Articles

Digital Asset Management Article

<hr /> It's been an active year for DAMs, particularly as AI capabilities juice the value and performance of both pure-play and DXP platform offerings. As brands look for new ways to enhance and streamline their digital assets across global teams, having a reliable and scalable DAM has become an essential part of the enterprise stack.We've tracked multiple announcements (and even an acquisition or two) in the recent past. Most have focused on addressing key gaps in delivering a complete vision for a modern digital asset management platform.That was clearly the goal for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/mediavalet">MediaValet</a>, which just announced its acquisition of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.gotbeam.com/">Beam</a>. Beam, which describes itself as the “heartbeat of your brand,” is a SaaS platform that enables brands to accurately and effectively represent themselves anywhere and everywhere they appear. Under the hood, Beam's unique Brand Center and Experience Portal capabilities provide a suite of enablement solutions designed to help organizations optimize their brand management and curate content experiences.This acquisition extends the functionality of MediaValet’s AI-powered <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-digital-asset-management-dam-system">digital asset management platform</a> with Beam’s brand governance and enablement capabilities. The offering aims to help marketing organizations achieve brand consistency at scale by empowering and educating every team to deliver on-brand content across every channel through engaging, interactive experiences.<h3 id="building-the-best-dam-with-a-focus-on-brand-and-portals">Building the best DAM with a focus on brand and portals</h3>Modern DAMs have a lot of responsibility in the stack, helping to manage the content chaos that many large enterprises are wrestling with. This requires best-of-breed features like search, asset proofing, and multi-media capabilities like video management.  But DAMs need work beyond organizational facets, giving creative teams more freedom and productivity while providing broad distribution capabilities that connect content to critical stakeholders, audiences, channels, and pipelines. Additionally, successful DAMs are concerned with delivering brand governance, enablement, and education – areas where marketing teams face significant challenges. To meet this need, MediaValet and Beam are providing a pathway to scaling brand consistency and control.One of the key distribution elements of DAM is portals: webpages tied to DAM content for rapid and broad sharing with key stakeholders. Portals accelerate idea-sharing and storytelling, and help securely build brand consistency – and Beam's Experience Portals make this feature even more streamlined for enterprise content teams.“With Beam’s Brand Centers and Experience Portals, we are taking this Portal capability to new heights – unmatched in the DAM and Brand industries,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-chase-b0845645/">Rob Chase</a>, President and CEO of MediaValet. “The combination creates a best-in-class solution for our clients to unlock the power of their content at scale, and to build engaging and experiential Brand Centers. Once integrated, it will also enable us to deliver Experience Portals for a multitude of use cases such as sales enablement portals, partner portals, and events management, with high brand fidelity and interactive experiences.”Beam was acquired from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.monigle.com/">Monigle</a>, a U.S.-based brand consultancy with offices in New York and Denver. Monigle originally built the solution to help secure brand assets for their own customers, and ended up creating a curated, interactive, and engaging platform for brand enablement.“The Beam platform and their team’s expert brand-building knowledge is a formidable combination that is proven to deliver high-fidelity Brand Centers that are truly interactive, engaging, and experiential – the result of which is a platform that brings brands to life and helps clients to win in their markets,” Chase said. "That is why they are trusted by powerful brands like WTW and others. In addition, like us, they are known for their best-in-class support, aligning with a key pillar of our culture.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>MediaValet continues to execute its mission to empower creatives and democratize content. Now, with the addition of Beam's Brand Centers and Experience Portals, it has expanded its core DAM capabilities to provide a more integrated and expansive solution – one that elevates brand enablement and governance. While many pure-play solutions exist on the market, MediaValet has acquired a strong position as a top content management solution in the G2 review-driven ecosystem, validated by global enterprise customers like SONOS and Experian. The company also has its fingers on the industry pulse, authoring and publishing a research index on DAM industry trends that <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mediavalet.com/resources/dam-trends-report">you can read here. </a>From an AI perspective, DAMs are running hot and heavy – and MediaValet is definitely in the game. The platform's automation offers precision tagging of content with relevant keywords, as well as color recognition, smart image search, and even facial recognition. MediaValet also offers an open API for building custom solutions and a library of pre-built integrations with platforms like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentful">Contentful</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce</a>. If you're evaluating pure-play DAMs for your stack, this is definitely worth exploring.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-mediavalet?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on MediaValet? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /> <h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

MediaValet Acquires Beam, Aims to Evolve DAM with Brand Enablement and Governance

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First Look: Cloudinary’s New AI Vision Brings Brand-Safe Gen AI Capabilities to its DAM

matt-garrepy

<hr /> A bit of translation trivia: the word “Canto” means “singing” in Spanish. Perhaps, then, it’s apropos that the company called <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/canto">Canto</a> – a leading <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-digital-asset-management-dam-system">digital asset management</a> software platform – is crooning a sweet tune about its latest innovation. Is it Swift-worthy? Sure sounds that way.The song they’re spinning is the new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/product/canto-pim">Canto PIM</a>, a comprehensive solution that “harmonizes” its industry-standard DAM with product information management capabilities.According to the company, Canto PIM has been purpose-built to overcome the burdens and blockers many brands face when managing, distributing, iterating, optimizing, and securing their digital assets and product data across an expansive ecosystem of channels, campaigns, and use cases.I’ve been expecting this news given that Canto acquired industry rival <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/">Image Relay</a> in mid-September. The Vermont-based SaaS company had been blazing trails around its combined modeling of digital asset management and product information management, making it an attractive target in what is becoming a densely competitive race between pure-play DAMs and DXP ecosystem solutions.The revelation of Canto PIM certainly came faster than anticipated, likely a reflection of the pressure to drive differentiation and capture market share before the 2025 product announcement cycle. At the time, I predicted that the combo could be a game changer as Canto executes its vision to revolutionize the way businesses mine value from their digital content. This isn't Canto's first dance with M&amp;A. Just last year, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/press-releases/canto-merlinone/">acquired another competitor, MerlinOne,</a> making way for some fairly impressive AI capabilities that are continuing to juice its feature set. Here’s a revealing stat: 85% of marketers say that their <a target="_blank" href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-future-of-experience-time-to-market.pdf">content demands have doubled</a> in just the past two years. As you can imagine, siloed approaches to digital asset and product information management can’t keep up with this exponential growth – particularly as brands struggle to compete in a crowded, time-compressed market.“Within every industry, businesses are under unprecedented pressure to create and deliver more content than ever before,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellum/">Wain Kellum</a>, Canto's CEO. “Canto PIM empowers organizations to reimagine their content and product information operations for the digital-first era, breaking down legacy roadblocks to deliver exceptional customer, partner, and employee experiences at scale.”Canto has been in the DAM game for three decades, so it understands this space with a deeper intimacy than most of its modern peers. The expanded ecosystem of choice is certainly providing more competition, but it’s also driving legacy platforms to rethink their strategies and invest in expanding their capabilities – like bridging the gap between digital asset and product information data. <h3 id="putting-pim-in-the-dam-symphony">Putting PIM in the DAM symphony</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhall1979/">Andrew Hall</a>, Canto's VP of Global Demand Generation, recently shared some key DAM trends that the company is focusing on in 2025. In the video below, he talks about the benefits of streamlining workflows, scaling content lifecycles, and integrating a wider bench of tools to provide brands with greater efficiency.  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr0ZCUDHa1Y"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sr0ZCUDHa1Y" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> Reinforcing those transformative trends, Canto PIM builds on the company’s industry-leading legacy as a DAM innovator. The platform serves as a single source of truth for all product data and digital content, whether it’s product-specific or deployed for broader brand marketing and sales initiatives. By unifying traditionally fragmented capabilities, the solution enables organizations to streamline workflows across the entire content and product information lifecycle – from initial planning and creation to distribution and analysis. The platform enables brands to unify product data and assets by centralizing everything in a single repository and using AI search and intuitive tools to streamline workflows and maximize efficiency.Canto PIM also synchronizes omnichannel experiences by syncing product data and assets across e-commerce, social media, and partner content, ensuring a more cohesive and consistent brand experience for customers. It also streamlines product launches with its native scalability, providing a system that can handle unlimited products, versions, and attributes with zero friction – and without sacrificing performance. <figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/12/canto-screen.jpg" alt="" /></figure>Canto PIM provides fields for rich product metadata, as well as AI-powered search. Source: Canto website When it comes to tracking performance, Canto PIM is equipped with advanced analytics that deliver actionable insights. You can easily measure asset performance and ROI, so you can develop intelligent multichannel and omnichannel strategies.A big benefit of modern DAMs is the ability to protect brand assets. Canto PIM carries forward that same commitment from Canto’s digital asset management system for safeguarding brand assets and product IP. It delivers on this promise by providing SOC-2-certified, enterprise-grade security, as well as granular permissions and compliance measures for managing users and access. You can take a more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/product/canto-pim/">in-depth product tour</a> on Canto's website.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>DAM, it’s getting loud in here. It’s true. As the digital asset management space packs in more players, it’s going to take a really sharp voice to sing over the crowd. This includes the chorus of digital experience platforms that offer integrated solutions as part of their ecosystem – an advantage on some levels, but less geared towards composable stacks, which are becoming more of a preference among large enterprise brands. As one of the most proven legacy brands in the market, Canto has consistently delivered on its DAM differentiators. Powered by the Image Relay acquisition, it now has an even stronger offering that meaningfully combines the capabilities of DAM and PIM. And that’s the lyrical hook: the marriage of these categories needs to yield real fruit for users, and the harmonies need to be on key. AI is certainly a force multiplier, and DAMs are applications where AI and machine learning enable high-utility outcomes. With the addition of more advanced AI features – specifically around search – Canto is delivering on its vision for truly unifying disjointed content assets and product information and making it actionable. With the increased volume around DAM and PIM solutions, evaluating these products can be more challenging – particularly with enterprise DXPs offering some compelling solutions. Many independent platforms are focusing on their composable posture as part of their value proposition. Based on your goals, it's essential to assess how a DAM's architecture is best suited for your stack and how AI and other features will enable your teams to manage data from a wide range of sources. In many composable use cases, having a layer of orchestration is becoming attractive for marketing teams and business leaders who are executing omnichannel strategies. At the end of the day, the song we’re all dying to hear is how a DAM and PIM “twofer” will enable marketing, creative, and product teams to be faster, leaner, more agile – and ultimately more efficient. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abeiagi/">Alan Beiagi</a>, Canto’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, reflected that it’s all about giving customers a place that finally brings everything together. And that's music to everyone's ears.“By breaking down the barriers between DAM and PIM technologies and workflows, we’re giving our customers the all-in-one agility and efficiency they need to thrive in their marketplace,” he said. It doesn’t take a Swiftie to see that Canto might have a hit on its hands.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-canto?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Canto?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – St. Petersburg, FloridaMeet industry leaders at our third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a>

