Hosted DAM Libraries

Why do some companies prefer to use TDAL to host their DAM system rather than run it in-house using their own resources? Well, for a start, many financial directors love the idea of saving a potentially large outlay on new IT equipment and software licences, not to mention the fact that they can predict their monthly expense and not have to worry about the cost of future capacity increases.

But for the users, the main business reason is more dramatic; namely, you can spend all your time concentrating on your work and maximizing the business benefits rather than being distracted by involvement in all the IT issues of a comprehensive system. And we make it easy for you. Here’s a host of reasons why TDAL customers, large and small, have chosen us to manage their DAM system:

• Fast ROI. We can get you up and running within days – you don’t have to wait weeks or months before your IT department rolls out an internal implementation. This means you can start gaining the business advantages of your new DAM solution in the very first week.


• Building your library faster. We can convert and upload your files for you saving you effort and specialized staff costs. Typically we can upload up to 1,000 images per hour, enabling you to quickly start reusing your new digital assets throughout your organization.


• Quality digital assets. We can check and convert media to ensure it meets PPA (Periodical Publishers Association) and press standards. The better the quality, the more your marketing, sales, PR, call centre etc staff will want to reuse them. The more they reuse them, the more money you save. This also applies to partners, dealers and journalists; the better the quality, the more they will use them thereby enhancing your brand image and visibility.


• Speed and ease of use. We use the latest DAM technology founded on the MediaFiler platform. According to our users, this is probably the world’s fastest DAM system, providing lightening speed in viewing, archiving and distributing all digital media formats. Most significantly, it has specifically been designed to mirror the ease and familiarity of such popular websites such as Google and YouTube so that users very quickly understand how to use the system and make the best use of it. No need for complex user manuals.


• Instant access for everyone. In the very first day we link your new library into your website. It just looks as if it’s part of your system. No matter if users are working from home, in your offices or even abroad, as long as they have access to the Internet, they can work with your library via your website.


• No penalty for multiple users. The norm for in-house systems is for the supplier to charge you a licence fee according to the number of users. Not with our hosted systems. It does matter if you have 5 or 500 users. The more you have, the more cost effective our charges are….and the more benefit you get from your DAM system.


• Security. Users only see what you want them to see. We work with you to agree the security levels to ensure that access to files is only permitted to authorized users. This helps protect your company files.


• 24/7 availability. You don’t need to rely on your IT department’s systems. Your library is run on dedicated media servers by professionals who ensure its permanent availability. As one of our users once said "If the people involved in the design of the software are the ones actually running it, wouldn't they have an easier time fixing it if something goes wrong?"


• Painless growth. As your library expands, you don’t need to get involved in extra hardware costs. You have no issues regarding scaling up the system as we handle it and it’s completely invisible to the users.


• Software upgrades are automatic. Again, no painful conversions. We will simply advise you of automatic enhancements to the system and what new tools or features you can use as a consequence.


• Your IT department will love you! You won’t need to ask them to set up and manage a new IT system and they won’t have to train or even employ new staff to support it. They don’t need to worry about what operating system it works on. They won’t need to worry about bandwidth, i.e. handling the typically sporadic large files sizes associated with media which can easily ‘clog up’ a company’s network and email system.


• No painful approval process. As you don’t need to apply for capital expenditure and can process this as an expense (Software as a Service), it should enable you get authorization very quickly and get on with setting up the library.


• Low cost - your Financial Director will love you! Not only will he see low and predictable monthly expense and no initial capital outlay, but will welcome the fact that our charges reduce after the first year. And it won’t take a big slice out of your departmental budget!


• Dramatic reduction in distribution costs. No longer do you need to produce CDs or post images and files to agencies with all the associated risks and costs. No more posting photos and press releases to journalists.


• Comprehensive Reports. Simply log in to view and export (email or download) a wide range of reports. Already built in is a web statistics suite but more importantly a complete set of management reports, drill down and display in a number of formats to use in Excel or other applications.


• A boon for smaller companies. Using our hosted service you can use our most sophisticated software which you may not otherwise be able to justify buying outright …and no need to buy a server! So you can reap all the benefits listed above as if you were a major organization.