Far too often, companies looking to implement DAM systems assume that their workflows and brand asset management needs are so unique, they can’t be met without custom DAM software solutions. They shell out untold oodles of money for bespoke from-the-ground up programming that they’ve been told must be done if their software and workflows are to work together harmoniously.

The Real Story Group has just published an update to its DAM vendor evaluation review. Here's the text of an email from The Real Story Group:

Note: You need to subscribe (or have subscribed) to The Real Story Group's DAM reports to access this content. If you're at an organization looking for a reliable source of information to inform your marketing asset management software decisions, this subscription is an investment worth considering.

Widen Enterprises, whose DAM offering (Media Collective) is among the DAM systems covered in The Real Group's report.

The much anticipated release of the new User Interface (UI) to the Widen Media Collective brings about a new look, new functionality and overall improved user experience for digital asset managers, publishers and consumers using the cloud-based DAM system.

The new UI project has included substantial usability testing, customer feedback, and the help of a third-party design firm, all of which challenged the long-time model of the mature Widen Collective product that’s been in existence since the early 2000′s.

The changes in the new UI are based on the idea of bringing the most important functions and elements of DAM to the most prominent positions. For example, the larger Quick Search bar is the most prominent element you see after you login, and the large asset preview is the first thing you see when you view more information about the asset.
 

The latest release includes a number of UI updates involving how your users search for, retrieve and share digital assets. General user updates within the DAM app include:

• Search within and faceted searching allowing for a powerful refine search
• Revised search results display which loads the previews as you scroll and Quick View
• All new concept of the Selection Panel to work with assets and replacing the “shopping cart”
• Addition of personal & global collections—a feature for grouping and sharing similar to Lightboxes
• HD video previews to go along with the on-demand transcoding and embed links

Other administrative improvements include: in-line editing of individual metadata fields, improved handling of editing metadata to assets in bulk, plus other batch editing improvements gained with the Selection Panel. The Admin tools were also updated to include streamlined administrative functions such as a new Role Creation Wizard and other “under-the-hood” performance improvements.

The overall modern theme and grey-scale colorization / application textures are modeled after popular design programs from the likes of Adobe, Apple, Avid, Flickr, Google, iStock and more.

Widen’s Project Services, Help Desk and Client Services teams will be helping all Widen Collective customers transition to the new User Interface through 2012. New UI updates are taking place with the core Digital Asset Management application and Admin Tools in 2011 and add-on modules for Project Collaboration and Dynamic Media Building will be updated in 2012.

Contact us with questions or to schedule a live online demo of the new UI.

Widen Collective customers can find new posts and videos showcasing an in depth review of the new UI changes and features at the new customer resource site www.widencollective.com.

Many companies that are evaluating Digital Asset Management solutions are often shocked to find out about what’s included with the Widen Media Collective. As a Software as a Service solution for DAM, you get more than just great technology, you get great service. What’s more, you only pay for what you use.

We like to think our service offering is like an all-inclusive vacation! With over fifteen years of providing digital media management as a service, Widen’s internal expertise continues to grow in serving the creative, marketing and I.T. demands for more than 120,000 users all over the world.


On the technology side, you get the following:

Widen’s roots, however, are in providing premedia services to creative and marketing workflows for over 60 years and we bring this experience to each deployment for our DAM customers.

On the service side, you get...

Can you believe it? All of this is provided for a modest upfront licensing & implementation fee and a low ongoing monthly subscription based on what you consume in storage and usage. Additional services and optional enhancements are provided a la carte.

Contact us or request a demo to learn more about what’s included with the Widen Collective Digital Asset Management system.

Have you ever made a technology purchase without fully being able to get your hands on the product? Sure, we all have. You wouldn’t buy a car without taking a test drive so you should do the same with your DAM system!

You’re hearing about all the benefits of digital asset management software... But, do you know how easy it can be to know what it’s like to get behind the steering wheel? Widen makes it simple to see, interact and relate our DAM tools to your workflows so you know exactly what you’re going to get before you sign on the dotted line.

Here's how...

Watch Recorded Product Demos
Watch short recorded demo videos introducing the key general user workflows of Widen digital asset management, video asset management, project collaboration, and dynamic media building applications in action.