Canto PIM Unites DAM and Product Information Management, Streamlining Asset and Data Workflows

<hr /> Seems like we’ve been talking a lot about DAMs these days. Why? Because there’s so much DAM stuff to deal with.It’s true. Many large enterprises have thousands – even millions – of digital assets spread across a myriad of systems and databases. At the same time, marketing teams are under increasing pressure to work faster while maintaining control and governance.Over the last two years, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-digital-asset-management-dam-system">digital asset management systems</a> have been stepping up to meet this challenge, enhancing their product capabilities with an abundance of AI capabilities. This evolution in functionality, driven largely by AI, is impacting productivity for teams and driving greater value for brands. In that same stretch, I've seen numerous demos from pure-play DAM platforms and DXPs with dedicated DAM features, many of which were on display at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.henrystewartconferences.com/events/dam-new-york-2024">DAM New York 2024</a> just a few weeks ago. While there are many horizontal plays within the DAM market landscape, there are certainly niche products that understand the unique needs and challenges of the markets they serve, providing a more immersive UX that’s discretely geared toward those requirements. These tend to be pure-play solutions with a penchant for integration. Such is the case with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/cloudinary">Cloudinary</a>, an image and video platform that enables some of the world’s most engaging brands to deliver transformative visual experiences at an enterprise scale. With more than two million users and 10,000 customers (including Adidas, Etsy, Fiverr, Rivian, and more), Cloudinary helps organizations manage huge asset volumes, improve collaboration, save thousands of hours on repetitive tasks, and increase conversions.During DAM New York, Cloudinary announced some new and interesting capabilities to <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/blog/the-intelligent-dam">Cloudinary Assets</a>, the company’s intelligent, API-first digital asset management platform. These innovative features are designed to streamline every stage of the asset lifecycle, including customizable creative review and approval workflows, portals for controlling asset sharing, and intuitive AI solutions that automate manual tasks. If you're not familiar with Assets, here's a quick video overview: <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM3UmmT_oB0"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iM3UmmT_oB0" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> As an ecosystem, Cloudinary Assets complements the company's other nifty resources. This includes a programmable media feature for automating video and image lifecycles and a <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/video_api">robust video API</a> that allows developers to programmatically access and manipulate video content on the web with uploading, storage, encoding, and delivery optimizations.Cloudinary has long embraced the promise of composable architectures, which has guided its innovation path and strategy (more on that in a minute). As such, its new features are purpose-built to deliver greater flexibility for customers within their martech stacks – one of the many reasons why it was recently named a <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Flp.cloudinary.com%2Farp.lp.idc_marketscape.html%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire%23form_section&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Leader+in+the+IDC+MarketScape%3A+Worldwide+Intelligent+Digital+Asset+Management&amp;index=3&amp;md5=843ea3470f82578e4adb9f69ff135925">Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Intelligent Digital Asset Management</a>“Today’s visual economy demands that brands harness the full power of their images and videos to engage and connect with consumers, and these modern experiences require a modern DAM,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-daynes-1456173a/">Rob Daynes</a>, Managing Director of Digital Asset Management at Cloudinary. “When powerful martech tools work together in harmony, the professionals that rely on them can too. This raises the bar for the kinds of experiences they can build to truly distinguish themselves in their market.”Will these new features pay off for Cloudinary customers? According to the company, they will – big time. They project that a brand's launch cycles could accelerate profoundly, dropping from weeks or days to minutes. Asset costs could be reduced by up to 60%. And here's the clincher: users could save up to 75% of their time toiling in asset management, driving a significant ROI through enhanced productivity. These are some sweet value props. Can Assets deliver the goods?I'm sure Cloudinary would say (resoundingly): “You bet your assets.” But let’s dig in a little deeper. <h3 id="an-api-first-dam-for-composable-architectures">An API-first DAM for composable architectures</h3>Recently, Cloudinary commissioned an <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudinary.com%2Fproducts%2Fdigital_asset_management%2Fsurvey%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=independent+DAM+survey&amp;index=11&amp;md5=0092398e234b7db65818807e845a90ae">independent DAM survey</a>, revealing that 86% of respondents consider a highly integratable DAM to be extremely or very important. That makes sense based on all the dynamics I’ve already outlined.“Highly integratable” is a kind of synonym for composable, which is indeed reflected in Cloudinary’s grounding API-first posture. This architectural approach has long been the company’s guiding light, and is codified by its early membership in the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/new-logo-new-leaders-mach-alliance-announces-key-appointments-and-brand-refresh">MACH Alliance</a>. The platform offers a robust ecosystem of more than 300 partners, integrations, and plug-ins with many of the marketing ecosystem’s most popular tools.Cloudinary sees its DAM as a “single source of truth” for all visual assets, consolidating the often disparate visual asset technologies managed across teams in one highly connected and intelligent platform. With its rich focus on the image and video asset category, its composable capabilities give it an edge when fitting into a diverse martech stack with distributed data.<h3 id="powerful-and-practical-ai-capabilities">Powerful and practical AI capabilities</h3>There are several places where AI is augmenting Cloudinary’s DAM features to improve efficiency while delivering greater control and confidence for marketing teams. First, Cloudinary’s embedded AI automates the creative review and approval workflows by enabling auto-tagging and visual search for simpler asset classification and discovery. Its AI-powered content moderation and credentialing – with <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudinary.com%2Fblog%2Fc2pa-standard-implementation%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=C2PA+compliance&amp;index=10&amp;md5=1895ae4da0c24b994d0060e4969a27a1">C2PA compliance</a> – helps ensure brand compliance and customer confidence in every asset, even as library volumes increase and <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/documentation/user_generated_content">user-generated content</a> (UGC) and AI content proliferate.Its DAM also has a deep bench of practical AI capabilities that accelerate time to market for visual storytellers. These include automating manual tasks at scale, such as cropping, resizing, and delivering assets in the ideal file format and quality.With Cloudinary’s cutting-edge generative AI capabilities – available within its visual workspace, Studio – any DAM user can create unlimited on-brand customizations of a single asset or collection of assets for any use case. Accurate previews eliminate publishing risk and ensure that assets transformed by generative AI automation (such as background removal and fill, object removal and replacement, product recoloring, or image quality enhancement) will look flawless once delivered to the consumer.<h3 id="what-are-the-new-features-in-assets?">What are the new features in Assets?</h3>Here’s a quick rundown, starting with robust <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/products/digital_asset_management/moderate-review">creative review and approval</a> capabilities. Marketing teams will benefit from a more centralized and collaborative workflow automation solution, allowing them to customize and match their own review and approval processes for images, videos, PDFs, and other content and file types – and even include both internal and external stakeholders. It also sports enterprise-grade security and auditing, so brands in highly regulated industries can maintain strict governance.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:65.02%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cloudinary-metadata-screenshot.png" alt="" /></figure>Managing metadata and adding AI-generated captioning are powerful tools in Cloudinary Assets Content moderation is critical for marketing teams, particularly as assets grow exponentially. As such, Cloudinary has juiced its platform with <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/solutions/user-generated-content">AI-powered moderation tools</a>, helping brands meet compliance by automating things like credentialing and compliance checks. Teams can also maintain higher standards while coping with the challenging realities of UGC and other assets entering the ecosystem.Powered by Cloudinary’s proprietary MediaFlows solution, the enhanced <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/products/digital_asset_management/asset-workflow-templates">asset workflow automation</a> is a no-code solution that sets up actions when uploading assets – or times actions to occur by specific criteria such as expiration date, changes to metadata, and other details. Asset workflow automation can also be customized with more complex workflows and integrations by upgrading to the full suite of MediaFlows capabilities.  <img style="width:46.3%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cloudinary-asset-worfklow-screen.png" alt="" />Asset workflow automation offers granular control of specific asset actions and details On the frontend, there’s also something called <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/products/digital_asset_management/portals">Cloudinary Portals</a>, which makes it easy to securely curate and share assets with everyone on your team or specified stakeholders. Portals enables business users to create fully branded digital experiences across media sharing, brand guideline portals, press portals, partner and sales enablement centers, and more.On the video side, there are some cool GenAI video editing features. These advancements are intended to support the <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudinary.com%2Fsolutions%2Fvideo%2Fsurvey%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=80%25+of+brands+that+plan+to+expand+their+use+of+video&amp;index=12&amp;md5=098c47b4c8e32efbf3635f928c3fdd05">80% of brands planning to expand their use of video</a>. This includes incredibly handy tools for generating smart previews, transcriptions, captioning, and auto-translations – so brands can reach everyone on any device with more accessible experiences. Cloudinary also supports multiple video file formats, including short-form, long-form, e-commerce, information and how-to, and other applications. <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>“DAM done differently.” That’s how Cloudinary visualizes its platform promise. It’s catchy, and it certainly reflects the company's culture of innovation.AI is the name of the game when it comes to the DAM roadmap and horizon. As the competitive field continues to expand, pure-play providers, DXPs, and PaaS solutions will continue to leverage high-utility AI features to provide differentiated value to customers. Most of that value will be derived from enhancements in speed, productivity, and governance. But platforms like Cloudinary might have an advantage relative to their decade-long focus on digital imagery and video, and its persistent posture of composability. Being API-first is a key determiner for buyers and evaluators looking for MACH-centric solutions that fit the bill within composable stacks, and Cloudinary has long been a champion of composability.Still, the DAM market is getting thicker. <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/slam-dam-dunk-canto-acquires-image-relay-plans-to-align-dam-and-pim-features">With Canto’s acquisition of Image Relay</a>, there’s a motion towards consolidating power at the pure-play enterprise level. Meanwhile, DXPs and Content Marketing Platforms (CMPs) like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/acquia">Acquia</a> continue to roll out more high-utility AI-driven features like native video editing – making it less cumbersome for brands to simply add and access these features. Downstream, PaaS players like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/directus">Directus</a> are offering built-in choice with their own integrated DAM, just as other legacy CMS platforms continue to improve their own capabilities. The good news: demand is growing, and innovation will pay off for marketing teams and brands.If you’re evaluating platforms, consider your goals relative to composability. Cloudinary's API-first posture puts them squarely in that league, but they're also enhancing the key features that really add up in a good DAM: asset lifecycle management, customizable workflows, roles-based permissions, and of course, AI and machine learning capabilities. In terms of trust, it's hard to find a more best-of-breed, pure-play DAM provider than Cloudinary. They clearly understand the value of image and video assets at the enterprise level, and they're striving to lead the way with emerging technologies in the DAM field. Bottom line: It’s a safe bet for covering your assets.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-cloudinary?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Cloudinary?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a>

