a cloud solution instead, you should definitely make sure that the servers are located in Europe, ideally in Germany. For companies with particularly sensitive data, storing the data twice in different data centres is also a good idea to guarantee data redundancy.

If you rely on a provider that delivers regular updates, a cloud-based software solution generally lets you be confident that the system meets current market standards and does not become outdated. To test whether the DAM system meets your own requirements, a free trial period is recommended. Reputable providers who believe in their own system usually offer one of their own accord.

If you have employees who want to access the data from home or on the move, the digital asset management system should also be available on mobile devices. Ideally, the DAM system also works without an app in a normal browser.

The number of people who will ultimately use the system is also important, because it determines the price of the system. Some providers charge several hundred euros a year for administrative users. For larger companies, this can quickly lead to very high monthly costs.

Depending on the provider, there are usually different packages, some of them with individual rights management. For example, you can define which user only gets read access and who is allowed to change, delete or upload files. In many systems, these rights are predefined and cannot be customised. Other providers let you both create individual rights and set up individual roles.

For companies or organisers with live events, DAM solutions that allow uploads directly from photo and video cameras are a good fit. If you also work a lot with external imagery, you should look for well-structured usage rights management when choosing the right management software. Good DAM systems let you store metadata such as copyright holders, usage periods or general copyright notices.

Want to quickly send data that is not in the system to a customer or colleague? This is possible if the software has an integrated file-sharing service. This is particularly interesting for companies that coordinate a lot with suppliers. Some DAM systems also offer a review mode for this, which allows comments directly on images or video footage. Hardly any provider restricts the amount of data you can upload. Often it is simply a question of cost whether you have 250 GB, 500 GB or several terabytes of storage available. The price for 1 TB is around 2,000 euros/year with some providers, but only 500 euros/year with others. The differences here are sometimes considerable.

Companies or organisers that want to publish their products or images in the form of media or press portals should pay close attention to the look and design of these portals when choosing the right DAM. We recommend a provider that lets you use your own corporate design, so that the portals created with the software resemble your own website in appearance. It is also important that you can use your own URL, so that the DAM provider itself does not appear.

Want to get started right away with one of the best digital asset management systems of 2023? Then we recommend a free trial account with VAULO. Register at app.vaulo.com in just one minute, with no obligation!