One of the first steps to implementing a digital asset management solution (DAM), is to research possible vendors to find the best fit for you. As you start evaluating DAM vendors, it’s important to come prepared with your desired outcomes, and talk about more than just the individual features of the system. After all, you’re investing in a DAM to provide long-term solutions for specific challenges that your organization is facing, so you need to make sure the DAM you choose can contribute and deliver on your overall goals.

Here are five questions to ask yourself, so you can better align with vendors on long-term strategy, as well as features and capabilities, in order to choose the right solution for your team.

1. How many users & user groups will you need?

Prior to meeting with a vendor, it’s important to understand how many different departments will be using the system and how many people from each department will have access.

• Do you currently have a large employee count?
• Do you plan on growing your team in the near future?
• Do you plan on opening up the DAM for your entire organization?

A DAM can act as the foundation of your assets - not only for the internal marketing department, but for your entire organization. The DAM can break down communication silos between departments and keep the entire organization on-brand and fluid if everyone is using it, plus, you can give permissions for external partners to access the DAM whenever it’s needed.

Why does it matter?

Users and user groups are a tool that can be used to collaborate easily with other departments, agencies, vendors, contractors, graphic designers, and other stakeholders. The level of user group permissions available, as well as the user pricing structure can have a huge impact on the scalability of your DAM.

2. How much training & support will you need?

Before choosing a DAM vendor, you need to understand how much you will depend on them for support and training.

• Are you looking for all support to come from from the vendor, or do you plan to handle some of it in-house?
• If you’re taking on the support role internally, what does that look like for your organization?
• How will you encourage system adoption?
• Is your internal IT department able to take on another application?
• Will you be training users in phases? How will that impact roll-out?

These are all questions to answer well in advance of putting a DAM in place—your choice needs to be sustainable for your team.

Why does it matter?

DAM features - no matter how advanced - are only useful if people know they exist (and understand how to use them). Getting users trained in the DAM is a huge portion of implementation. For many organizations, having support and training provided by the vendor itself is a critical factor for both growth and adoption, something that should be highly valued.

3. What are your objectives and goals with the DAM?

You should always arrive to a demo prepared with notes on what’s important to you, your team, and your overall business in the context of a DAM. Additionally, you should ask questions that help to truly reveal the alignment (or lack thereof) between the vendor and your objectives:

• What are the pain points you’re experiencing today?
• What SMART goals are you trying to achieve with the DAM project?
• How does the DAM fit in with your overall business strategy?

Be prepared with specific examples and business outcomes that you’re trying to achieve, not just a list of features you like. One example of a challenge and outcome could be:

Our company is growing significantly and the number of people looking for brand assets has also grown. Within the first year, we want to reduce the number of asset requests that our creative team receives by 50%, so they can focus on their top priority work.

Why does it matter?

Not all vendors will follow the same path for solving a problem. Communicating your business’ challenges and desired outcomes, in addition to ideal features, will give you a better picture of if the DAM will truly help to mitigate the issues your team is facing. It also allows you to compare apples to apples, and not just be sold on the first DAM you demo.

4. How will you measure success?

Digital asset management projects can sometimes be put at risk (either during the initial purchase or down the road), if the right people aren't involved early on, or if there's a misalignment in goals. Prior to meeting with vendors, ensure stakeholders are aligned on the following:

• Who will be the decision makers on the purchase?
• What does DAM success look like to you and your organization?
• How will return-on-investment (ROI) for the DAM project be measured?
• Are there potential roadblocks that you foresee?

Bringing success criteria with you to the demo can enable the vendor to equip you with the battle cards needed to get the project pushed through and prioritized within your organization.

Why does it matter?

A DAM is an investment, and you need to be prepared to defend it. When asking for funding for a DAM, there’s a higher chance the spend will be approved if both management and executive-level roles understand how the system is aligned with your overall business objectives. Here are some specific questions to address with your c-suite.

5. What’s your future vision for the DAM?

When you have a long-term vision for your DAM, it’s important to understand both the current solution, as well as the direction it’s headed. Each DAM vendor has its own roadmap to growth, so it’s important you feel aligned and headed down the same path in terms of new features and improvements. When deciding on a vendor, you should consider:

• How innovative do you want the vendor to be?
• What system improvements are most important to your organization?
• Do you want to be involved in the decision-making process for new features?

Addressing these questions can help uncover how aligned the vendor is with your future goals. It can also determine how much the DAM vendor will value your input and prioritize client feedback.

Why does it matter?

The right DAM vendor can be a long-term partner, not just a platform. Finding a vendor that will value your input as a customer, will enable you to grow and improve together long-term.

Why are These Questions Important?

Preparing for your DAM demo with these questions will ensure a better representation of the system and how it will work for you in the long run. Setting yourself up to have the most informed and clear picture of how your company will benefit from each vendor, will empower you to make the best decision possible.

If you need some ideas for what to ask on your demo, here are 24 questions to get you started.