Cloudinary Assets Brings New AI-Powered Features to its API-First ‘Intelligent DAM’ 

<hr /> In the pantheon of DAM solutions, AI has been an undeniable game changer. Along with enhancing search and impacting overall productivity, it’s also proving valuable from a generative content perspective. The latest example of AI innovation in the “DAMsphere” is from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.acquia.com/">Acquia</a>, which has been steadily infusing artificial intelligence into its platform, with a keen focus on its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-dam">Acquia DAM</a> solution.At <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/from-accessibility-to-ai-and-beyond-five-key-takeaways-from-acquia-engage-boston">last year’s Engage conference</a> in Boston, I saw first-hand how AI was force-multiplying the potential for Acquia DAM and taking its core Widen capabilities – <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/acquia-widens-its-dxp-stack-with-widen-acquires-dam-and-pim-capabilities">which it purchased in 2021</a> – to the next level. Since then, there have been continual improvements, reinforcing Acquia’s best-of-breed posture in a competitive market of DAM and PIM products. This includes other DXPs and even headless CMS or PaaS platforms with built-in offerings. Acquia’s new AI enhancements, announced just last month, are focused on video and images – and they're pretty slick. By all accounts, they should boost the productivity of creatives and marketers while enabling them to extract greater value from their digital content. Here’s a quick breakdown (there's even some video to watch):<h3 id="acquia-video-creator">Acquia Video Creator</h3>Video is already a full-time resident in the house of the DAMs, particularly as brands increase their reliance on interactive and immersive content. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics/">Nearly 90% of consumers</a> say that they want more video, and social platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become the go-to channels for reaching new customers.Additionally, <a target="_blank" href="https://offers.hubspot.com/consumer-trends?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-video-consumption-is-changing&amp;hubs_signup-cta=Consumer%20Trends%20Report&amp;hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-video-consumption-is-changing&amp;hubs_post-cta=Consumer%20Trends%20Report&amp;_gl=1*iyn9mk*_gcl_au*MTAyMzg3NDcxOC4xNzMwOTA3MTk4*_ga*MTUzNjQ3OTAzNi4xNjg1OTEyNTQ3*_ga_LXTM6CQ0XK*MTczMDkwNzE5OC4yLjAuMTczMDkwNzE5OC42MC4wLjA.&amp;_ga=2.165247679.1431422928.1730907198-1536479036.1685912547">almost 40% of buyers</a> have cited a preference for product discovery through short-form video. Consequently, brands are ramping up their production, publication, and management resources to serve up video-centric content and campaigns at scale – and looking for platforms that provide greater automation. With the new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-dam/video-creator">Acquia Video Creator</a>, marketers have a dynamite tool for meeting these demands. Powered by AI, the Video Creator allows users to easily produce professional-quality, brand-compliant videos via a simple drag-and-drop interface. Videos are composed of existing content in a company's digital asset library, and users can access features like customizable templates and a vast cache of graphics, animations, and video clips. Here's a quick overview of the features: <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/aq7v00IH64E"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aq7v00IH64E" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> It’s worth reinforcing that this isn’t just a video editor. It is, indeed, a creator, giving professional video editors a canvas for generating templates with customizable zones for things like product promos. The UX is fairly robust, delivering a complete video interface with scene layers and timelines. The functionality evokes the familiarity of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe After Effects</a>, or even some elements of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/webflow">Webflow</a> relative to the granular styling capabilities – but without feeling too overwhelming. Bottom line: it’s enough tooling to assemble a solid experience.   <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:83.01%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/acquia-video-creator.png" alt="" /></figure>Composing a video with customizable zones in the Acquia Video Creator From here, marketing team members (or almost anyone for that matter) can use the simple drag-and-drop editor to add content, transitions, and animations – as well as audio tracks or music from your library or other integrated sources. You can also pop in a transcript with ease.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:82.81%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/acquia-video-creator-templates-screen.png" alt="" /></figure>Selecting templates in the Acquia Video Creator One of the big benefits is the presence of “guardrails” to help keep content on brand. We’ve seen this in other CMS and DXP platforms with restricted learning pipelines or knowledge bases that train only on a company’s content or licensed IP. This AI governance helps democratize video creation across an organization while ensuring that large, distributed teams stay on brand.The other key value is acceleration. In minutes, you can create entirely new projects, edit existing videos, and use the Video Creator’s AI features to generate scripts, voiceovers, subtitles, and even translations. There are also collaboration tools for internal sharing and review, so organizations can rapidly create, approve, and deliver videos across websites, e-commerce channels, social media, events, and more.Acquia Video Creator is powered by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.moovly.com/">Moovly</a>, and is currently available as an add-on module to both the Acquia DAM and PIM solutions.<h3 id="ai-video-transcription-and-automated-color-filtering">AI Video Transcription and Automated Color Filtering</h3>Along with the Video Creator, Acquia also introduced a new AI Video Transcription feature directly within its DAM, making it easier to manage, find, and share video and image assets. This is a super-handy resource and one that should complement every DAM. It enables users to add an AI-generated video transcript that is stored on the video’s asset digest page, eliminating the need to send videos to a separate transcription service (this can be a real hassle factor). What’s cool is that the transcripts are all time-stamped and available via general and advanced searches within the DAM. They can also be downloaded – another perk that can prove to be invaluable when utilizing transcripts in multiple places.Acquia’s new Automated Color Filtering is also a new AI-powered boon to productivity. It removes human error that can arise in manual tagging by using AI to analyze an image's color profile. It then provides filtering and search of specific HEX (hexadecimal) color values without any administrator work required.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>When it comes to harnessing AI in CMS, DXP, and other digital experience tools, the value quotient has been all over the spectrum. I’ve watched AI features blossom from the end of 2022 as vendors scrambled to remain in parity, and there have been hits and misses. In my opinion, DAMs have been a shining example of where AI has paid dividends and brought order to the data chaos. They synthesize AI's tangible benefits, applying them to high-utility services like search and filtering. They also enable automation that delivers a more scalable and uniform experience for marketers. Within the landscape of platform choices, Acquia has been pushing the innovation edge – and making Acquia DAM a jewel in its expanding digital crown. It offers an elegant, team-oriented solution that elevates collaboration. Their streamlined approach and drag-and-drop interfaces also enable marketers to be more responsive, productive, and prolific while staying on brand.Video is a key part of the content ecosystem, and Acquia’s new features are enhancing both creation and access in profound ways. AI has been essential to the amplification, but the DXP has clearly put its ear to the ground and listened to both customers and community – particularly at the enterprise level. This is where the growth of Content Marketing Platforms (CMPs) is accelerating, which assembles the assets and digital tools for managing large-scale integrated campaigns. It’s worth noting that Acquia participated in <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-leads-gartners-2024-mq-for-content-marketing-platforms-as-more-dxps-join-the-game">Gartner’s 2024 Magic Quadrant for CMPs</a>, presenting as a Challenger. Of course, there's also the net benefit of having the Acquia <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/drupal">Drupal</a> community as part of the testing and feedback loop. As with previous AI ventures within the Acquia DXP, much of the early gains came from Drupal community engagement and nascent plugins for ChatGPT that accelerated the marketable innovation. As <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/buytaert/">Dries Buytaert</a> shared during our Keynote at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect Conference</a> last August, Drupal and Acquia were at the forefront of AI in the CMS realm, well before the generative explosion.According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakeathey/">Jake Athey</a>, Vice President of Go-To-Market and Sales for Acquia DAM &amp; PIM, this is just the beginning of the innovation cycle.“AI creates new opportunities for creatives, content authors, and marketers to drive efficiency and create immersive digital experiences that drive greater customer engagement,” he said. “Our latest innovations accelerate campaign delivery by empowering teams to create content more easily, organize assets more accurately, and find relevant assets more quickly. They are just the start of a steady stream of forthcoming innovations that distinguish Acquia DAM for its ability to consistently increase business value.”<hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-acquia-or-acquia-dam?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Acquia or Acquia DAM?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Acquia Introduces New AI-Powered Video and Image Features for Acquia DAM

