Interview with Digital Asset Management expert Martin Reinheimer from SIMIO Consulting
Modern Digital Asset Management (DAM) is more relevant and valuable than ever for companies, creating efficiency and added value, ensuring compliance, and forming the basis for successful customer communication. DAM expert Martin Reinheimer from SIMIO Consulting has been at home in the DAM market for over 20 years. In an interview with Marco Nägeli, Head of Sales & Key Account Management, he provides practical insights into why DAM is critical to success in every company today, regardless of size or complexity, and which trends are shaping the industry.
Martin, you have been working in Digital Asset Management and media production in marketing for 20 years. How has the Digital Asset Management market changed during this time? Is the topic still relevant in the age of cloud technology, API-first approaches, and AI?
Like all systemic solutions, Digital Asset Management is not an end in itself, but rather an important—perhaps even central—component of marketing and media production processes. And regardless of whether processes change over the years or new technology becomes established, it improves collaboration, efficiency, and compliance within the company. The relevance of DAM has therefore remained unchanged over time.
However, every technological innovation leads to changes in the framework conditions. Users quickly become accustomed to new functionalities or a better user experience. This changes the requirements for such systems. For example, if a DAM solution focuses on highly sophisticated print output, while more and more consumption is handled via e-commerce, it must either continue to specialize in the familiar environment or adapt to the needs of the market. The latter is, of course, easier to achieve if it is a lean solution that can be modified more easily than a mature, monolithic system.
”A DAM offers many advantages and efficiency gains, and today every company can afford to get started with it.
We are also seeing these changes in our discussions with Swiss companies. On the one hand, there are a large number of companies that are reevaluating their traditional DAM systems. On the other hand, lean and modern tools like for instance pixx.io are making the topic relevant for companies for which a traditional solution was previously way too expensive. What challenges are these companies currently facing?
When I look at the consulting services we offer companies, they can currently be classified into two groups:
Some already have a DAM system in place and have reached a point where they can no longer meet all of their customers’ growing requirements with the established system. This often leads to a switch to the latest generation of systems, which follow a cloud-native and API-first approach in terms of their architecture and in some cases also include AI functionality.
The other group of companies has not yet established a DAM system, but recognizes the need for one. These are mostly SMEs for whom a traditional enterprise solution was previously unthinkable and for whom pragmatic best-of-breed approaches make a smart DAM system affordable in the first place, often implemented according to the “try & buy” principle.
In summary, it can be said that the DAM market has been shaken up considerably in recent years and that DAM projects are gaining priority in many companies due to the growing importance of multichannel publishing.
The systems are therefore becoming more accessible and simpler. However, they are also becoming increasingly integrated into all marketing processes and systems. What does this mean for the role of internal specialists and external experts such as aclevion and SIMIO?
The situation varies from company to company: in companies that have a high level of in-house expertise, a DAM project may be feasible with the resources available. However, the majority of companies do not usually have dedicated expertise at their disposal – in this case, it is worth seeking expert knowledge to ensure the success of the DAM project. And if it’s an initial consultation of 2–3 days that only defines the scope of the project, this can also be cheaper in the long run than trying to do it on your own, getting bogged down, and building structures that then have to be corrected.
It also depends a little on whether you want to integrate a completely new system into your infrastructure or replace an existing component with another: I have developed a DAM maturity model that categorizes companies that do not yet have a DAM in level 1; this then continues in level 2 with a DAM system that serves as a single point of truth but still operates standalone. In level 3, we are talking about an integrated solution, and level 4 is the highest level of development, in which the processes and integrations are largely automated. For companies without proven experience in the DAM segment, it is definitely advisable to seek advice in order to climb to level 2 or higher.
Deep integration into the company’s infrastructure certainly increases complexity, but it also increases efficiency in data usage to an even greater extent – which always makes climbing to the next level worthwhile.
However, efficiency is currently increasing rapidly, mainly due to the rapid development of AI. Like you, we are also working on a daily basis in customer projects to make this practical for companies. For example, by integrating AI-based processes directly into the DAM system, as we have done for Swiss Post and ESA. How is Digital Asset Management changing through the use of AI and automation?
Oh, that’s my favorite topic at the moment. I’ll try to answer without going off on a tangent! First of all, I’d like to say that I welcome the use of AI, because investments in AI and automation also pay off for SMEs in the long term.
Customers have long recognized the benefits that AI functions bring. We are currently in a phase where manufacturers are either integrating a lot of new functionality directly into their products or at least enabling integration. AI-based tagging or the generative creation of descriptive texts, including translations, are common practices for minimizing manual data maintenance.
Another example is AI-supported image adjustments: if AI can recognize the point of interest in an asset, format adaptations can be generated to suit the respective target channel. Smart cropping is the keyword here. Conversely, AI can be used to generate additional image content or to completely change the look of a product image through automated cropping and montage, which already reduces manual retouching work today and will also reduce the effort required for photo shoots.
However, two fundamental thoughts particularly concern me when it comes to this topic: The market often focuses on generative AI because the added value is easier to communicate. Cognitive AI, however—especially in the field of process automation—is ideal for achieving digitization success at a reasonable cost. This can help, for example, when changing systems if you want to export data from the existing DAM system but no export interface is available.