Sign up for a Guest Pass
Take your self-guided tour of the Widen web-based digital asset management system with the ability to interact with sample assets. Search, view, collect, convert, share and download materials as most general users would.

Take the Scavenger Hunt
Take your self-guided tour to a new level with complete step-by-step tasks for searching, reviewing, selecting, ordering and building collections of assets within the Widen Media Collective demo site.

Request Your Live Online Product Demo
During your live online product demo, you will see key functionality of the Widen digital asset management system and be able to map out your use cases and workflows within Widen’s configurable tool sets. Need more than one demo for different groups within your organization? No problem!

View Admin Training Videos
Looking for more detailed demonstrations of Widen’s administrative features? Watch recorded training sessions to learn more about setting up asset groups, user roles and permissions for controlled access, developing metadata and taxonomies, uploading assets and adding metadata.

Play in Your Live Sandbox
Your live sandbox provides a unique hands-on opportunity for you and your pilot users to interact with your own digital assets within a Widen site. You can set up your own metadata schema, build your own filters, try out the governance features and get a complete understanding of what it’s like to use Widen DAM technology.

Widen wants to make it easy for you to try out digital asset management technology. Why? Because you shouldn't have to guess how it will work for you. And because you deserve to be a valued and satisfied customer.

Storage is a major concern in digital asset management. High resolution images and a corporate image library that houses hundreds of videos can put a strain on any server. Nevertheless, such challenges are easily overcome by hosting assets in the cloud. They can't slow down in-house servers because that's simply not where they are. However, even when you solve your own storage issues by using a software-as-a-service DAM system, users can run into issues when attempting to upload assets to blogs and websites.

The inclusion of digital assets is often highly beneficial to your marketing. But if you don't have the bandwidth to support this, then you’re out of luck. What if there was no way to embed those assets?

Fortunately, there is DAM software that makes it easy to embed assets int places like blogs and websites. It will also solve the challenges presented by storage issues at third party sites.

A key part of this solution is using DAM software that generates embed codes for assets. Embed codes provide a means of including an asset on a blog or other platform without needing to eat up storage and bandwidth allotted by that site. This can save you time and money in a number of ways:

Embed codes are quicker — They make it much quicker and easier to include digital assets on websites because all you have to do is copy the code and paste it into the proper place. Compare that to actually downloading the asset and then uploading it to its destination. Even if it takes just two minutes more to download and then upload an asset compared to the amount of time needed for each embed code, that extra two minutes is going to add up when you multiply the number of assets by the number of uses.

Embed codes save money — Not only do they save money in terms of increasing the productivity of system users, but they also save money on bandwidth costs. They can save the company quite a bit of money if storage limits are surpassed at blogs and other platforms. Freedom from worry about the costs of use means you can focus on strategy and not budget constraints.

Try out a demo of Widen digital asset management to see embed codes and other features in action.

Digital asset management is both simple and complicated. Although many companies have similar core needs, the more nuanced aspects of their DAM challenges vary.

Even if DAM software is easy to use, the potential for its application might not be immediately apparent. Then there are the updates, upgrades, system management, and storage concerns that must be faced by the IT department. These and other concerns often pose serious challenges to working with a DAM system. However, they also demonstrate the huge value of digital asset management programs offered in a software-as-a-service platform.

When you sign on for a software-as-a-service DAM system, some of the service benefits include:

• Help with implementing the system — It's not easy to correctly implement a DAM system. Several steps must be made, usually before a given deadline. A vendor might match your organization up with a project manager to help you stay on track.
• Training — With software-as-a-service offerings, you don't need to figure out how to use the system on your own. Administrators and general users alike can get training on how to maintain and run the system. This training can be done with videos, webinars, and other resources provided by the vendor.
• Help desk — This means so much more than a help feature that comes with other types of software. For a quality DAM system, it should include experts who are available via online chat, toll free numbers, and email. The help teams should also try to respond to concerns as quickly as possible and just as rapidly find the necessary solutions.
• Ongoing support — A company that offers quality service is going to give ongoing support. The goal is to ensure that the you’re always getting the most value possible of your DAM system.
• Consulting — Great customer service for digital asset management tools should also include a certain degree of consulting. This provides further ensures your system is adjusted to meet the dynamic workflow needs of your organization.
• Resources for production of assets — This refers to resources and tools that aid with the creation and editing of digital assets. These can include such features as page building services and photography.

