DAM versus PIM
Do you sometimes get lost in all the systems that organizations use to manage their operations? You’re probably not the only one who thinks that DAM and PIM are simple abbreviations meant to hide complicated systems.
If you know that these acronyms stand for Digital Asset Management and Product Information Management, then you already have an idea of their usefulness. But what exactly do they mean? What do you use which system for? And what are the benefits of integrating the two?
Digital Asset Management
Digital Assets are all the pieces of content (copy, photos, videos, graphic designs, audio files etc.) that an organization has. A DAM system helps you preserve, manage and share them from one central location. In the DAM system, the digital assets are organized based on the specific needs of an organization. All stakeholders (employees, customers, partners etc.) have controlled, secure access and can find what they need quickly and easily.
Product Information Management
A PIM system collects all product information. Organizations with a wide and rapidly changing product range know how difficult it is to always use the right up-to-date product information in their communication. All departments within an organization benefit from managing product information in a central PIM system. Everyone has access to the correct data and the content creation process is accelerated and simplified. PIM is becoming increasingly valuable with the rise of e-commerce and multichannel marketing.
Differences and similarities between DAM and PIM
Nice! So DAM manages our digital assets and PIM our product information. Two different worlds. Right?
No, they are not! For example, anyone who has to set up a marketing campaign likes to have attractive, creative content and the right product specifications.
Each company, each organization has its own specific needs. These determine whether your organization will benefit from a DAM or a PIM system, or both. Let’s put them side by side for a moment.
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|
DAM |
PIM |
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Central management of |
Digital assets |
Product information |
|
Mainly used by |
Marketing |
Development, production |
|
Specific advantages |
|
|
|
Shared benefits |
|
|
The overview above clearly shows that DAM and PIM have different purposes, they work with different data and are essentially used by different departments within an organization. But bottom line they do the same thing: managing data and making sure it is easily accessible and used optimally with the right permissions.
A manufacturing company that works white label and doesn’t market any of its own products might benefit much more from a PIM than a DAM system. A retail organization that distributes a new folder every week with different products on sale each time, cannot do without DAM (and will benefit greatly from integration with a PIM). So the needs depend on the nature of the business.
Integrating DAM and PIM
The major problem in many organizations is the use of different stand-alone systems, from which data must be transferred from one to the other. Often the right data is hard to find and people have to work in systems they are not familiar with. If they do find the desired data, it is sometimes stored locally on a computer. Data gets scattered and control and management (and the value of the management systems) is lost.
An integration of DAM and PIM prevents this. It also offers additional benefits and makes 1+1 more than 2! By connecting DAM and PIM, organizations integrate all their product information with all their digital assets. This can be automated to a large extent according to the needs of the users. It goes without saying that the marketing person finds peace of mind when they no longer have to worry whether the information they are broadcasting is correct.
Because DAM optimizes the storage and searchability of the asset library, it also helps categorize products in the PIM system. In this way, both systems become fully searchable in the same way and different users can be given the correct access rights. A good taxonomy and metadata are the key to success.
With an integration of DAM and PIM, collaboration improves, efficiency increases and your brands become stronger in the market. Both your employees and your customers will benefit!
Source: bynder.com
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