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DAM vs PIM

dmescia
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 15:01:22 GMT

As we have delved deeper and deeper into implementing our DAM here I'm wondering more and more why there are separate systems for DAM and PIM. It seems like they should be the same system. You are putting your assets into a system and tagging them based on what they are so you can perform an intuitive search. So why do we need a separate system to inform us of what the image is? Why can't the DAM world or PIM world adapt so when we tag images we're doing it not only for search and reporting but also for informative reasons. It's all metadata. It's just the way we display and interact with it that needs to change. Does anyone else feel this way or am I alone on this island?

ericfulmer
Thu, 21 Feb 2019 14:07:41 GMT

I agree that conceptually, PIM and DAM are similar. But their applications are radically different when it comes to the Use Cases involved. PIM is "data centric" and DAM is "asset centric." Although in theory many assets are related to product data, that's not always true. Creative users that need an asset for an email campaign have very different use cases than a merchant verifying if a product is in stock. DAMs specialize in managing assets via rights/permissions, versioning, transformation, and distribution. Like so many areas in technology, things that seem really similar and therefore should just merge into a single "Staples easy button" solution, defy that reality when you start testing real-world use cases. I think PIM and DAM will remain independent for at least the next 5-10 years, although some vendors are certainly trying to meld them together.