To experience how your company can benefit from these and other services, take a demo of a DAM system developed by Widen today.

There are a number of different vertical markets adopting digital asset management software nowadays as organizations big and small are trying to manage a wealth of digital content. In this always-on, always-connected age where everyone is a publisher, the production and distribution of content to feed various devices and social channels is as mad as the Oklahoma land run of 1889.

The same need to manage and distribute content for marketers in manufacturing companies with widespread sales networks is much the same for destination marketing organizations (DMOs). These include departments of tourism, airlines, hospitality companies, tourist attractions, historic sites and theme parks.

I had a conversation with a customer at a state tourism office a few weeks ago about their experiences with managing digital assets. We talked about some remarkable points worth noting here.

We talk a lot about the fact that one of DAM software’s benefits is an increase in the return on marketing investments that comes from encouraging greater repurposing. However, this customer explained that the primary benefit of their DAM system is the “protection of investments.”

Core Benefits

By protecting investments, DAM provides a secure, central location for all visual assets, which DMOs are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire or create. DAM allows all vendors and partners, including agencies and key media contacts, access to one intuitive digital media library with permission to see only what they should see through segmented user access controls.

Nearly all marketing organizations are operating with very lean staffs and PR groups. DAM empowers internal teams to focus on core tasks and not fulfilling media requests. “DAM facilitates non-duplicating efforts,” said our contact with this particular government tourism agency. DAM software provides on-demand file transformation services so you can get the file you need in the format needed for your job in just two clicks.

Legally Safe

Further into the conversation, we talked about how DAM keeps the DMO "legally safe" by keeping and tracking talent releases and usage rights with the secure content. DAM tools help keep an audit trail of all usage.

Another great point is that DAM enables longevity and continuity of marketing operations because it allows DMOs to move from one agency to another without worrying where their assets are. That makes a lot of sense -- especially to organizations that depend on their agency partners to get the word out, yet they want the agility to be able to move from one agency to another without losing any existing work.

DAM improves media relations and fosters greater publicity. By providing a professional, intuitive, self-serve resource to travel writers and editors with access to top-quality images with usage rights in tact, writers and editors are like "kids in a candy store." The convenience and quality offered by a web-based DAM system encourages repeat usage, increasing coverage, more publicity and greater exposure for the destinations.

More Horsepower

The last part of the conversation got really interesting as we talked about how DAM provides the DMO added marketing horsepower downstream. The core benefits of DAM provide more marketing power for all constituents (while also protecting the investments in accordance with usage rights).

It empowers creative types to access and put to immediate use powerful imagery at a moment's notice; versus having to sit back and wait. Everyone knows creatives hate to wait!

And for IT, a DAM-enabled marketing organization provides them the assurance that $300,000 worth of images are not sitting in a box in the back room that nobody knows about. Instead, those invaluable images lives in a secure, search-able, accessible system that can generate $900 million in revenue.

Can you relate? Share your story with other marketers looking for ways to best manage the explosion of content. Leave a comment or contact us.

Request a guided tour to see how the Widen Media Collective can help your marketing organization.

You do a lot with your digital media. What if you could do a lot... better? Digital asset management programs come in many shapes and sizes. Because organizational DAM needs vary, so do the solutions that are available. Still, good DAM systems generally provides at least a few common benefits. Those core benefits include the ability to easily:

Find things — DAM systems make it easy to find the assets you’re looking for. This is a principle foundation of any quality DAM system. Search in a DAM system is only as good as the metadata attached to assets. A software-as-a-service (SaaS) DAM system is particularly useful in this respect, as the vendor may help the system administrators determine the best taxonomy and metadata to employ.

Organize things — Good digital asset management tools make it easy to form collections and groups out of assets in multiple categories. This is especially helpful for marketing campaigns that target particular segments of the population, but draw from a variety of assets.

Share things — Easy and efficient communication among a group of people with the same goals is one of the main keys to quickly reaching objectives. A good DAM system makes it easy to share assets and collaborate with others in your marketing team or with external marketing partners.

