Media Asset Management (MAM) systems like Imagen can help businesses deal with the demands of modern business in many ways. They can bring together disparate content repositories into a unified, highly searchable media library; enable easy, 24/7 sharing and asset licensing; while cloud-based solutions offer powerful scalability and more robust security.
They can also enable greater collaboration between departments and employees.
After all, according to data from the Global Mobile Workforce Forecast Update, employees now spend 50 percent more time collaborating in meetings and on the phone with teams than they did a few years ago. Studies have also found that well-established collaboration can not only improve innovation in companies but also decrease employee churn.
How can a MAM help business collaboration?
A high quality, cloud-based MAM implementation has collaboration baked into its very DNA. As previously mentioned, it can provide a single repository for all of a company’s media assets – something that can be quite a luxury after dealing with ad-hoc, decentralised systems.
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This means that content is available to any authorised user, whether it’s a company’s latest branded marketing assets, a corporate keynote or a training video. By taking the time to tag every upload with descriptive metadata, whatever content employees need is only a search, a preview and an Accelerated File Delivery away.
The benefits of the cloud
The most flexible systems are also browser based, so any desktop or net-connected device can access a central content repository, whether it’s remote, at home or behind the corporate firewall. This improves flexibility, while also maintaining a straightforward workflow.
As well as herding media assets into a single system, a good MAM also allows standardised workflow to be automated according to business use cases. This might involve requiring specific fields, completing permission allocations, or applying a template to commonly-uploaded media. With Imagen, we enable highly granular permissions and roles to be created, so much of this workflow management can be centrally administered. This allows users to get on with their day jobs rather than battling administrative tasks.
Content sharing made easy
With a single reference point and baked-in workflows, employee collaboration is facilitated, but the ease of internal and external sharing of content enabled by a MAM is vital for successful collaboration. Because content is already stored in the cloud, sharing is as complex as sharing a secure download link. This is even simpler within internal teams, where colleagues can be automatically notified when a new piece of content is ready to be viewed.
While fostering collaboration is often about removing barriers and simplifying procedures, it is important that valuable/sensitive content is not totally accessible to all comers – potentially leaking business-critical information, or encouraging piracy.
Bringing the right people together
One answer to this is to offer support for existing enterprise Single Sign On and finely-configurable access control, which Imagen includes as standard. The former allows established systems to be used seamlessly with the MAM, reducing admin and duplication. While the latter is a powerful tool in protecting IP, as well as cutting down on red tape.
Not only can users be prevented from moving or deleting content by accident, but different teams can have access to different workgroups enabled by default, ensuring that individuals are immediately in contact with their key collaborators in the enterprise, whether in a local office environment, or as part of a global function. Overall, the need for collaboration in increasingly cloud based and globalised enterprises is growing rapidly. While there are many aspects to fostering a strongly collaborative culture, ensuring that workflows and processes are designed with employee collaboration front-and-centre is an essential part of the mix.