The second is a look into the future. I can well imagine that DAM clients as we know them today will disappear at some point. There are two reasons for this: First, the use of mobile devices is becoming increasingly prevalent, but this precludes the familiar, complex user interfaces. Second, users of social media applications and AI assistants are accustomed to receiving information via a kind of feed and refining queries via a dialog – and that’s exactly what a revolutionary DAM client looks like to me!
”The bottom line is that I have a faster time-to-market and the quality of my output improves when it comes from central data sources. Depending on the scope of the project, such projects always pay for themselves within the first three years, some even faster.
We are also seeing a trend towards a new type of interface. For example, we are currently programming individual cloud-based interfaces for Migros’ DAM system, which are fully tailored to their use cases. What do you think the future holds for customers and system providers?
It is still impossible to fully grasp what lies ahead for all of us, especially when you see how quickly new tools and use cases are being devised. However, I do believe that all these approaches will fall on fertile ground with customers and that ideas will be developed on how these new opportunities can be used profitably in their own context.
An important point for companies is to take their employees along on this journey and empower them. That’s why I’m also a fan of so-called no-code or low-code solutions. These are systems that allow marketers without in-depth IT knowledge to automate their processes independently.
Specifically in relation to DAM and the revolutionary DAM client mentioned above, these developments mean a significant change process for providers, because it means that, in addition to a completely new front end for asset search, the back end must also take an evolutionary leap and, in addition to the classic relational database, at least a hybrid intermediate layer must be introduced that offers semantic network structures in order to be able to interact with the user.
Ergo, we are talking about systems with a completely new UI, but also with a completely new architecture. And we would probably also see new players – OpenAI, for example, is currently much closer to such a solution than a traditional DAM provider.
And UX is just one challenging area for Digital Asset Management. Others include compliance and data governance, especially with regard to the use of generative AI and data protection. How important are these aspects today in the context of DAM implementation?
Yes, that is a very important aspect—IT security, data protection, and clear governance are cornerstones of a successful DAM. And if I refer back to the maturity model: a key benefit that arises as soon as level 2 is reached, i.e., when a DAM system is introduced, is a solid foundation based on these cornerstones.
But that also means that if I want to implement a DAM system, I need to be familiar with my company’s guidelines. There are also legal frameworks that can vary from country to country, for example between the GDPR in the EU and the revDSG in Switzerland. However, compliance with legal requirements is largely taken care of by manufacturers who develop their software in accordance with standards or are even certified in certain areas, which makes audits much easier. And as far as your own risk management is concerned, things are not always black and white in this area; often you have to argue with an appropriate degree of proportionality.
A good example of this is the topic of AI. Volatility makes it difficult to clearly assess the issues: the EU AI Act, for example, often regulates with recommendations rather than prohibitions – but that’s a good thing as long as many details are still moving targets. With regard to the originality and authenticity of digital assets, I find it commendable that there are efforts to define the origin of content using standards such as the C2PA standard, thereby providing clarity about what has been changed – or, let’s say, “enhanced” – using AI.
We repeatedly see companies shying away from investing in modern DAM systems, particularly in view of this complexity. However, companies that do invest show that the investment usually pays for itself quickly. What has been your experience?
I usually only get involved in DAM projects once my client has already decided to invest in this area. But when I look back at the many projects I’ve worked on, none of my clients have ever regretted their decision to implement such a system.
Of course, the requirements vary from company to company, but simply by creating a single point of truth for my company’s digital assets, added value is quickly realized: I no longer waste time searching for the assets I need, I can be sure that I am always accessing the latest version of an asset, I have copyright management in the background, and so on and so forth.
The bottom line is that I have a faster time-to-market and the quality of my output improves when it comes from central data sources. Depending on the scope of the project, such projects always pay for themselves within the first three years, some even faster.
Perhaps a word on “complexity”: I often recommend a step-by-step implementation to my customers. How the steps are defined can be customized: whether I roll out processes one after the other or gradually connect departments to a DAM – various approaches are possible, so that the complexity can usually be dispelled quite quickly.
Thank you for these fascinating insights, Martin. And what is your conclusion for companies that are currently involved in the creation, use, and management of their digital assets?
First of all, I would like to encourage companies that are dealing with these issues to continue on this path, because the value of digital assets can only be exploited if they are managed in a modern system.
A DAM offers many advantages and efficiency gains, and every company can afford to get started today: solid systems are available from as little as CHF 20 per user and pay for themselves very quickly.
It is important that the selection and integration of a DAM system is tailored to the specific needs and growth prospects of the company. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Today, a DAM system can be implemented quickly and even autonomously by external service providers if the know-how is already available within the company. If not, it is worth obtaining the relevant expertise and commissioning a service provider to connect existing company solutions. I look forward to any exchange on this topic!
Martin Reinheimer
My entire professional career has always been at the intersection of IT, marketing, and media production. I have worked in management and IT project management roles at various companies, both on the software manufacturer side and in agencies.
I discovered DAM right at the start of my career. With my company proCress, I now offer services related to independent consulting and project management in marketing technology. At SIMIO Consulting, I am a partner responsible for Digital Asset Management.
Marco Nägeli
For 25 years, I have been working in the areas of marketing, sales, and management, and am responsible for the successful management of corporate development projects, the transformation of market strategies, and the development of new business areas.
As Head of Sales & Key Account Management, I advise and support our customers from the conception and implementation to the further development of their solutions, combining content expertise with partnership-based cooperation.