Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Digital Preservation — What’s the difference?

The terms Digital Asset Management and Digital Preservation are often seen as two sides of the same coin. As disciplines and technologies they are quite different, performing distinct but complementary roles.

When used in combination they can lead to greater long-term brand value and asset reuse.

Let’s explore more.

DAM vs Digital Preservation

In simple terms, DAMs are focused on short-term asset use - often by marketing teams that need ways to efficiently manage and distribute campaign assets.

Digital Preservation on the other hand is all about long-term asset use – typically used by archival teams that need to ensure digital assets can be easily found and used over many decades - independent of the original file format they were created in.

As analyst firm Gartner points out: ​“As formats change, software is retired and hardware becomes obsolete, the data that organizations might want to keep can be lost forever.”

The power of combining DAM and Digital Preservation

When used in combination DAM and Digital Preservation create a virtuous cycle that enables assets to be reused and repurposed over the long-term to grow brand value, protect corporate memory and meet compliance or litigation needs. This can include:

Authentic brand storytelling – use of approved heritage assets for anniversary campaigns and engaging social media

Product innovation – inspire retro product designs and heritage brands

Employee engagement – engage employees in authentic history and culture of the organization

Brand and trademark protection – access to “proof of use” assets across multiple territories and jurisdictions

Corporate governance – protect strategic decision making, board reports and M&A records

Join the discussion

Want to learn more?

We dug deeper into this topic during a 3-part virtual education series run in conjunction with Henry Stewart Events. You can watch the event replays, access all of the content from the series, and participate in the discussion here in the Community Hub group.

Learn about the tangible business value of combining DAM and Digital Preservation from expert speakers from McDonald’s, Yale University, BT and Lloyds Banking Group.

Session 1: Preserving Long-term digital assets (with Michael Bullington, Senior Archives Manager, McDonald's)

Session 2: Standards and approaches for digital preservation (with Euan Cochrane, Digital Preservation Manager, Yale University)

Session 3: Building a strategy for preserving long-term digital assets (with Anne Archer, Head of Heritage and Archives, BT and Karen Sampson, Head of Digital Archives & Museum, Lloyds Banking Group)