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Kas Thomas

Have you considered the V in DAM?

18-Jan-2010

Tags: Digital and Media Asset Management, Governance, Marketplace at Large, Government, Health Care

Last week, I blogged about the increasing trend toward specialization in the Search & Information Access space. As you may know if you've been reading our Digital & Media Asset Management Research, the DAM industry is yet another area where specialization is ongoing. One trend that's helping drive the verticalization of DAM is the broader use of video in Web publishing and in enterprise scenarios.

Video, as a digital mode of communication, is nearly ubiquitous. This means video asset management (as a capability within DAM) will assume ever-greater importance in the months to come. If you're in the market for a DAM system, you'll want to think about what this may mean for your overall content management strategy -- and take video requirements into account when shopping for a DAM system.

Depending on the business you're in, your use of video may not be extensive today, but it may well become a key content category for you in the near future. Just as the podcast phenomenon suddenly found many companies in the business of managing MP3 files "overnight," pervasive video will likely find many Web CMS owners wishing they'd thought through the vicissitudes of Flash and MPEG4 ahead of time.

Video is becoming more important in broad intra-enterprise cases as well.  Many (if not most) companies have security cameras stationed in their stores, offices, or on company grounds. What happens to all the security-video footage? In some cases, old material is simply destroyed after a certain amount of time. But it still has to be cataloged and stored short-term (then dispositioned appropriately). Is it safe to just manage such footage in ad-hoc fashion? Maybe. But maybe not. What happens if an employee sues the company after (for example) suffering an accident on the job? If the accident was caught on video, the video becomes a key piece of evidence. What if the employee's lawyers claim that the accident was part of a series of similar events? If archival footage of all similar events, across time, is available (and can be found with the company's search technology), it could decide the case.

Video also plays an important (and increasingly critical) role in health care. Nowadays, at major hospitals, all surgical procedures are recorded, for legal reasons. This results in huge volumes of video files that need to be cataloged, archived, and dispositioned.

Highway-patrol cars are (more often than not) videocamera-equipped. Every traffic ticket, every arrest, every roadside assist, is video-recorded. All of that material has to end up somewhere. It's best if it ends up in a repository, managed.

Law enforcement agencies routinely videotape suspect interrogations. Again, this creates enormous quantities of video information that needs to be cataloged and managed -- preferably in such a way that footage can be semantically searched later on, if needed. According to Herndon, VA-based MediaSolv Corporation (which sells video asset management systems specifically designed for police use -- a prime example of the increased verticalization we're seeing in DAM), 28% of U.S. states currently require the recording of "custodial interviews" (i.e., police interrogations), and fully half of all states have already passed evidence-preservation legislation. This essentially amounts to state-mandated use of DAM.

Take a look at your own organization. Do you see video management in your future? If the answer is "yes" (and it probably is), you'll want to consider availing yourself of our Digital & Media Asset Management Research, where we rate each of the 20+ vendors we evaluate on their video-management capabilities. We can help you get a handle on your media management needs -- even if you're still deciding what they are.