Champions among us. The digital asset management hiring toolkit

Transcription

1 Champions among us The digital asset management hiring toolkit

2 What s Inside Table of contents Table of contents 2 Part 1: Ramping up with a DAM strategy 3 Part 2: Hiring a digital asset manager 8 Part 3: DAM job description template 11 Final Thoughts 13 About Bynder 14 Page 2

3 DAM Hiring Toolkit Part 1: Ramping up with a DAM strategy Before you purchase a new DAM (digital asset management) solution, you'll need a new job function to drive it forward, as well as a stakeholder team for support, in order to ensure the project will survive and thrive. As you ll soon learn, a digital asset management solution is an investment in your organization s improvement, and the best way to protect that investment is to create personal accountability. Building out your digital asset management (DAM) team is an integral piece of a DAM initiative. When executed properly, this initiative can allow an organization to create, find and use their content quickly and efficiently. The wrong team, or not having a team at all, is one of the biggest reasons that a DAM project can fail. If you are an organization who has made a new DAM-related position and hire, consider yourself a leader in DAM strategy! Many organizations are just coming to grips with the realization that they need a DAM system, and have not considered that the system does not run itself. If you re ready to introduce a new DAM to your organization, the first step is understanding part of your foundational strategy that will include people, process and data. Page 3

4 Then it s time to either start crafting a DAM team from scratch or aligning the right skill sets of existing personnel to share DAM roles and responsibilities. It s no small undertaking, but here are some tips and tricks that can help make the process easier and better set your project up to succeed. Define roles & responsibilities for DAM Who will own the DAM initiative in your organization from a governance perspective? Someone (or multiple people) will have to work to create and facilitate a tactical digital asset management plan from a strategic, enterprise perspective. Each member of the core DAM team needs to understand the journey to DAM success they are about to embark upon, and organizations need to understand that a full-time, dedicated administrator for the system is not just a nice-tohave, but usually a necessity. Finding your DAM champion Take a look across the web at job descriptions for Digital Asset Manager or Digital Asset Librarian and you will see many top companies, including Fortune 500s, advertising for a dedicated and fulltime position. If that s not evidence enough for you, take a look at the potential roles and responsibilities for a DAM Manager and start estimating the time and resources necessary to fulfill those obligations. There are some fantastic (and free) resources for establishing roles and responsibilities of the DAM account administrator. One of those is through job boards. You can find many listings on various popular job boards, but there is also a DAM-specific hiring board online, called the DAM Guru job board. Taking a look at what other companies include in their DAM role may inspire your organization s own job description for this role. There will be specific needs for your organization as well as your industry, but you can glean industry standards and core functions from the innovative companies you respect. What makes an awesome DAM champion? So, you ve figured out you need a dedicated digital asset manager. You ve allocated the budget for them. You ve posted the listing (SEE: Part 3 of this toolkit) on various job boards and you ve compiled your list of questions to ask them (SEE: Part 2). There are several soft skills that you are Page 4

5 looking for in this person, as well as some shared traits that all DAM Champions and digital asset managers should have. These people are: Excited for change management. Intensely curious and want to know how people and things work. Engineers in the sense that they like to build things. Translators between IT and business managers. Agile. They pick up on new technologies very quickly. Friendly in the sense that they are customers themselves and know how to treat others who may need their help. Problem-solvers. Open, approachable, team players! These people know they need the team behind them and can t do it all by themselves. Knowledge-sharers not knowledge-hoarders. Lifelong learners. Knowledgeable about your organization and business processes or willing to put forth a great amount of effort to get up to speed very quickly The right DAM champion for your project could already be working at your organization, or could be out there as your next great hire. In either case, the key is zeroing in on the core responsibilities for the technology and for the business, and then finding the right personality that also exhibits all those traits you seek. Page 5

