data asset managementDigital assets are vital to the success of many modern companies, either through brand identity and marketing or as a primary product. Such valuable resources should not be left unmanaged nor should they be left in the technological dark ages. AI and big data analytics are the biggest technological advances providing benefit to businesses today and their use can contribute significantly to the improvement and optimization of asset management if used wisely.

What Is Asset Management?

Asset management is the monitoring and administration of assets in a systematic way used to increase productivity and grant a higher ROI. It can involve the development, operation, maintenance, and marketing of assets. Frequently, asset management refers to financial investments but it is increasingly being used regarding assets such as digital media and content.

Asset management allows you to keep tabs on all of your assets, keeping you informed of where they are, how they’re being used, if they’re being modified, and eases recovery in case of loss or corruption. It can help you identify and manage any liabilities associated with asset use or ownership and ensure that you are working with up-to-date information on what assets you hold.

The Impacts of AI and Big Data

As AI and big data analytics advance, they grant the ability to automate tasks and analyze previously unmanageable amounts of data. This has drastically changed the modern world, including the way assets are created, distributed and maintained.

  1. Development and Acquisition

A vast amount of market data is available for analysis that can provide historical insight and be used to predict future trends, helping you decide what type of assets to invest in developing or acquiring and which it might be better to retire or eliminate. 

Through automation tools and data scrapers, you can create systems to keep you up-to-date on current trends, practices, and opportunities as well as alert you to social, economic, or legal changes that might affect your assets and their use. 

Knowing what type of media is likely to give you the best ROI can help you make smarter investments, focus on the development of profitable content, and speed productivity.

  1. Marketing

Big data can provide valuable information about local and global markets as well as customer values, behavior, and engagement. In combination with automation policies, it can help you serve targeted content, device or location-specific webpages, or condition-triggered communication, all of which can help you ensure that you are reaching those customers to whom your content is most valuable.

Data analysis of social media engagement, purchasing patterns, and even foot traffic can highlight correlations that it would take a human an extensive amount of time to uncover. The ability to use this data can facilitate personalized marketing by providing insight into where assets are being used and how effective that use is. When this data is used alongside cost and revenue data, it can be used to verify ROI, guide budget determinations, and optimize marketing and development strategies.

  1. Management

There are a variety of ways AI can be used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of asset management, primarily through automation. Automated surveillance policies can give you information about what content is being searched for, who is searching for it and where and when those assets are being used. Processes can be created for automatic update or deletion of content according to version or licensing rights, allowing you to ensure that their use is brand consistent and that content is not used illegitimately.

Machine learning algorithms for media classification can be used to more consistently tag and organize data, making content more easily searchable and reducing the amount of time spent on manual organization. They can provide analysis of log data to verify compliance, monitor data security, and identify system inefficiencies, or be used to create intelligent search functionality, including autocompletion or allow sorting by popularity.

  1. Digital Asset Management Systems

While AI and big data can be used independently, they provide the greatest benefit when used in combination with a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. These systems serve as databases and management dashboards for your digital assets and often include built-in automation functionality that can be integrated with analytics tools. 

The centralization of assets allows more efficient access to content and the use of automation reduces the amount of manual labor involved in managing assets, boosting productivity. Since assets and their contextual information are all stored in the same place, it is easier to analyze their use and implement findings from big data analysis, for example, by tagging assets according to market demographics.

Wrap Up

The speed with which digital assets are created and the competitiveness of digital markets requires that assets are managed efficiently and intelligently. By integrating AI and big data analytics into asset management processes, you can maximize the productivity of your teams and make the most of your assets and investments. 

The uses covered here are just some of the ways in which technology can benefit businesses like yours, with new innovations emerging every day. If you haven’t already adopted the use of AI or big data into your current practices, now is the time to start.