<hr /> DAM is hot. Red hot. Like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPDUDPCttfc">Steph Curry</a> from the three-point line.The reason is clear: we’ve got too much stuff dribbling on our digital courts. Handling the “brand ball” across distributed global teams, remote workers, and diverse channels is getting increasingly complex. As such, many organizations are often one foul away from using the wrong asset or publishing outdated product details – and that's a ticket to a losing game. Digital Asset Management (DAM) and its co-captain, Product Information Management (PIM), have been winning solutions to this problem of scaling content. While neither category is new to the roster, they’re continuing to prove their relevance as digital content grows. And grows. DAMs and PIMs are like different players on the same team. Both perform well in their respective positions and are quite closely aligned, stoking collaboration and ensuring consistency (you know, picking and rolling in the paint). If you’re not familiar with the distinctions, DAMs manage things like images, videos, and documents; PIMs are used to maintain stores of product information. As one might guess, they indeed overlap in discrete areas, but they miss a shot or two based on their focus. Typically, an organization combines brand assets from a DAM and product details from its PIM, relying on integrations to compile and print on various frontends like websites or apps. One thing they do have in common is rapid transformation with AI. The last two years have seen the addition of AI-driven tools and features like automated workflows, tagging, and more, all designed to help users and organizations streamline their digital operations.Having both DAM and PIM features more closely aligned – along with AI's force-multiplying effects – would certainly benefit large enterprises with vast digital caches of assets and product data. Now, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/">Canto</a>, a preeminent DAM software provider, is expanding its footprint to do just that.Yesterday, the company announced that it has acquired industry rival <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/">Image Relay</a>, a Vermont-based SaaS company that’s been doing novel work to unify digital asset management and product information management. The combination could be a game changer as Canto executes its vision to revolutionize the way businesses mine value from their digital content. Canto has been on its own shooting streak: just last year, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/press-releases/canto-merlinone/">acquired another competitor, MerlinOne,</a> as it looked to inorganically scale its AI capabilities. For a company with three decades of experience in the DAM game, Canto is certainly looking to grow its fan base aggressively. Let's unpack it a little further. <h3 id="betting-big-on-the-digital-content-explosion">Betting big on the digital content explosion</h3>When I say DAM is worthy of a Steph Curry allusion, then the swish should be audible from the stands – and by all accounts, it is. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/digital-asset-management-market">According to Grand View Research</a>, the global Digital Asset Management market size was valued at over $4.2 billion in 2023, with a projected CAGR of 16.2% from 2024 to 2030.As I previously stated, this is primarily attributed to the proliferation of remote work and distributed teams – thanks in part to a little bug called COVID – which has accelerated the adoption of DAM technology. With more employees working from various locations, cloud-based DAM solutions swept in as a secure pipeline for accessing digital assets from anywhere. The benefits are exceedingly clear. With a DAM, disparate users and teams can collaborate seamlessly and respond faster to shifting dynamics, specifically in fields like marketing, media, and e-commerce – industries where immediate access to up-to-date assets can impact campaign effectiveness and customer engagement.Driving most of the attention and focus on DAMs is the rapid expansion of digital platforms and the rise of omnichannel marketing. As consumers move more fluidly across interconnected screens and devices, brands are seeking just-in-time solutions to meet buyers at every doorstep with cohesive messaging. This has resulted in swollen silos of digital content, packed with images, videos, PDFs, rich media, and more – and an onslaught of AI-generated substance to supply personalization and experimentation goals. To meet this surge, enterprises are now straddled with immense digital content creation needs, which require efficient structural, storage, and retrieval solutions. DAMs and PIMs provide a centralized resource for maintaining these assets in a unified system, helping content creators work together more effectively by streamlining workflows and ensuring consistency across their brand’s ecosystem of assets and product information.Many practical factors involved with digital asset management exceed the charter of marketing and broach the realm of a brand’s sustainability, liability, and reputation. For example, images might have specified copyright or licensing associated with their usage or compliance requirements for assets in different global regions. Content may need to be authenticated in a sea of AI-generated knock-offs. There might even be sensitive cultural considerations that require specific temperature controls. In all of these use cases, a DAM can provide a layer of governance that enables businesses to maintain control over their asset usage, reduce redundancy or errors, and achieve a higher TCO via cost savings from lawsuits or brand damage. This translates into greater efficiency that can be realized at multiple levels within an organization.<h3 id="canto’s-cantata-is-dam-good-music">Canto’s cantata is DAM good music</h3>The acquisition of Image Relay is a critical step in Canto's plan to revolutionize the way businesses extract value from their digital content. The company already boasts over 3,400 customers worldwide and is, by all accounts, in a growth mode. That said, certain industries – such as retail, manufacturing, and CPG – have traditionally relied on separate platforms and complex integrations to manage product data associated with specific digital assets. This can result in latency and errors relative to the unique structure of each independent system. I’ve followed Image Relay for several years, and it’s clear why Canto has chosen this technology to harmonize the orbits of DAM and PIM. Image Relay has made notable strides in uniting the hemispheres with its unified <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/marketing-delivery">Marketing Delivery</a> platform, allowing customers to efficiently store, access, and share brand-approved, up-to-date product information alongside digital assets. Image Relay's Marketing Delivery system is purpose-built to enable things like omnichannel strategies. It's also designed to reduce product-to-market time and thus amplify revenue. Now, with Canto’s added reach, it could result in a comprehensive solution that fully aligns the two dominions.Image Relay’s founder and CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/skye-chalmers-19273043/">Skye Chalmers</a> will join Canto to help lead the integration of the two technologies and their teams. As he noted in the press release, he’s spent 20 years at Image Relay focusing on the creation of seamless unified solutions that combine these systems. By joining forces with Canto, he sees the delivery of even greater value and efficiency for its customers.As more enterprises embrace composable technology stacks, Canto’s unification of DAM and PIM might reduce the surface area for stacks that require greater access to both resources while selecting best-of-breed tools that perform outside of composed DXPs – many of which offer their own DAMs as part of their offerings. Canto clearly brings key benefits to the coupling, namely in the way of AI innovation. After the acquisition of MerlinOne, the company launched its <a target="_blank" href="https://info.canto.com/digital-asset-management/mam">AI Visual Search</a>, a slick solution that enables users to find assets quickly across vast content libraries based solely on a visual description prompt. A novel approach in a growing field of generative AI applications, Visual Search effectively bridged the gap between visual content and metadata-based searches, delivering a more user-friendly experience for managing and utilizing digital assets. <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellum/">Wain Kellum</a>, Canto’s CEO, the acquisition of Image Relay will enable the company to offer a leading-edge solution to help businesses streamline their digital operations, enhance data accuracy, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.It all sounds fantastic, but we know there’s no easy layup in the software stadium. Along with the growth of the general DAM market comes a slate of competitive platforms, from <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe</a> to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bynder.com/">Bynder</a>. At the same time, vendors like Widen have been eaten by DXPs like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/acquia">Acquia, </a>which provide integrated offerings out-of-the-box. These are appealing to large enterprises looking for scalable, reliable solutions designed to work with a broader ecosystem of purpose-built technologies.Go across the market, and you see macro platforms like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/optimizely">Optimizely</a> tethering their DAM technologies with broader <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-leads-gartners-2024-mq-for-content-marketing-platforms-as-more-dxps-join-the-game">Content Marketing Platform (CMP)</a> capabilities, reflecting the enterprise's focus on truly integrated solutions that accelerate and scale their marketing initiatives. Go downstream and<a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms"> headless CMS</a> platforms like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/directus">Directus</a> are tacking on their own DAM solution with bring-your-own storage capabilities. All this choice is great, but confusion is a blocker to greatness. In the analysis and evaluation, brands have to be concerned with the ease of use, accuracy, reliability, and ultimately the control that comes with the selection of a DAM or PIM – or both. The need is compelling, but organizations require a clear vision and roadmap to truly unlock the value of such a critical decision.There's also the question of industry scale. Right now, the largest portion of DAM adoption is in media, with the addressable U.S. market leading the revenue share. But factor in the rising potential in vectors like healthcare and manufacturing, and the possibilities for more targeted DAM and PIM solution sets could further balloon. This is where having an ambitious market vision will be a rallying point. As I touched on previously, AI is literally reshaping the definition of a DAM, automating everything from metadata tagging to content recognition. These AI features are evolving every DAM’s searchability, scalability, and usability, making them indispensable tools for enterprises managing vast volumes of digital assets. But the meaningful combination of DAM and PIM – and the focus on AI solutions that can unify, personalize, and ease the digital chaos – could be a key differentiator for Canto.As Steph Curry once observed, “<a target="_blank" href="https://247sports.com/player/65374/quotes/basketball-isnt-just-a-sport-it-is-an-art-one-that-must-be-45275228/">Basketball isn’t just a sport. It is an art, one that must be mastered to succeed.</a>” Similarly, Digital Asset Management isn’t just a technology, but an activator for brands to power creativity and master their game. In that sense, Canto’s vision with Image Relay might just be a slam DAM dunk.  <hr /> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Slam DAM Dunk: Canto Acquires Image Relay, Plans to Align DAM and PIM Features

