Tips for Successful CAM Integration

Feature-rich CAM software, such as globaledit, offers a plethora of advantages to creative teams. But you can only harness these benefits when the platform seamlessly integrates into your current workflow.

In other words, it must offer the features your team members need to overcome operational roadblocks and work more efficiently.

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With the global DAM market projected to reach $8 billion

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Whether you’re shortlisting a few options or making the final selection, there are a few must-have CAM features to keep in mind

Cloud-Based Platformity

CAM solutions come in one of these three forms:

• On-premise

• Cloud-based

• Hybrid

Given the soaring popularity of hybrid work, chances are your creative team will be dispersed across multiple locations and time zones. They may not meet in person throughout the duration of a project. That makes cloud-based CAM software the right choice for you.

With a cloud-based CAM platform like globaledit, team members can access existing files and upload new ones from anywhere, at any time. Better still, they can work on an asset even while they’re on the move. All they need is a high-speed internet connection.

That said, it’s important to ensure that the CAM platform you select is compatible with leading cloud service providers — Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform. This will ensure you can seamlessly use other tools, such as Microsoft 365 or Google Drive, alongside the CAM platform. If your team also uses on-premise video editing or image processing tools, it’s wiser to look for a hybrid CAM solution.

Easy File Transfer and Distribution

Whether you choose cloud-based or hybrid CAM software, it’s important to evaluate how easily you can import and share assets from the platform. Ask the following questions: globaledit also supports integration with cloud storage solutions like Dropbox and Google Drive. That makes importing files and creating a centralized repository of all your assets easier.

• