According to Forrester's Digital-Influenced Retail Sales Forecast, smartphones will play a role in generating $1.4 trillion in retail sales by 2023.

In the wake of mobile’s evolving influence on the tech world, many people we talk to about DAM tell us that they encounter a lot of conflicting information. They notice that people say different things about the value of mobile technology with DAM.

Opposite ends of the spectrum go something like this:

• The future of DAM is going to be mobile technology

And in contrast,

• Mobile won’t significantly change how people manage their digital assets, no matter the technological advancements, because intensive, high-level marketing and asset management tasks are and will continue to be done from a traditional computer with a monitor, keyboard and a mouse.

So when you’re looking for a DAM, is a mobile app a benefit?

Even considering all of the future expectations for this technology, the answer depends on your team, goals and the way that you source digital assets for your marketing materials. Let’s think about this some more:

Marketing Work is Changing

It’s undeniably true – most “serious work” of managing digital assets CURRENTLY does take place and is most likely to continue to occur at a desk with a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Writing media-rich, long-form blog posts, whitepapers and eBooks, as well as planning and executing email campaigns, are complicated and dynamic tasks that cannot be reasonably typed, organized, structured and edited on a smartphone. Not with current phone technology.

The catch, however, is that it’s not just the technology that’s changing; the definition of “serious work” in marketing is also undergoing a significant revision. In Forbes Magazine, Fortune 500 consultant and CEO at PureMatter Brand Marketing & Interactive, Bryan Kramer points out even among businesses holding out the longest, “our desktop experience is truly shifting to mobile-first.” CEO, speaker and author Douglass Karr goes so far as to say that mobile is changing so significantly that it might just become the new desktop.

Now, predictions are speculative by nature, so there is no guarantee any ideas about the future will come to pass. On the topic of mobile, however, we talk to clients every day who ask about how our DAM solution can help them conduct work highly-specific to their particular employees, business and industry when employees are not sitting at desks. We have been asked things such as:

• How can our worldwide partners access the DAM on the go and view only approved images?

• How can our team in the corporate office receive photos and videos from live events as they take place in multiple locations?

These are the kinds of questions that beg for a mobile-first DAM.

Remote Access to Assets

The hospitality industry is a great example of businesses that can benefit from the ability to view and share assets directly from a mobile device. Many hospitality organizations have built core components of their marketing and advertising strategies around capturing emotional photos & videos in exciting locations, and using them to engage with their audiences, and inspire them to embark on travelling adventures. But from locations to hotel selections, there are so many different forms of competition in the hospitality industry, that organizations need to act quickly, and smartly with their visual assets if they hope to stand out against their competitors.

With partners and locations worldwide, the ability to access assets from remote locations, without the need for a desktop, can be critical to project deadlines. Employees from across the globe are able to quickly and efficiently share approved materials with agencies, partners and each other, to get campaigns out on-time, and on-brand.

Improve Time-to-Market for Assets

Another industry that can benefit from a mobile-first DAMS is the not-for-profit industry. Critical to a non-profit’s ability to source donations, is its ability to tell stories, and more recently, share those stories through social media. By posting photos from live events, and videos that tell the emotional stories of people affected by their cause, companies are able to inspire future donors to take action. When donations drop, marketing teams rely on these digital assets to remind people that donations are still needed.

For many not-for-profit organizations, social media has become much more than a small component of marketing; social media is actually the most direct, instant, and emotional connection they make between live events and their audience of potential donors. With a mobile-first digital asset management (DAM) system, companies are able to improve their collaboration activities, to get assets in the eyes of the public as quickly as possible.

Asset Viewing on Location

More and more, DAM users are extending the functionality of a mobile DAM outside of formal marketing teams. One of the most exciting cases for a mobile DAM system involves companies deploying video viewing through the system, to improve learning and feedback capabilities.

In the entertainment industry, for example, getting easy and mobile access to assets, in particular, videos, provides a key benefit to an organization. With instant access to clips of previous performances or rehearsals, employees are able to get effective and direct feedback within their own environments. While this particular example only highlights training and education, it illustrates how organizations of all kinds increasingly want quick and easy access to digital media files while their teams are in the midst of other important activities.

Looking Forward

As these examples show, there are some forms of meaningful business tasks taking place away from stationary desks. These use cases grow by the day, and businesses of all types are beginning to incorporate more mobile-related tasks into their formal marketing strategies. We see the need for mobile access to DAM increasing. The transition is already underway, and more is sure to come! For businesses and teams thinking in this way, it makes sense to start re-evaluating the definitions of marketing work flows. New ways of producing marketing products are emerging among marketers who serve online communities, digital channels and global customer bases who are continually on the move – and on mobile.