6 That is the first step in knowing your DAM project will succeed. Once you have your captain, it s time to find your crew. DAM Hiring Toolkit Setting expectations and building a team Once you ve identified your DAM champion that will lead the project, the next step will be working with them to assemble a DAM dream team. You won t need 10 admins or brand managers; instead, you ll need a diverse mix of functions to cover all elements of a successful launch. Think of your DAM champion as the captain of the DAM ship. The champion can t sail the vessel without a capable and experienced crew. Building the DAM project team The DAM team should be involved throughout the entire implementation process for a DAM system and initiative, including business requirements gathering to launch. This is a simple idea that, if followed, can allow your organization to shorten the time to get up and running successfully. Depending on your industry and company size, the DAM team you establish can consist of any of the following including: Executive leaders Content/subject matter experts Digital asset manager Brand manager Digital marketing specialist DAM champion Digital asset management/technology vendor External consultant IT systems analysts Project manager Setting expectations early Setting expectations for what each member of this core project team is expected to contribute will be the next step. For example, you can expect your executive leader to drive the vision for the tool as it matures and integrates into your digital ecosystem. You can expect members of the core project team to spend time gathering information and business requirements, tracking down the right people, and learning how to use the tool itself. Finally, you can expect end-user stakeholders Page 6

7 to provide information about their business workflows and contribute unique subject matter expertise so that the DAM can be configured to meet their needs. The project scope should be realistic and well-defined for your DAM implementation. Some important questions the DAM team should address are: How will the team determine the minimum viable product (MVP) for launching a successful DAM? How will the DAM team define different phases of the project? (i.e. What does Phase I DAM look like?/ What does Phase II DAM look like? Phase III and beyond?) How will the DAM team work to define the urgency and priority of key deliverables in the overall DAM initiative for our organization? What are the responsibilities of each member of the DAM team? All parties of the DAM initiative should agree on milestones and deliverables before embarking on the DAM journey. Sticking to project deadlines and putting additional milestones into a separate project initiative post-launch is advisable. Finally, because there can be diffusion of responsibility in group projects, specific tasks and deliverables should be assigned to specific individuals to ensure accountability. Page 7

8 DAM Hiring Toolkit Part 2: Hiring a digital asset manager You know you need a DAM champion. Use this part of the guide to convince the non-believers and start scheduling some interviews. Justifying the DAM hire If you have already purchased a DAM, implemented it, and it s a mess because no one is owning the project, then the need to hire a DAM manager should be abundantly clear. But if that s the case, it s already way too late, and you re probably in dire need of a team of dedicated consultants. The key is articulating the need for a DAM hire and justifying it, so that you can introduce that role to your team in advance of implementation. The first pushback question that you ll get is, well what is this person going to do, anyway? Some things you could expect a dedicated DAM manager to own that should help in getting the hire approved are: Procurement of the DAM tool Identifying key stakeholders Identifying key assets and appraising assets to ingest Crafting of the taxonomy & metadata schema Training and on-boarding Advocacy & creating awareness that there's now a global tool for all and a globallyaccessible library that houses all the updated content Lead person dealing with the DAM vendor Lead person in charge of DAM projects (new user groups, new use-cases, integrations, new features, and more) Creating reports to show ROI (return on investment) & adoption Ensuring adoption and success of the DAM investment Running the entire DAM strategy A dedicated digital asset manager protects an organization s DAM investment. DAM software will cost a certain amount every month; the larger your project and organization, the larger the investment. Hiring for this initiative protects that investment by ensuring its success, and also Page 8

9 promises to introduce good habits around media usage to your entire organization. How much is that worth to you, and your brand? Some additional costs that DAM can protect by ensuring efficiency in operations are: Advertising spend Marketing technology spend Cost of production - internal Cost of production - external PR, agency, and media costs Finally, if it comes to justifying the hard cost, consider this fact: According to PetaPixel, in 2012 a single misuse of a digital asset could have resulted in a $150,000 penalty. A year's salary for a DAM manager is almost always going to be appreciably less than that. Page 9

10 Asking the right questions If you re hiring for a Digital Asset Manager, part of the key to finding the perfect one for your business is asking the right questions that challenge the candidate and force him to think critically. Use the following 15 thought-provoking questions to really challenge your prospective DAM manager. 1. You come to work and have 2,000 assets to catalog, but only enough space for 1,000 in the DAM. How do you choose which ones to keep? 2. Your 4 year old nephew wants to know what you do. What do you tell him? 3. An important stakeholder won t allow you to ingest company logos into the DAM. What are your next steps? 4. What if you have 15 minutes to extract as many assets from the DAM as you can and what you don t talk will be lost forever. What would you save? 5. If I asked you to get me a cup of coffee, where would you go and what kind of coffee would you get me? 6. Is it better to ask for forgiveness or ask for permission? 7. What s the best training you ve ever attended and why was it memorable? 8. Someone walks up to you and says, No one searches by metadata. What is your response? 9. What if I asked you to teach me something new about digital asset management? 10. You have $15,000 left in your DAM budget for the year. If you don t spend it, you lose it next year. What do you spend it on and how do you decide? 11. What if a DAM thief has stolen your digital assets and there s no way to get them back. How do you quantify the value of the stolen assets? 12. If you could be a DAM manager for any brand in the world (besides us), who would it be? 13. What if you were suddenly tasked with controlling all the information on the internet. How would you manage such an enormous undertaking? 14. If you were a metadata standard which one would you be and why? 15. Your friend knows nothing about donuts. How do you introduce them to donuts? A) Make them a donut. B) Tell them where a donut store is. C) Describe to them what a donut is. Page 10