Get things — A DAM system also has to make it easy to download assets from the system after retrieving them from a digital image library. Cloud-based DAM systems in particular let users download available assets 24 hours a day, anywhere in the world, as long as they have an Internet connection.

Use things — Assets can be downloaded but if they aren't available in the correct formats, they become more difficult (or impossible) to use. This is why quality DAM systems perform automatic file conversions; this way, assets can be quickly employed for any number of uses.

Take a free trial of Widen software-as-a-service DAM to experience the basic benefits of a DAM system.
 

Forrester Research recently released its first Wave Report, in which the independent research firm offers marketers in search of DAM insights its findings on the digital asset management marketplace. Whatever your DAM needs, the Forrester Wave Report is a good place to start your vendor search.

Widen Enterprises was named a “contender” and emerging player in the DAM space. Forrester also recognized our small IT footprint, our lower price point, and the ease of implementing our system.

These are just some of the things that have made the Widen Media Collective attractive to stellar brands in manufacturing, higher education, healthcare, medical technology, and various other verticals. Whatever the industry, we understand our customers’ need to more effectively manage and distribute their brand assets.

There are lots of DAM vendors out there, but Widen was one of just 12 DAM vendors evaluated by Forrester. As a 100 percent pure SaaS DAM provider, We’re glad to be considered worthy of inclusion in the research. With 97 percent customer retention, a unique educational resource site and plenty of opportunities for our users to engage with and learn from the rest of the user community, we know that our Software-as-a-Service DAM offering will continue help our customers build their brands to new levels.

We’re also committed to ensuring that Widen Media Collective users are always getting cutting-edge technology that gives them a competitive advantage. Our move to the cloud, new API, and revamped UI are just some examples of the improvements we make year-round. Version 6.1 of Collective, coming this week, will include several highlights, like a new uploader with admin wizard, a data exporter (replacing reporter), and a new Media Builder UI.

To purchase the Forrester Wave Report, follow this link. Let us know what you think.

Want to see our DAM software in action? Request a live demo or watch out recorded demo videos here.

Earlier today, we announced a pretty big new product update. In case you missed it, here's a snippet from the press release:

The Latest Iteration of the Madison, Wisconsin-Based DAM Software Provider's Offering Is Built for a More Efficient User Experience and Increased Control Over Digital Assets

MADISON, WI--(Marketwire - Jun 19, 2012) - Widen Enterprises, a Madison, Wisconsin-based digital asset management (DAM) software and premedia services company, has updated its software-as-a-service (SaaS) DAM offering to version 6.1. The latest iteration of its cloud-based DAM software, called Media Collective, brings a functionality changes that enhance the efficiency and usefulness of the system at various points in the digital asset lifecycle.

"With the 6.1 upgrade comes polish and features that we know users will appreciate right away. For example, the new Upload Wizard speeds up the upload process for all users and helps administrators add metadata as part of the upload process. Collections are now easier to use, with a new slide show function for users that receive shared links. With the new technology we have put in place over the past year, we have all sorts of new ways we can enhance the user experience," said Widen Software Development & Infrastructure Manager Deanna Ballew.

Highlights of the Media Collective update to version 6.1 include:

Enhanced upload workflow - The new Upload Wizard allows users with the appropriate permissions to add metadata, adjust security settings, assign categories and add assets to collections -- all as part of the upload process. In addition, the new upload process includes drag-and-drop support across all browsers and operating systems and image editing features.

Read the rest of the press release.

Al Falaschi and Josey Siegenthaler lead a webinar training on Media Collective version 6.1's new features.

As a follow-on to the CMSWire article “Have You Audited Your Digital Assets Lately?” by Henrik de Gyor, we thought we’d share a guide to help you audit your digital asset management system.

This Digital Asset Management Site Audit was developed for Widen Media Collective customers. However, the format can be adopted for just about any DAM solution as a way to evaluate, improve and optimize the structure of your DAM system and, in turn, the use of your brand assets.

As you go through these steps, keep in mind Widen client service teams can help you complete your digital asset management site audit!

1. Start with a “Snapshot.”
Take a look at your current status and how things have changed since your system launch date including quantity of users, quantity of digital assets and total storage. This will provide a good high-level overview for tracking growth over time.

