We've long said it's a mistake to choose or stick with a vendor based on their supposed “leadership” status in the market. “Leadership” status in a top-right quadrant on an analyst’s chart does little more than tell you who has the biggest revenues, spends the most marketing dollars, or invests the most in analyst relations. It does not tell you whether or not the vendor’s corporate status is in a state of flux, or if the product set is currently undergoing an overhaul — or even if it is in the process of becoming somewhat irrelevant in the marketplace, due to a lack of innovation and investment. All of these factors involve a risk to you, the DAM practicitioner, creative director, designer, or brand manager. 

The purpose of this chart — and the vendor-by-vendor analysis provided to our subscribers via our new 2013 DAM Market Analysis briefing — is to provide you with some key indicators to recognize and weigh these risks. The chart represents four key dimensions that should supplement functional and cost/value analysis in any major decision to purchase, maintain or divorce your current DAM technology or vendor.

If they're not already, DAM systems will become integral to your business, and when buying or keeping a tool you are also (by default) committing to a long-term relationship with the vendor. Major vendors will gladly dazzle, wine, and dine your team, but even if they appear to be a safe and conservative long-term partner, many of these vendors ironically are higher-risk partners.

Please note this chart is not a value judgement: there is no “right,” “magic,” or “leader” location on this chart. Rather, this is a measure of pace of change, and risk - and you need to determine your tolerance for both. 

The four dimensions we plot are:

- Size: Denotes the relative size and importance of the vendor in the broader technology marketplace

- Focus on DAM: Indicates how much of the firm’s efforts are focused on DAM. For some, it is a side activity; for others, it is a sole focus

- Vendor Evolution: Weighs the current pace of change of the vendor itself. Is it evolving as the marketplace changes? Has it just been acquired, or has it acquired another product?

- Product Development: Weighs the current pace of change for the technology. Is the product line about to undergo a major revision? Is the firm in the midst of trying to piece together many disparate modules? Alternatively, is little happening, with a mature product undergoing minimal change?

The intersections of these dimensions form nine different quadrants that describe the vendors’ overall rate of change, which should be a key consideration for you.

To gain maximum value from this chart, consider two key factors: your own organization and the DAM marketplace. Every enterprise is different. What represents a high risk to one may represent a chance for innovation and a competitive advantage to another. What represents a staid, uninspiring, and somewhat slow-moving product set to one may represent a solid area of comfort and low risk to another. Matching your appetite for change and risk against the vendors and their toolsets is an important element of the process. 

Equally important is the knowledge that this chart is in constant flux; each update looks different as new products and initiatives are launched and others mature. Because many DAM projects stretch over many months (in some cases, years), monitoring this movement is what we as an analyst team are constantly doing.

We've got 400+ pages of detailed DAM vendor evaluation research to support this analysis - feel free to contact us with any questions.