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<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/ci-hub">CI HUB</a> has been a persistent explorer of in-app connections. The company’s software enables users to access and manage content from various key sources, including DAM (Digital Asset Management), PIM (Product Information Management), cloud storage, stock sources, and even work management systems. Connectors like this have become critical to productivity as brands wrestle with an increasingly complex and disjointed landscape of data sources. This is a big reason why <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/ci-hub-announces-major-investment-plans-to-scale-content-integration-solutions">CI HUB announced</a> a major investment from Scale Capital in March of this year, with plans to further advance its ecosystem of connector capabilities. Currently, it provides two core offerings: CI HUB Connector Professional and Connector Corporate.A big focus for CI HUB has been the burgeoning <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe Creative Cloud</a>, but they’ve also been blazing trails with other large-scale enterprise systems, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365">Microsoft Office 365</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/google-cloud-platform">Google Workspace</a>. CI HUB also offers solutions for content, experience, and prototyping platforms like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/wordpress">WordPress</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/microsoft-sharepoint">SharePoint</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/figma">Figma</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sketch">Sketch</a>. One of the biggest deterrents to DAM and PIM utilization is complexity. With distributed teams having to leverage multiple platforms with different access credentials – and unwieldy systems stymieing the ability to locate assets – content creators can become frustrated and productivity can be significantly impacted. This can result in users getting “creative" with outside tools and unauthorized assets, which can impact brand consistency and integrity. In some cases, it can even open up Pandora's Box around things like stock image licensing and copyright infringement.CI HUB is once again easing the DAM burden with its new <a target="_blank" href="https://ci-hub.com/download/drive/">CI HUB Drive</a>, which enables users to access assets stored in DAMs, PIMs, and other systems directly from their desktops via MacOS or Windows machines. By bringing these systems into a local environment, CI HUB reduces the friction of finding and utilizing key assets, syncs components fluidly, and accelerates productivity and time to market. This translates into greater value around a DAM or PIM investment. “Most companies don’t get the most from their DAMs because employees find it difficult or inconvenient to log in and access what they need,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreasmichalski/">Andreas Michalski</a>, CI HUB Founder and CEO. “But with CI HUB Drive, DAM assets and data are available right on their desktop. By integrating CI HUB Drive into the most commonly used tools, MacOS Finder and Windows Explorer, there is zero training needed. This will significantly improve the adoption rate and company-wide use of DAM assets and data, making them a go-to hub for content, rather than simply an asset repository.” <h3 id="enhancing-the-value-of-dams,-pims,-and-other-sources">Enhancing the value of DAMs, PIMs, and other sources</h3>CI HUB Drive is capable of connecting multiple data sources simultaneously, providing a single desktop connector interface for DAMs, PIMs, MAMs, and stock image providers – as well as common cloud storage services such as SharePoint, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/home">Dropbox</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/google-cloud-platform">Google Drive</a>, and many more. Here's how it works: CI HUB Drive virtually mounts an asset management system in a MacOS Finder or Microsoft Explorer. This enables users to seamlessly locate, use, and synchronize files without ever having to leave their desktops.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:86.86%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/07/ci-hub-drive-product-image-3.png" alt="" /></figure>CI HUB Drive on MacOS The beautiful thing about CI HUB Drive is its familiarity. From a visual perspective, the file structure is simple, clear, and highly navigable – which reduces the surface area of complexity for users. And with a multitude of connections available (anything from Adobe AEM to Bynder to more exotic systems), users have much more control over their asset domain. In MacOS, for example, being able to preview a stock image in a desktop window makes the entire experience second nature. It's intuitive and requires no training whatsoever. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:85.13%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/07/ci_hub_drive.png" alt="" /></figure>Viewing a stock image file in MacOS via CI HUB Drive The app also enables real-time multi-threaded file synchronization, meaning that edits made to assets locally on the desktop will be updated on demand in the original DAM or drive where they are stored. CI HUB Drive also replicates any permission-based access to folders within the DAM system, ensuring that users can access the correct files based on existing roles and rights within the connected system. “Everyone within a company is a potential content creator, and employees are accessing files from multiple sources every day,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerd-glaser-89b22a9b/">Gerd Glaser</a>, CI HUB CSO. “However, each system has a different log-in, interface and search function. Using CI HUB Drive eliminates the time-consuming processes of accessing and transferring assets between drives, tools and work management platforms. Now, users can access the company assets they need as easily as a personal drive folder linked to their desktop.” The new CI HUB Drive complements the existing CI HUB Connector plugin, which already enables users to seamlessly access their digital asset libraries within the most popular work apps such as Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, SharePoint, Google Workspace, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and dozens more. <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>As brands and organizations struggle with the expanding ecosystem of assets – and the apps that house them – CI HUB Drive provides ease, fluidity, and familiarity that maximizes the value of a DAM or asset system. By reducing complexity and streamlining access, users can successfully locate what they need at a local level faster and more efficiently. Having a native UI in MacOS or Windows makes the entire journey of locating assets much easier. The process becomes more intuitive, eliminating much of the friction around the grunt work associated with simply browsing, picking, and finding stuff in the morass. Having a solid DAM makes it even easier, but bringing the assets closer to home makes the entire process feel more natural. One of the key benefits of CI HUB Drive is its first-class respect for permissions. This ensures that any mounted desktop access inherits the same roles for users and groups from the source DAM or PIM, so organizations can maintain governance across their teams – wherever they might be accessing resources. Additionally, the real-time multi-threaded syncing is a slick function, making it even easier to maintain consistency when users make edits at a local level. All in all, CI HUB Drive is a solid addition to the company’s portfolio of products. To sign up for access, you can <a target="_blank" href="https://ci-hub.com/products#drive">visit the company's website</a> for details.  <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a></h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