2. Who makes up your user base?
Who are your most active users? Take a look at the top users by number of logins.

Who are your top contributors? Take a look at the top users by number of uploads.

What about inactive users? These are users that have never logged in or haven’t logged in in the last 12 months.

An audit of your user base will help you identify the “power users” you can turn to for feedback and guidance. A look at the inactive users will show you who to better communicate with or remove from your system to protect the security of the site its contents.

3. Examine your user Roles and Permissions.
How are your roles structured? At the most basic level, you have top-level admins with full permissions over all the features, users and contents of the system. On the opposite end, you have your general users with limited access to find and download current assets intended for that group.

In between, you have countless roles of sub-level admins, including: asset admins who may have permission to upload and/or add & edit metadata; user admins creating tiers of administration over other groups of users; and various other roles that may have partial access over other features like embedding videos, publishing to social networks and building ads & brochures.

Knowing how to segment your users is just as important as knowing how to segment your customers.

Your Roles and Permissions table includes:

• Name and description of each role
• Number of users assigned to each role
• Hierarchy of admin tiers     

A careful examination of your user Roles and Permissions will help identify redundancies and holes in your structure. It protects the security of your site and your assets, ensures the right people have the right access to the right assets, and can help you simplify the management of the users, including coaching, training and promotion.

4. How ‘bout them digital assets!?
An audit of your digital assets provides a breakdown of all the digital assets; including types, use and what is being uploaded and downloaded.

What are your top 10 most ordered assets? Provide a look at the filename and description in addition to the asset previews.

What is the breakdown of asset storage by file type (images, video, audio, PDF, Office, etc.) with number of files and storage breakout.

Next, what’s going in and what’s coming out? Report on Asset Uploads by Quarter and Asset Orders by Quarter.

5. How are you segmenting your asset groups?
Look at your asset groups to see how the permissions are matched up with the appropriate user roles. An audit provides a list of the current Asset Groups (with description) with quantity of assets assigned to each group.

6. What are Asset Upload Profiles?
Asset upload profiles are the portals for configuring the default settings for security including asset group assignment and release/expiration dates, collection & category associations and batch metadata entry for all assets ingested using that profile.

It’s important to know what these are and keep the settings current!

7. Let’s optimize that search structure!
How are your categories doing? Are they relevant? Are they redundant? Do they help users find what they’re looking for?

Keep in mind that you can have as many as you need and these can be multiple levels deep, but you don’t want more than you can know, maintain and expect your users to use. With Widen’s faceted search, your categories can be seen as a starting point for search, but the filters will help your users refine as they go. Use spotlights to signal the top-level categories you want to draw attention to.

Review your metadata schema(s). What different metadata types and fields are you using? Should you have different fields for different groups of assets? Also, use controlled fields with discrete values (checkboxes, drop-downs and palettes) wherever possible! This will help you standardize metadata entry and empower your users with more intelligent search filters.

Do your new assets contain any embedded file data - EXIF/IPTC/XMP? That stuff can be mapped to searchable metadata fields upon import. It’s repurposaceous!
 
Last, do take a look at Global Collections! It’s a fairly new feature that enables you to group assets independent of category groupings. It can be quite handy for photoshoots, lightboxes, campaigns, events, product launches and other promotions.

8. Check in on that Administration Dashboard.
Saving the easier steps for later, your Administration Dashboard provides an up-close look at all the maintenance areas needing your attention, including:

User-Related Tasks: Expired/Expiring Users, Pending Registration Requests, Unapproved Orders, Users without Roles, Asset Related Tasks, and Assets with Empty Required Metadata.

Asset Related Tasks: Assets without Categories, Conflicted Asset Uploads, Deleted Assets, Expired Assets, Expiring or Unavailable Assets with Embed Codes, Lost Assets (without asset groups) and Unreleased/Pending Admin Approval Assets.

9. What optional features should you be taking advantage of?
We issue upgrades to Collective about four times per year, so there are likely several optional enhancements that you don’t currently have activated, but could benefit greatly from. Some of the more popular ones include:

• Versioning
• Alerts & Watching
• Watermarking
• Video & Audio Transcoding
• Embed Codes
• Social Publishing
• Dynamic Media Building
• API

10. What can you gain from Google Analytics Insights?
Widen Collective has Google Analytics profiles set up for every client, which makes for a nice complement to the admin setup and export tools Widen provides.

