It's the end of content as we know it. Content creation, content management and content sharing have previously been separate worlds. Now they are colliding and converging into a single collaborative experience and platform. Where have we come from and where are we going? What can we deliver on today and what problems still need to be solved. What are the new opportunities? This interview addresses those key questions in a conversation between Michael Moon, Managing Editor of the DAM Journal, and Eric Hoffert, Chairman Versatility Software, and CEO, ShareMethods.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has become a tidal wave in the information technology world. But what expectations does this surge place on DAM vendors? What implications does it present for analyzing and acquiring DAM to fit within an SOA environment? How can DAM pilot projects be adapted to deliver on SOA requirements? What types of results can be delivered in a DAM SOA pilot? This paper will discuss methods to specify requirements, business workflows and pilot scenarios for DAM applications when you know that the answer for an enterprise is SOA. Real-world results from a DAM SOA pilot will also be reviewed.

A fundamental shift and a new priority is starting to emerge for digital asset management (DAM). In the area of business benefits for DAM, a strong emphasis has been placed on cost reductions, such as the reduced amount of time finding content; lowered costs for express mail, shipping, and couriers; a replacement of manual systems with automated workflows; eliminating the need for CD-ROM or paper distribution of content and market messaging, etc. These cost savings can now be considered traditional, or canonical cost reduction methodologies for DAM. Indeed they are extremely important reasons for many organizations to build, deploy, maintain, and enhance a DAM infrastructure. As a result, most ROI models for DAM are based on combinations of cost reductions and productivity gains. However, after all of the cost reduction focus in recent years, attention is turning to new methods of leveraging DAM to generate new streams of revenue and profit. There is a particularly strong interest in content monetization where revenues derived from digital assets, or systems that deliver and track them, can grow rapidly with only a modest cost basis. Beyond conceptual interest, there are now a number of commercial systems rapidly validating this new direction including revenue generating content models from Apple Computer (iTunes Music Store), Adobe (Digital Media Store), Getty Images, CNBC Business Video, National Geographic Images, and many others.