A maturity model-based approach for DAM implementations

A large number of IT or software projects fail to deliver in one way or the other — there are cost and time overruns, often there are major bugs, users are unhappy, or the final result does not look anywhere close to the initial scope. Projects continue to fail, even though IT technologies and processes are much more mature now than they were only a few years ago. Furthermore, if traditional IT projects are excluded from the sample and only those related to content management, and in particular digital asset management (DAM), are considered, the success rate would be even lower. So what can be done to improve the success rate of DAM projects? While having the right set of tools and technologies is important, that itself is not sufficient to ensure success. An organisation needs to look at and address varied challenges across human-, information- and systems-related aspects. To do that, it is important to follow a structured and repeatable methodology. This paper looks at one such methodology, which enables an organisation to analyse its current as well as desired states across various aspects. This methodology is based on Enterprise Content Management Maturity Model (ECM3): an open-source and free-to-use model that provides a framework for continual improvement based on maturity levels. A high-level understanding of the content technologies market and DAM concepts would be beneficial for making the most of this paper.