New CI HUB Drive Enables Desktop Access to DAMs, PIMs, and More

<hr /> A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is a comprehensive solution designed to efficiently store, organize, manage, retrieve, and distribute an organization's digital assets. It combines software and business processes to centralize and streamline asset management, offering a more structured approach to handling media and content.DAM encompasses both a business strategy and a technology platform. Its primary function is to create a centralized repository where organizations can access, update, and distribute their digital assets efficiently. These assets include any digital file that holds value and is searchable through metadata. Some examples of digital assets include:<ul><li>Documents</li><li>Images</li><li>Audio and video files</li><li>Animations</li><li>Graphics</li><li>Presentations</li><li>Media files with usage rights</li></ul><h3 id="the-strategic-value-of-a-dam">The Strategic Value of a DAM</h3>Modern organizations leverage DAMs to repurpose creative assets, reducing production costs and avoiding duplication of effort. The search and retrieval capabilities of DAM systems are also crucial for optimizing workflows. In the context of digital transformation, where brand visibility and messaging consistency across platforms like social media are vital, DAM platforms play an essential role in maintaining brand integrity and fostering growth.By centralizing asset management, DAM systems provide a single source of truth, supporting a unified approach to content deployment and audience engagement. As such, they have become indispensable tools in the digital era, empowering businesses to adapt and thrive in competitive markets.<h3 id="key-benefits-of-a-dam">Key Benefits of a DAM</h3>A DAM system supports various organizational goals by improving asset management. It enhances operational efficiency, particularly for marketing and sales teams, by facilitating the production and distribution of rich media. This leads to better brand consistency, as assets are automatically updated and aligned with brand guidelines, ensuring a cohesive experience for both internal stakeholders and external audiences.Implementing a DAM system offers several advantages that improve operational efficiency, brand consistency, and customer engagement.<ul><li>Lower Production Costs and Optimized Resource Use: By centralizing assets, DAM systems help organizations quickly locate and reuse existing files, reducing the need for redundant production. This cuts costs and allows resources to be redirected to other strategic areas. The increased efficiency speeds up time-to-market for new content and solutions.</li><li>Enhanced Transparency: DAM provides a clear view of all digital assets, improving project management and content planning. It fosters better collaboration by eliminating redundant projects and creating more efficient workflows. Stakeholders can easily track asset usage and status, ensuring alignment across teams.</li><li>Elevated Conversion Rates and Customer Retention: Proper organization of content based on the customer journey allows businesses to deliver personalized, on-brand materials at the right time. DAM helps nurture stronger customer relationships by tailoring the user experience, accelerating movement through the sales funnel, and improving retention.</li><li>Consistent Branding: DAM ensures brand consistency by providing a single source of truth for all messaging, visuals, and creative assets. Teams across different departments can access and reuse approved assets, maintaining uniformity in market communications.</li><li>Governance and Compliance: DAM systems support regulatory compliance by organizing critical assets like licenses, contracts, and legal documents. This capability not only simplifies audits but also minimizes disruptions to business processes, saving time and reducing risk.</li></ul><h3 id="industry-use-cases">Industry Use Cases</h3>Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems offer versatile solutions across industries by enabling efficient storage, organization, and distribution of digital content. Here are some diverse use cases for DAM beyond the traditional marketing and branding contexts:Media and Entertainment<ul><li>Streamlined Production Workflow: DAM simplifies access to scripts, storyboards, and production notes. By centralizing assets like video clips, graphics, and promotional materials, teams can collaborate seamlessly across various locations.</li><li>Content Monetization: Media companies can organize and license content more effectively, enabling quick distribution to multiple platforms.</li></ul>Healthcare<ul><li>Patient Education and Training: DAM stores and categorizes multimedia resources, such as instructional videos or brochures, which healthcare providers can use to educate patients.</li><li>Regulatory Compliance: It ensures secure access and version control of sensitive documents like patient records, medical imaging, and compliance reports, streamlining audits and adherence to privacy laws.</li></ul>Retail and eCommerce<ul><li>Product Information Management (PIM): Retailers use DAM to store high-quality images, videos, and descriptions of products, ensuring consistent branding across eCommerce platforms.</li><li>Dynamic Content Delivery: Retailers can personalize customer experiences by delivering tailored content based on user behavior and preferences.</li></ul>Higher Education<ul><li>Course Material Management: DAM allows institutions to store and distribute digital textbooks, lecture recordings, and other educational resources, improving access for students and faculty.</li><li>Alumni and Fundraising Campaigns: Universities can manage and reuse promotional content, maintaining consistency in messaging across campaigns.</li></ul>Manufacturing<ul><li>Technical Documentation: Manufacturers utilize DAM for storing and sharing product manuals, CAD designs, and maintenance videos, aiding field technicians and partners.</li><li>Training Resources: Training modules for workforce development can be centrally managed and distributed.</li></ul>Public Sector<ul><li>Public Records Management: Governments can organize and provide access to historical records, legal documents, and public notices.</li><li>Crisis Communication: DAM systems help maintain up-to-date materials for public announcements, ensuring timely and accurate communication during emergencies.</li></ul>These varied applications highlight DAM's adaptability, enabling organizations to manage their digital content efficiently while supporting specific business goals<h3 id="what-to-consider-when-evaluating-a-dam">What to consider when evaluating a DAM</h3>Most modern DAM solutions are cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) platforms, making them easier to deploy and integrate. A DAM can be procured as a pure-play, stand-alone product, or as part of a Digital Experience Platform (DXP), and selecting a DAM is highly dependent on your existing product stack and architecture – as well as your market and business goals. When selecting a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution, organizations should ensure it meets their current operational requirements and future growth needs. A robust DAM system should offer the following essential capabilities. By focusing on these attributes, organizations can ensure their DAM solution supports seamless content management and drives operational efficiency.<ul><li>Comprehensive Asset Lifecycle Management: A DAM platform should support the entire lifecycle of digital assets, from initial creation to archiving. This includes tools for version control, updates, and expiration management. </li><li>Strong Governance: Security and compliance are essential, and any good DAM system should provide role-based permissions, ensuring that access to assets is tightly controlled to preserve integrity. For organizations requiring high benchmarks for regulatory compliance, governance can include auditability and compliance tooling at the DAM level.</li><li>Seamless Integration and API Access: The DAM system should integrate with existing tools, such as content creation, distribution platforms, and project management systems. It should also be compatible with future technologies to ensure the organization can scale and adapt its digital ecosystem without significant overhauls. Best-of-breed solutions often include marketplaces of pre-existing connectors and integrations with third-party tools and plug-ins. </li><li>Rich Search Capabilities: An agile DAM solution allows for both metadata-to-asset and asset-to-metadata searches. This bidirectional search capability supports efficient asset discovery and reuse, empowering different functional teams to locate and repurpose content quickly.</li><li>Extensible Sharing Features: To avoid data silos, a DAM platform should facilitate the sharing of digital assets and related data across the organization. This includes exporting search results, metadata, or entire asset collections for use in other systems or for external collaboration.</li><li>Speed: Fast and reliable file transfer is critical for maintaining business agility. A DAM system should enable rapid sharing and deployment of assets to ensure they are available where and when needed, minimizing delays and enhancing productivity.</li><li>Cloud Storage and Infrastructure: The storage infrastructure – whether on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid – should be stable and secure. Key considerations include flexibility, scalability, performance, and data recoverability to protect valuable assets and support business continuity. Modern cloud-based systems provide the most scalable solutions.</li><li>High-Utility AI Tools and Capabilities: Modern DAMs are embracing AI and matching learning, providing both complex and practical applications that are accelerating productivity, enhancing control, and improving governance. DAMs that feature AI prominently to impact functions like search and workflows are typically more performant. To that end, AI is an essential ingredient when considering a DAM.</li></ul><h3 id="need-help-evaluating-a-dam-solution?">Need help evaluating a DAM solution?</h3>If you're currently considering a DAM – either as a pure-play solution or part of a DXP – you can explore the best-of-breed solutions in our CMS Critic <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/digital-asset-management">Product Directory for Digital Asset Management systems</a>.  Looking for assistance with your evaluation? <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Contact us.</a>

What is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system?

<hr /> DAM is having a moment right now. And it's not just the publication of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-dam-wave-q1-2024/">Forrester's Q1 Wave Report for Digital Asset Management Systems</a>, which hit the streets today. That's certainly adding to the gravitas.No, “DAM” is overflowing for a number of reasons. For starters, brands are creating an epic deluge of content. It's undeniable, but it's also perfectly logical. We live in a world that thrives on digital detritus, and modern creative tools have made it easy to produce an unthinkable number of assets at lightning speed. But therein lies the problem: how do you manage it all? Add to that the very real phenomenon of generative AI, which is rippling across the functionality landscape with terrific force. As brands automate and scale the production of the assets they're producing – driven in part by personalized variants and test iterations – marketing departments are under increasing pressure to police the streets and maintain governance.As much as AI is part of the problem, it's also presenting itself as a solution. Such is the case with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/acquia-dam-bolsters-search-share-and-analytics-capabilities">Acquia DAM</a> (formerly Widen), which has been piloting a new bench of AI capabilities – some of which were announced at Engage Boston, which I <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/from-accessibility-to-ai-and-beyond-five-key-takeaways-from-acquia-engage-boston">covered in detail here</a>. The company has been innovating on the edge with generative AI for quite some time, injecting its DAM with search and share features and a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/acquia-dam-introduces-new-generative-ai-features-for-product-and-image-descriptions">product and image description generator</a> last year.Today, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/">Acquia</a> introduced a new set of integrations for its digital asset management solution, designed to expand its brand management capabilities. The company says the integrations with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-campaign-studio">Acquia Campaign Studio</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://stock.adobe.com/">Adobe Stock</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://translate.google.com/">Google Translate</a> will reduce the complexity of maintaining consistent brand experiences across digital channels – and help marketing and creative teams save time and squeeze more value from their content assets.As Acquia knows too well, brands aren't showing any signs of slowing their content hustle. In fact, it's quite the opposite: they need to differentiate with fresh and relevant content to power their marketing campaigns and drive more clicks and purchases. That includes harnessing an ever-growing landscape of visual product imagery, graphics, and more.I had a chance to connect with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/about-us/team/jake-athey">Jake Athey</a>, Vice President, Sales and Go-to-Market, DAM and PIM at Acquia. He's the muscle behind the ever-growing mountain of digital assets, helping to evangelize Acquia's solutions through the marketer's lens. As a DAM and PIM expert, he brings a deep understanding of the evolving landscape – a journey he began during his time at Widen.“Brand leaders today are looking to free up their teams to be more creative and to use digital content assets in new ways,” he said. “These new integrations help customers scale their use of digital content across digital channels and across regions to deliver a better brand experience in less time.”<h3 id="beef-up-marketing-automation-with-acquia-campaign-studio">Beef up marketing automation with Acquia Campaign Studio</h3>First and foremost, Acquia DAM is now integrated with Acquia Campaign Studio – the company’s full-scale marketing automation solution. The integration leverages Acquia’s instant search connector tool, so once a user is authenticated in the DAM connector within Campaign Studio, they can search, view, and select the asset of their choice within Campaign Studio’s email and landing page builders. Here's something really cool: by tapping this connection, any pictures in emails or landing page builders dynamically change when they're updated in Acquia DAM. This has a potentially huge benefit for marketing teams as it will not only save time but also reduce the chance of using off-brand or unapproved content. As you might imagine, this is super valuable for brands that have hundreds – or even thousands – of assets in various places to support decentralized users and brands (think franchises or distributors).<h3 id="access-images-with-ease-via-adobe-stock--">Access images with ease via Adobe Stock  </h3>The Adobe Stock integration offers what you might expect from a CMS or DXP stock image connector, reducing the friction of accessing images, video, or other digital assets in one place while piping in essential metadata. But Acquia DAM goes beyond the typical by providing a more enhanced UX with smoother workflows. Creative pros can choose which types of Adobe Stock assets to monitor and sync, and the integration handles file copying and categorization in Acquia DAM. “Our new Adobe Stock integration simplifies the creative workflow for our customers significantly by automating the syncing of newly licensed assets from Adobe Stock directly into Acquia DAM,” Jake said. “This means that as soon as a customer licenses a new asset on Adobe Stock, it’s automatically uploaded to DAM, along with important metadata like the asset’s ID, title, and keywords. Users can tailor this integration to their needs by choosing which types of assets they want to sync, such as photos, illustrations, and videos.”Jake also explained that the setup uses <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oauth.com/">OAuth Server-to-Server</a> credentials. Customers need only provide their Client ID and Client Secret specific to their Adobe Stock account to enable a secure connection. But once established, the rest should be cream cheese. It's worth noting that Acquia DAM also provides long-standing integrations with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/">Getty Images </a>and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/">Shutterstock</a>, both of which offer well-documented API recipes for integrations. The real magic is how a platform harnesses these capabilities and surfaces the value. “The Adobe Stock integration follows a similar automated approach to syncing assets,” Jake said. “Since this is a managed integration, there will be no need for a new user interface – everything is syncing in the background to make things easy for users.”<h3 id="interpret-more-accessibility-with-google-translate">Interpret more accessibility with Google Translate</h3>Language translation and localization is finally becoming table stakes for globally-aware brands (although it's a mystery why it's still missing on so many sites). Still, software UX is often overlooked. Acquia aims to mitigate that by adding Google Translate to its DAM, helping to ensure that branded content is accessible, searchable, and relevant to diverse users and groups. It's simple: customers can use Google Translate to automatically translate text from selected metadata fields. The DAM automatically repopulates these fields with translated content in up to 20 languages. For those of us who have integrated Google Translate at the web layer, we know there's been a palpable lack of control and customizability. I asked Jake how Acquia is enabling DAM users to “massage” translated content if the text requires any additional tweaks after a human review. There are certainly other tools that facilitate this, and it's a place where AI is also making a dent in the obstacles. “With Acquia’s flexible permissions and dynamic path notifications, customers can set up their desired governance and workflow processes, so they have an opportunity to check translations,” he said. “As with the use of generative AI, we believe incorporating human review into a translation workflow is a best practice. We also have an OpenAI Translate Native Integration on our product roadmap.”<h3 id="building-on-a-legacy-of-ai-innovation">Building on a legacy of AI innovation</h3>As previously noted, AI has long been a part of the Acquia roadmap. Last May, when I <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/acquia-taps-its-modular-open-source-legacy-to-drive-the-composable-future">spoke to Deanna Ballew</a>, SVP of Product at Acquia, she shared a bit about where the company's AI investment had started – and how the open source Drupal community was already innovating around ChatGPT connectors at the CMS level. I asked Jake about the recent AI announcements from Engage last November, and what we might expect on the horizon. He gave me a bit of what's in the rearview mirror, and a peek through the windshield. He started with Acquia DAM’s Workflow AI Assistant, which was launched in 2023, and supports the ability to more efficiently generate new creative and copy ideas and editing suggestions to streamline work-in-process cycles. It also helps to keep teams on brand, accelerating time to market with new brand assets.This was followed by the aforementioned AI-powered keywords and automated description, caption, and alt-text generation – which supports the ability to catalog, find, and use new assets more quickly. Automated alt-text generation also supports SEO and accessibility to optimize brand asset performance across digital channels.“Acquia DAM’s new search by color and color filters help users to quickly find and use available assets based on design color scheme and brand colors,” he shared. “The new integration with Adobe Stock and our existing integration with Shutterstock also tap into the generative AI capabilities of those platforms.”So what's next? Some pretty sophisticated stuff.“New AI capabilities to come include advancements to smart tags, facial recognition, focal point cropping, video transcription, and AI-based GPT video generation and editing,” Jake said. “With all of these and more, our intention is to enable marketers and creative pros to accelerate content velocity, while staying true to brand standards and supporting richer digital experiences for their own customers.”<h3 id="what's-ahead-in-2024-for-acquia-dam?">What's ahead in 2024 for Acquia DAM?</h3>As Jake pointed out, Acquia DAM supports a wide range of organizations across sizes and industries. Acquia proper continues to support Fortune 1000 organizations, including a majority who have – or are replacing – a DAM.  “With these innovations, Acquia is also focused heavily on serving the late-stage majority of first-time DAM buyers in the middle market, with an estimated 200,000 companies in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and Japan,” he confirmed. “Acquia is focused on brands and agencies alike, and serves marketing communications, creative/design, digital/web, product, and e-commerce functions.”In terms of target industries, the company is focusing on manufacturing and engineering, supply chain and logistics, financial services, food and beverage (including manufacturers, distributors, grocery stores, and restaurants), consumer goods, healthcare, education, and more. Obviously, this list can become more granular, but it provides a high-level snapshot of where they see opportunities for DAM to make a difference.As I previously discussed with Deanna Ballew, the theme of composability remains key to Acquia (and just about every platform in the industry). As a legacy DXP with a more traditionally monolithic posture, Acquia has been making strides to decouple its products in the right places, so customers can leverage the efficiencies of a composed DXP while purchasing a specific product within the portfolio. To that end, it's worth reinforcing that Acquia DAM may be used as a standalone solution or with content management systems such as Drupal or other products in the Acquia Digital Experience Platform (Acquia DXP).You can learn more about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/acquia-dam/features/ai">Acquia DAM’s native AI features</a> and the new set of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/marketing-cloud/dam/integrations">DAM integrations </a>on its website. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a></h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