Some the added visitor and usage insights you can gain from Google Analytics include:

Visitor (user) overviews involving quantity of visits, unique visitors, pageviews, time on site, bounce rate and new visits.

Visitor (user) segmentation showing countries/geographies, languages, browsers & operating systems, screen resolutions and mobile devices used to access your site.

Powerful search insights showing top keywords used, keyword trends month-to-month, top categories used and category trends month-to-month. A comparison of total keyword and category searches can indicate which is a more popular search method among your users. That helps you, the admin, understand where to focus more effort into optimizing your site structure.
 

The upcoming 6.2 release will make running a digital asset management site audit go really smoothly, with the release of an all new Analytics interface showing key site management data displays.

Better yet, we know you’re busy. If you need help putting together a digital asset management site audit, just ask and the Widen Client Development team will help!

In our first Broadcast Google+ Hangout, we joined Mark Davey of the DAM Foundation for his first look at new Media Collective features in more than a year.

Chris Rewey, one of Widen's DAM advisers, led the demo, showing Mark what's new in versions 6.0 and 6.1.

To see more of our hosted digital asset management software, check out our three demo options.

Attendees Will Include Representatives From Widen Customers in Manufacturing, Medical Technology, Apparel, Advertising, Higher Education and Other Industries

MADISON, WI -- Widen Enterprises' digital asset management (DAM) software is known in the DAM industry not just for quality, but also for the excellent customer service that comes with the product. Yet Widen customers rarely interact with the Madison-based software company face-to-face.

That will change drastically September 17-19, when about a hundred Widen software users representing dozens of brands from all over the world will converge on downtown Madison -- at the Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club -- to learn best practices and share insights on how best to manage their expansive digital asset libraries (that is, their marketing images, documents, video, and other digital media).

"I don't think we could be more excited about this event," said Jake Athey, Widen Marketing Manager. "We pride ourselves on -- and our customers value -- the personal, partnership-style relationships we develop with users of our software. Finally gathering a large group in one place to share knowledge and fun is going to take those relationships to whole new levels."

Topics covered at learning sessions will include best practices in metadata, building software user adoption, personnel and administration structure, and the future of Widen's software-as-a-service DAM. Attendees will also have the opportunity to provide ideas on what they want to see next in the product, receive personalized training, and guidance in developing plans to take back to their respective organizations.

Brands represented at the inaugural Widen User Summit will include, among others:

• HON
• Trek Bicycle
• AO North America
• Glanbia Nutritionals
• Carl Zeiss Microscopy
• Colosseum Athletics
• Krueger International
• Knaack
• Messer
• Webroot
• Cornell University
• Pentair
• Kerry Ingredients & Flavors
• Allsteel
• Mercury Marine
• Dorel
• American Woodmark
• Shenandoah Cabinetry
• Waypoint Living Spaces
• Brady

The event will incorporate learning sessions (led by Widen staff as well as outside thought leaders) and panel discussions featuring some of Widen's customers. There will also be entertainment by Chicago-based sketch comedy group The Second City (also a user of Widen DAM software) and Madison magician Matthew Teague.

"Of course, our objective is to ensure our customers take valuable skills and insights back to their organizations. But we're also playing host in a city we're proud of. We want to make sure they not only have a good time, but tell people back home how much they liked Madison," said Widen CEO Matthew Gonnering, who InBusiness Madison recently named one of Madison's "40 Under 40."

To that end, Widen will be allowing time for conferees to explore the downtown Madison area. Groups will break off and visit local restaurants for at least one meal, as well as any late-night fun they might want to have.

Widen has aggressive growth plans, and the company expects this to translate into growth in the size of its annual event over the coming years.

"After this first go, we'll have plenty of customer reactions, video and other materials to give people a better idea of what attending would entail. We managed to attract about 100 people with little more than a reputation and a plan," said Marketing Coordinator Nicolás Jiménez. "Next year will be big."

For more information, visit widenusersummit.com.

