Today we release a major update to our Brand & Digital Asset Management vendor evaluations, with a special focus on the latest major releases from two key players in the DAM market: ADAM and OpenText. Over the past several months, we've interviewed dozens of early users of the latest versions of both platforms, and both vendors have shown off their fancy tail feathers to the RSG analyst team.

I say "tail feathers" because much of what's new to DAM platforms these days isn't about the core of DAM; generally, the challenge of storing completed assets and pushing them out to print or web channels was solved (software-wise) some time ago. Now it's about transforming these media management tools into multi-feature, end-to-end creative management platforms, and integrating with a broader marketing, web content management, and social media ecosystem.

For example, both vendors OEM "ConceptShare," a tool for asset markup, commenting, and collaboration. ADAM has new components for integrated marketing campaigns and video management. Open Text touts the broader ECM suite it has on offer, arguing that DAM alone is no longer enough -- that you need WCM and social media services for managing a complete customer experience. As always, though, suites are rarely sweet.

ADAM's integration partners, meanwhile, have developed their own hosted versions of ADAM (such as Denmark's DigitalXPress) or WCM component (STYLELABS' CMS Studio for ADAM).

With more integrations and options come more complexity. With the beta and even .0 (dot-zero) versions of both ADAM 5 and OTMM 7, initial reports from integrator partners and some customers who have braved the new frontier are that bugs are more evident than they should be. Issues with .0 releases aren't uncommon, so we took the time to see how ADAM 5.0 and OTMM 7.0 evolved into 5.02 and 7.2, and analyze all the new features -- along with the challenges with upgrade paths -- in today's research release. 

Real Story Group DAM research subscribers can access their updated research immediately.

If you're a user of one of these systems and have cautions for future buyers or those looking to upgrade, please let us know. If you're contemplating an upgrade, we can help you figure out what system components you really need, and plan for the least amount of pain.