Acquia DAM Adds New Integrations to Enhance Brand Management 

<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-widens-its-dxp-stack-with-widen-acquires-dam-and-pim-capabilities/">Acquia</a> – the digital experience platform built with open source <a href="https://www.drupal.org/" target="_blank">Drupal</a> at its core – continues to innovate around its award-winning digital asset management (DAM) capabilities.
Yesterday, it announced new enhancements have been added to its <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-dam">Acquia DAM</a> (formerly <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-widens-its-dxp-stack-with-widen-acquires-dam-and-pim-capabilities/">Widen</a>), empowering marketing and creative leaders to find and collaborate on digital assets faster.
The new capabilities – which revolve around search, sharing, and analytics – are slated to help marketing and creative teams maximize the value of their content investments across brands, regions, campaigns, and personas, even as budgets are squeezed. 
“Marketing and creative teams turn to DAM systems to rein in content chaos and gain insight into how their content performs, particularly across global brand portfolios,” said <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-and-the-art-of-the-possible-interview-with-chief-market-officer-jennifer-griffin-smith/">Jennifer Griffin Smith</a>, Chief Market Officer at Acquia. “The new Acquia DAM updates empower teams to create, find, and share assets faster, giving them better control over revenue-generating digital marketing campaigns and the ability to ensure better brand consistency.” 
<h2>Giving marketers and creatives more DAM power </h2>
As Acquia outlined in its press release, marketing and creative teams are responsible for building and maintaining increasingly larger and more complex catalogs of digital assets. They need to be able to find assets quickly so they can get campaigns and products to market faster, understand which content performs best so they can use it again (or create more content like it), and drive brand consistency.
The new updates to Acquia DAM help customers rise to these challenges with:
<ul>
<li>Enhanced search experience: A redesigned search experience presents teams with more relevant results and filtering capabilities, enabling them to find the assets they need faster so they can launch campaigns and products faster. Redesigned cards on the search page display file naming conventions, making asset identification simpler and clearer.</li>
<li>More options for sharing assets: Teams can now share results for common searches to support better cross-team collaboration, so colleagues can see asset options in real time, regardless of their location. Users can copy and paste a link to search results, which includes search terms, sort, pagination, and filters applied. Also, new asset share links give the recipient the choice to pick the size and format they need.</li>
<li>Keyword and tag improvements: Teams can leverage tags for improved keyword search, making assets simpler to find. Entry of keywords now uses a familiar tag UI, with clickable tags on each asset, directing users to a search results page with all assets sharing the same tag. Admins retain editing control over these tags. This feature can help teams more efficiently manage very large collections of content assets.</li>
<li>Increased analytical insights: Acquia DAM analytics enhancements give teams faster access to asset usage and performance insights via an improved backend data pipeline. New asset insight charts provide more options to filter and group asset data. Asset insights now has API endpoints to connect with other marketing data in a data warehouse or business intelligence tool. This directly supports marketers who want to understand how content is being used and how well it’s performing so they can focus on the best-performing assets.</li>
</ul>
<h2>A modular, composable platform</h2>
Acquia DAM is available standalone or within Acquia DXP, and supports composable strategies through integrations with other Acquia and third-party marketing products. It is foundational to the industry’s only open digital experience platform, which brings together content and data to create world-class customer experiences. 
You can learn more about <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-dam">Acquia DAM,</a> view the new <a href="https://www.acquia.com/blog/acquia-dam-search">Acquia DAM search experience</a>, and explore how customers are using Acquia DAM – including <a href="https://www.acquia.com/resources/case-studies/crayola">Crayola</a>, <a href="https://www.acquia.com/resources/case-studies/livewire">LiveWire</a>, <a href="https://www.acquia.com/resources/case-studies/novavax">Novavax</a>, and <a href="https://www.acquia.com/resources/case-studies/san-francisco-international-airport">San Francisco International Airport</a> 
<h2>About Acquia</h2>
Acquia empowers the world’s most ambitious brands to create digital customer experiences that matter. With open source Drupal at its core, the Acquia Digital Experience Platform (DXP) enables marketers, developers, and IT operations teams at thousands of global organizations to rapidly compose and deploy digital products and services that leverage their content and data assets to engage customers personally and at scale, enhance conversions, and help businesses stand out. Learn more at <a href="https://www.acquia.com/">https://acquia.com</a>.

