DAM software: what is it, and do you need it?
DAM stands for Digital Asset Management: storing, organising, finding and sharing digital files. DAM software helps you manage photos, videos and brand files, together with information about who created them and how you can use them.That might sound like something for a corporate headquarters. But schools, museums, councils and small businesses can all lose track of photos. Even in a folder called ‘Final’.
What does a DAM system do?
A DAM system brings files and the information about them together. It helps you store, search, manage and share your images. The exact features vary between products.
An image library such as rokiroki focuses on four everyday tasks:
- Store: keep photos and videos in one place, with the originals preserved.
- Find: search for what is in a photo, then narrow the results by photographer or year.
- Manage: record who created an image and how it may be used, and choose what colleagues can do.
- Share: make a photo, folder or collection available to colleagues and people outside your organisation.
Usage rights and access permissions are separate things. A colleague might have access to a photo that you are only allowed to use for a particular campaign. That condition needs to sit alongside the image, too.
How is it different from a shared folder?
A shared folder can be a perfectly good place to store files. An image library focuses on the work around them: finding the right picture, checking its details and sending someone a selection.
Take the photos from your open day. In rokiroki, they can stay in their own folder and appear in a collection for your next brochure, without extra copies. The photographer's details and recorded usage rights stay with the image. Your designer receives the selection through a single link.
When is an image library worth having?
That depends more on how you work than how many photos you have. A well-organised folder may be enough for one person managing a small collection. An image library becomes useful when several people regularly ask the same questions:
- Where is the original of this photo?
- Are we still allowed to use this image on the website?
- Who has the pictures from that event?
- Which selection did we send to the printer?
If the answers always come from one colleague, a central place for files and usage details can help. Including when that colleague goes on holiday.
Is rokiroki a good fit for your team?
rokiroki is DAM software for organisations that want to keep everyday image management straightforward. Store photos and videos in folders and collections, record usage rights and share selections through a link.
Automatic descriptions in English and Dutch help you search for what is in a photo. You can add your own details, and your text is preserved. See how smart search works.
The subscription costs €2,995 per year, excl. VAT, with unlimited storage, unlimited users, every feature and training for your team. View pricing.
Which tasks need other software?
Consider what your team needs beyond image management. rokiroki does not provide image editing, a public image catalogue, an online shop or a public search portal.
For museums, it also does not replace a collections management system. Records about objects, provenance, location and conservation belong there. rokiroki can sit alongside it as the library for photos your team uses and shares.
Put it to work with your own photosTry rokiroki free for a month. Upload a familiar selection and ask a few colleagues to search and share. You'll soon get a feel for how it fits your work.
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