It's much harder to take that first step into the DAM rabbit hole if you can't see where exactly it leads. That's why we've created this infographic to give you a better idea of what it's like to take the Widen digital asset management journey.

(Click here for the full infographic.)

From implementation to support to ongoing development, this graphic will help you understand what it's like to have Widen and the Media Collective on your side.

It’s not unusual to hear vendors, analysts, consultants and others answer questions about how much you should expect to invest in DAM software with shockingly high numbers — millions at the high end, hundreds of thousands at the low end.

When you hear these estimates, it’s important to account for the assumptions that figure into them, as well as whether those assumptions actually line up with your marketing and digital asset management needs.

Not every organization needs to solve their marketing workflow needs by building a DAM system. In fact, the organizations with needs so unique they can only be met with bespoke solutions are few and far between. Even among those companies with custom systems, there are many that are are overspending to reinvent the DAM wheel.

Don’t let their stories scare you.

At Widen, we place the emphasis on meeting your needs through configurations, not customizations. Your story is one-of-a-kind, but that doesn’t mean the tools you use to tell it have to be. After all, you take notes on paper at meetings — and somehow you managed that without bringing on a team of consultants and designers to build you new pens and pencils.

Why would you treat DAM software any differently?

We know digital media. For decades, we’ve been knee deep in the creation, management and distribution of brand assets. That’s why organizations like Trek Bicycle, Solo Cup, DirecTV, Siemens, Kohler and others trust us and our DAM software to get the job done. And we do it at a cost that’s affordable without sacrificing the return you get on your DAM investment. Our system is flexible to address each of our customer’s unique needs with a little switch flipping — not a months- or years-long software development endeavor.

Still, you should put thought into the DAM choices your organization makes — and we want to make sure you find the best-fit solution, regardless of whether it’s ours. So we’ve taken to offering complimentary DAM consultations in which our advisers will hear you out and work with you to understand what you need to accomplish and which software can help get you there.

Sign up for your free 30-minute consultation today.

Navigating the sea of digital asset management options and information is no easy task. There are plenty of different vendors out there — each with a set of strengths, features and pricing options that sets it apart.

Understanding which software solution is the best fit begins with understanding the range of your own needs and what your current processes are costing you. It takes a combination of software, business acumen, problem solving skills and digital media knowhow that few organizations can offer you all at once.

Widen, however, is one of those few.

Since 1948, Widen Enterprises has been deeply engaged in media workflows. We got our start in engraving for newspapers. Today, we’re involved in many aspects of the “digital asset lifecycle” — from the creation and editing of assets through our premedia services to their distribution, management and expiration through our DAM software. That means that people who work with Widen do so with confidence — that we know what we’re doing better than anyone else, that we can offer expert guidance, and that we can help them move the needle on their business goals by empowering them to focus on what they do best.

What’s more, that relationship starts even before you sign on the dotted line. Whether you’re just starting your DAM research or are on the cusp of making your final decision, we offer complimentary DAM software consultations. No commitments, no sales. Just our people and their years of experience in the field helping you think through the ways digital asset management can positively impact your business and the myriad of digital asset management software providers with whom you may want to partner.

Want to get started? Request a free consultation and we’ll work with you to find a time that works.

Users of the Wisconsin Company's DAM Software From 67 Companies in 28 Vertical Markets Joined the Widen Team for Two Days of Digital Asset Management Learning, Networking and Skill-Building

MADISON, WI -- Widen Enterprises, a Madison-based provider of digital asset management software and premedia services hosted about 100 users of its digital media software for its inaugural Widen User Summit. Professionals in marketing, creative, photography, web design, knowledge management and information technology came together at the Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club to exchange insights and pick up new skills to help their organizations.

"There are a lot of DAM software events out there, but it's only when everyone is using the same damn... I mean, DAM system that you can get into the nitty gritty and give people information that's immediately actionable and valuable to them and their brands," said Widen CEO Matthew Gonnering.

Through panel discussions, demonstrations and small group breakouts, the Summit programming touched on the following topics:

• The Widen Service Model
• Best practices from top industry experts
• Metadata & taxonomy development
• User adoption and expansion programs
• Personnel and positioning viewpoints
• Site optimization and continuous improvement processes

Discussion leaders and participants included Widen customers, industry experts and other practitioners, many of whom are known to those who attend DAM software conferences hosted by groups like Createasphere and Henry Stewart Events.