11 DAM Hiring Toolkit Part 3: DAM job description template The digital asset manager will collaborate with key members of the business to create the digital asset management strategy and vision for [company name here], which will ultimately support the company s objectives and goals. From the vision, the leadership team will develop an integrated, prioritized strategic roadmap for the company that will deliver capabilities to drive efficiencies, effectiveness, and revenue growth. The person in this role will partner with other leaders across marketing, sales, executive leadership, communications, development and client teams to design, implement and continuously improve the digital asset management platform. Effective digital asset management solutions include people, process, and data to realize the business outcomes. While the role may be referred to as a digital asset management role, it can include elements of all of the following at various times: Enterprise content management Digital asset management Knowledge management Workflow management Change management This role will serve as the face of digital asset management, acting as a change agent and proponent for enterprise DAM capabilities and processes. The ideal future state is intended to support content development, curation, and publishing, as well as improved audit-ability, tracking, risk management, and business operations efficiency and agility. Responsibilities Partner with key business leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to lead development of the DAM vision, guiding principles, prioritized use cases/end user experiences, high-level requirements and roadmap. Define project scopes and craft business requirements document with input from relevant stakeholders Craft 1, 2 and 3 year roadmap for incremental process improvements and DAM Strategic Direction Assess project KPIs post launch qualitatively and quantitatively Page 11

12 Facilitate strategic decisions and creation of tactical plan surrounding development and implementation of target state processes and technology (including relevant business readiness and change management considerations, as well as integration with or migration of existing/enhanced processes and tools) Develop and maintain a metadata entry protocol. Work with various stakeholders across the enterprise to define metadata and taxonomy guidelines. Actively promote data consistency to support common standards and analytics. Establish periodic data verification review processes to ensure data accuracy and to support easy and consistent search and delivery of assets. Qualifications 3+ years of experience managing an enterprise content management or digital asset management system for a large client or company 3+ years in project management, technology related implementations, and/or strategic planning roles MLIS degree highly desirable Active engagement in the DAM community Page 12

13 DAM Hiring Toolkit Final Thoughts You re ready to set sail! You ve learned that people, process, and data are the three pillars of a successful DAM project. In this case, getting the right people on board and involved early on will ensure a great DAM journey, having both a fantastic destination and a clear route to get there. At this point, some additional resources that could prove useful might be: A DAM Vendor Comparison Guide The Bynder DAM for Dummies e-book G2 Crowd & Capterra Software Reviews The Forrester Wave Report for Digital Asset Management A DAM RFP Template Some organizations prefer to narrow down their vendor search before rounding out their team, while others would prefer to get their DAM champion and support team in place as step number one. Whichever route you choose, using this guide will help you identify the perfect personnel for your project. You ll have your process-driven, metadata enthusiast ready to drive your company s digital adoption forward with the help of the executive supporters. Getting people on board is a huge step, but it s only the beginning of the journey. Find the right people, get them on board, and get ready to take off! Page 13

14 Some facts About Bynder Bynder empowers marketers to get things done faster, better and more easily. With Bynder s award-winning marketing software marketers can easily create, find and use content, such as documents, graphics and videos. More than 150,000 brand managers, marketers and creatives use Bynder s brand portals each and every day to collaborate globally, create, review, and approve new marketing collateral, and circulate company content at the click of a button. Brands using Bynder go to market faster and achieve end-to-end brand consistency across all channels and markets. Making marketing departments more agile, Bynder operates at the heart of the brand, simplifying collaboration within the whole organization. Page 14

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