To understand the state of the Digital Asset Management landscape, Fotoware conducted a survey and a series of interviews with customers across industries. The aim was to identify common pain points in managing digital assets prior to implementing a DAM system, as well as the capabilities organizations considered most important going forward.
The findings highlight recurring challenges such as organizing large asset libraries, maintaining consistent metadata, managing usage rights, and making content accessible to multiple stakeholders.
Looking ahead, respondents emphasized workflow automation, secure remote access, and stronger security as key priorities - reflecting changing ways of working and increasing demands on digital content operations.
Read on for a summary of the findings.
Most common challenges before using a DAM system
Organizing digital assets (55%)
With many respondents managing thousands of images, videos, and other files, organizing digital assets was the most widespread challenge.
Traditional folder structures and shared drives made it increasingly difficult to process, access, and reuse assets efficiently as libraries expanded.
Metadata governance (48%)
Without consistent metadata structures and clear governance, assets were often hard to find or remained unused. Weak metadata practices limited searchability, reduced reuse, and ultimately lowered the overall value of digital assets.
LEARN MORE: Keeping metadata relevant — why does metadata management matter?
Rights management and licensing (31%)
Managing usage rights proved complex and fragmented. Respondents described using a mix of credits, expiry dates, GDPR information, IPTC metadata fields, and external documentation to track rights - often across multiple systems.
Ability to share digital assets with multiple stakeholders (31%)
Availability was another key concern. Teams highlighted the need to provide easy, secure access to digital assets for internal departments as well as external stakeholders, without duplicating files or losing control.
Together, these challenges point to a lack of structure, governance, and automation in how digital assets were managed prior to DAM adoption.
Digital Asset Management priorities for the next 12 months
Looking ahead, respondents identified a clear shift in focus - from basic storage toward operational efficiency and resilience.
Workflow automation (48%)
With a growing influx of assets from different sources, automation emerged as a top priority. Respondents cited the importance of workflows to automate repetitive tasks.
Enabling teams to access digital assets remotely (35%)
Changes in ways of working - accelerated by COVID‑19 - made remote access essential. Teams needed reliable access to assets regardless of location, particularly for distributed and cross‑functional collaboration.
Securing digital assets (35%)
With increased remote access came higher expectations for security. When evaluating DAM systems, respondents placed strong emphasis on solutions with proven experience in high‑security environments, such as government and law‑enforcement use cases.
These priorities reflect a broader shift toward treating DAM as a core operational system rather than a passive storage solution.
DAM trends over time
While this research reflects the DAM landscape in 2020, many of the challenges identified - metadata governance, rights management, workflow automation, and secure access - continue to shape how organizations evaluate and design DAM solutions today.
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