Acquia DAM Bolsters Search, Share, and Analytics Capabilities

Acquia has every DAM reason to be running a victory lap right now – and its DAM has something to do with it.
Recently, the Drupal-powered DXP announced that its <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/marketing-cloud/dam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Widen Digital Asset Management (DAM)</a> solution was named a "Leader" in <a href="https://www.acquia.com/resources/reports/forrester-wave-digital-asset-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Forrester Wave™: Digital Asset Management For Customer Experience, Q1 2022 Report</a>. The analyst firm's research evaluated the 14 most significant DAM vendors against 27 criteria grouped into three categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence.
While this news comes fresh off the Forrester presses, it's augmented by the recent publishing of the <a href="https://www.acquia.com/resources/report/gartner-dxp-magic-quadrant?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=ppc_google_bof_mc_2022&amp;utm_content=7013a000002hl4dAAA&amp;utm_term=ppc_google_bof_mc_2022&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiA95aRBhCsARIsAC2xvfwt8tHfpiJWirnXF0U4tNCgxIL4EoPamKncFewhJltgH7JITnH0kTUaAtQ7EALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms (DXP)</a>, where Acquia continues to tighten the race for leadership with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-acquires-video-collaboration-platform-frame-io/">Adobe</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level/">Optimizely</a>. 
<h2>Broadening DXP with DAM</h2>
Last year, Acquia <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-widens-its-dxp-stack-with-widen-acquires-dam-and-pim-capabilities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired Widen</a> in an effort to bring its best-of-breed DAM and PIM capabilities to its expanding ecosystem. As a platform, Widen has been focused on large organizations where marketing teams required a more comprehensive <a href="https://www.widen.com/blog/digital-asset-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital asset</a> strategy for managing rich media, product information, and marketing content into a single workflow – and all accessible via an intuitive user interface. 
With content being at the heart of digital experiences, acquiring Widen was a well-calculated move for Acquia. According to the Forrester report, Widen continues to lead the way with clear strengths around search and marketing features, rounding out Acquia's digital experience platform model and filling the critical gaps of workflow and asset management capabilities.
<h2>Scoring high marks across all Forrester criteria</h2>
Widen earned the highest possible scores across Forrester's nine DAM criteria, including AI metadata extraction, search, digital rights management, version control, content performance analytics, usability and user interface, creative toolset integration, planned enhancements, and commercial model.
The report also stated that Widen offers a "clear commercial model and transparent pricing," as well as "superior capabilities with its creative toolset integration" and "solid digital rights management capabilities including integrations into third-party DRM applications." It also concluded that Widen's roadmap of planned enhancements, which are influenced by customer feedback multiple times a year, is a key advantage. 
"We believe that Forrester's findings prove the strength of Widen's DAM technology when combined with the Acquia Digital Experience Platform (DXP)," said Jake Athey, VP of Marketing at Widen. "The addition of Widen to Acquia DXP brings our customers enhanced capabilities around rich media and product information content, providing even more opportunities to build world-class digital experiences."
You can access a complimentary copy of the report here: <a href="https://www.acquia.com/resources/reports/forrester-wave-digital-asset-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Forrester Wave™: Digital Asset Management for Customer Experience, Q1, 2022</a>.
<h2>About Acquia</h2>
Acquia empowers the world's most ambitious brands to create digital customer experiences that matter. With open source Drupal at its core, the Acquia Digital Experience Platform (DXP) enables marketers, developers and IT operations teams at thousands of global organizations to rapidly compose and deploy digital products and services that engage customers, enhance conversions and help businesses stand out. Learn more at <a href="https://www.acquia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://acquia.com</a>.

Acquia's Widen Named a "Leader" in Forrester Wave Report for Digital Asset Management for Customer Experience

paris-tuzun

Talk about welcome news.
Earlier in December, <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/" target="_blank">Optimizely</a> – a leading digital experience platform (DXP) – announced a definitive agreement to purchase <a href="https://welcomesoftware.com/" target="_blank">Welcome</a>, a content marketing (CMP), marketing resource management (MRM), and digital asset management (DAM) platform.
Yes, that's a lot of three-lettered acronyms for one sentence...
While the DXP juggernaut is no stranger to acquisitions (they were, in fact, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/">purchased by Episerver in 2020</a> but rebranded under the Optimizely name), this one provides a glimpse of the company's ambition to win the minds and hearts of internal marketers.
According to Welcome's press release, the combination will empower marketing teams at brands across the globe to drive real business value through better customer experiences.
“We believe a world-class customer experience starts with an outstanding marketer experience,” said Alex Atzberger, CEO of Optimizely. “By combining Welcome’s campaign planning, content production, and asset management capabilities with Optimizely’s existing breadth of digital experience solutions, we empower marketers to rapidly launch campaigns and control the optimization of every digital touchpoint which results in growth for the business.”
As the deal is set to close before the New Year, it's clear that Optimizely is making a 2022 resolution to focus more on the discrete needs of marketers, who are chiefly responsible for driving customer experience. With the rise of digital tools and hybrid work environments, marketers are becoming the "engines" of business growth by shaping consumer engagement. At the same time, they are being forced to adapt and respond to a fluid digital landscape, where a fragmented stack is arresting their ability to deliver personalized, relevant content and experiences at scale.
Bottom line: Optimizely aims to improve the marketer experience by adding Welcome's CMP, MRM, and DAM capabilities to their expanding ecosystem.
<h2>Combining marketing, content management, digital commerce, and personalization</h2>
As a four-time <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210325005585/en/Welcome-a-NewsCred-Brand-Named-a-Leader-Now-4-Years-Running-in-the-2021-Gartner-Magic-Quadrant-for-Content-Marketing-Platforms" target="_blank">Leader on the Gartner Magic Quadrant</a>, Welcome has carved a strong niche in the small but growing cadre of Content Marketing Platforms (CMP).
As Gartner noted in their most recent report, "Welcome’s vision as a marketing orchestration software, combining the capabilities of a CMP, MWM, DAM, offers promise." This positioning certainly made the platform a more attractive target for Optimizely.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/12/gartner_mq_cmp-971x1024.png" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant, 2021 for CMP" />
By combining Welcome's capabilities with Optimizely's suite of content management and digital commerce solutions, marketers will now have enhanced tools for a wide range of applications – all in a unified platform. This includes the "Holy Grail" of experimentation, personalization, and recommendations that have often remained elusive for marketing professionals and teams.
Under the Optimizely banner, marketers will be able to leverage Welcome's features on an evolutionary scale, allowing them to accelerate the end-to-end marketing lifecycle from concept to execution. This will allow users and teams to plan, create, and collaborate on campaigns and publish across multiple channels to reach the right audiences. They will also have unprecedented control and transparency to manage content delivery without relying on the support of IT or development.
The combined set of capabilities should be a force multiplier for Optimizely, enabling marketers to grow revenue by scaling best-in-class data-driven tools such as A/B testing and content recommendations, augmented by Welcome's content marketing processes. Marketers will also be able to easily share results across their organization, providing greater insight into the impact of their marketing investment.
“We could not be more excited to be joining the Optimizely family,” said Shafqat Islam, CEO and co-founder of Welcome. “We’ve made it our mission to transform the way marketers work, by delivering a purpose-built solution to orchestrate all of marketing. Now, together with Optimizely, we believe we are unifying two category-leading solutions to see that mission through.”
<h2>A string of strategic acquisitions</h2>
As the DXP category becomes more crowded, enterprise vendors are clawing their way to the top of the mountain. In Gartner's <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3995917/magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank">2021 Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms</a>, Optimizely found itself chasing the heels of both <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-upgrades-open-dxp-capabilities-to-expand-composable-enterprise-features/">Acquia</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-acquires-video-collaboration-platform-frame-io/">Adobe</a> in pursuit of the crown.
To enhance their DXP completeness of vision and gain competitive ground, all three platforms have been scooping up strategic technologies – including Optimizely's 2021 <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-acquires-customer-data-platform-zaius/">purchase of Zauis</a>, a leading customer data platform (CDP).
Adding this all-important data layer gave Optimizely a needed edge, but the purchase of Welcome is key. Not only does it signal a renewed focus on the role of the marketer, but it repositions the power of the platform on the marketer's experience. Providing an integrated, end-to-end lifecycle solution for managing content, assets, and resources – and amplifying it with the commerce and optimization features of a proven DXP – could be a real gamechanger for Optimizely. We'll be watching as the next steps unfold.
<h2>About Optimizely</h2>
Optimizely is a leading digital experience platform (DXP), equipping teams with the tools and insights they need to create and optimize in new and novel ways. Now, companies can operate with data-driven confidence to create hyper-personalized experiences. Building sophisticated solutions has never been simpler. Optimizely’s 900+ partners and 1100+ employees in offices around the globe are proud to help more than 9,000 brands, including Toyota, Santander, eBay, KLM and Mazda, enrich their customer lifetime value, increase revenue and grow their brands.
<h2>About Welcome</h2>
Welcome transforms how marketers run marketing. It is the leading marketing orchestration platform used by the world’s most successful brands to strategically align teams, take the friction out of execution, and demonstrate meaningful results. Only Welcome offers a platform purpose-built for the complexities of modern marketing that can scale to support the largest teams in the world. It is a new layer of the marketing technology stack where marketers can work better together, connect other martech tools, and measure performance. Welcome unleashes the potential of marketing.

Optimizely's Acquisition of Welcome Signals Expanded Focus on Marketers

Notre-DAM is an open-source Digital Asset Management platform targeted to the mid-market segment (digital libraries, micro-stock agencies, editorial teams, etc.).
The key features of Notre-DAM are:
<ul>
<li>multi-user, web-based application accessible from the most popular browsers</li>
<li>can manage images, video, audio and text</li>
<li>provides a customizable catalogue based on taxonomies and collections</li>
<li>full metadata support (EXIF, IPTC, XMP, Creative Commons, PLUS)</li>
<li>geo referencing and search, directly on a map</li>
<li>fully scalable, relies on a cluster of PCs for resource storage, processing, and delivery</li>
<li>provides a REST API for integration with other applications (e.g. CMSs)</li>
<li>distributed under the GPL v.3 licenseScreenshot: 
<img style="max-width:580px" title="notre-dam" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/notre-dam-580x306_zhohfp.png" /></li>
</ul>
More information (and an on-line demo) is available on the project's web site <a href="http://www.notre-dam.org">Notre-DAM.org</a>. A short <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMehvlhOPFY">video presentation is available too</a>.

Notre-DAM Beta released - an open source Digital Asset Management Platform

mike-johnston

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CMS. Content. AI. Where is it all headed?

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