"I think it's much more practical, in terms of getting information you can actually use, when everybody is talking about the same system. And it's much better for finding solutions to your own problems because you know that other people have solved those same problems using the system you already have access to," said Corey Chimko of the Cornell University Photography Department.

The event also provided a look at Widen's latest software advancements, including the upcoming release of Media Collective version 6.2, which represents the completion of the company's Tapestry 5 framework upgrade, API advancements, a new Analytics app, technology integration partnerships with Digimarc and ConceptShare, and new services including strategy consulting and administrative services.

The second day of the Summit consisted of breakout sessions covering:

• Feedback & ideas on the Widen Media Collective, including video, social, mobile, API extensions, analytics and collaboration.
• Training and best practices in user role structures and metadata and taxonomy.
• Creating action plans on metadata development, premedia workflows, user engagement, site audits and optimization.

It might have been Widen's first event of this size and scope, but attendees came away from it ready for more.

"It was a terrific experience and I cannot wait to do it again next year," said Lisa Gauvin of The Yankee Candle Company.

Content from the event can be found at WidenUserSummit.com.

The date for next year's Widen User Summit, which will also be hosted in Madison, has been set for September 23-25.

Using digital assets has become inescapable in modern marketing. Online video content and high-resolution images are used in everything from websites and social media to broadcast ads. We see them every time we shop online, watch viral videos or “poke” our friends (do people still poke?). Because we’re so used to digital being the first option, many believe new media are pushing print to extinction. Especially given the popularity of e-reader devices (like the Amazon Kindle), it’s easy to jump to that conclusion.

Still, print is far from going the way of the Dodo and a company that relies exclusively on digital marketing campaigns could be shooting itself in the foot. While it’s true that digital channels are critically important, print has its advantages and can sometimes go where other media can’t.

Thing is, your print media a collateral is built digitally. So why wouldn’t you think of DAM software as being useful in supporting those workflows as well? In fact, with a digital asset management system that can perform on-the-fly file conversions, it shouldn’t make a difference where your assets are destined to end up.

One aspect of the publishing world gives us an interesting look at how print and digital communications can feed off one another.

Some printed publications are even increasing in popularity despite digital versions also being available. One such example is the comic book. According to an article by Seth Rosenblatt on CNET, orders for printed comics by Direct Market comic shops are up 18 percent in 2012 and there have been more than 300,000 preorders for issue 100 of the popular Walking Dead series. In the same article, Todd Martinez, the sales and licensing coordinator for Image Comics, explains that some of the higher sales in printed comics stems from their promotion as collector’s items in online versions. A lot of readers buy the digital version first but then also end up purchasing printed copies. Martinez also indicates that they are attracting more readers by offering a wider variety of high quality comics.

Companies hoping to connect with customers in comics and other print media platforms need to make sure that their digital asset management programs can be used for creating high quality print ads in addition to digital asset advertising.

To experience digital asset management tools that facilitate marketing in both print and digital platforms, sign up for a free trial of a Widen DAM system today.

At the inaugural Widen User Summit in Madison a few weeks back, Lisa Gauvin - an associate marketing manager at the Yankee Candle company - talked about the time savings the Widen digital asset management solution has provided to their marketing operations. 

The digital asset management ROI model for Yankee Candle is summarized with a before and after illustration showing an average of 10 days saved per request for images. Before Widen DAM, Yankee Candle’s process for fulfilling requests for image assets took anywhere from eight days on average to 15 days on the other extreme depending on the complexity of the project.

After the Widen digital asset management solution was put in place, Yankee Candle had this process down to less than 10 minutes. The key value the Widen DAM solution has brought to Yankee Candle company is that it allows for simple, self-serve access to the exact files that Yankee Candle dealers need to carry out marketing campaigns, advertising and promotions. Nevermore is it resting on the shoulders of a single traffic coordinator to fulfill manual requests via CD shipments. As you can imagine, the reduction in labor and consumables (CDs, DVDs and shipping materials) provides for a significant hard-dollar cost savings as well.

What’s your favorite method for showing digital asset management ROI? Leave a comment or contact us to talk further.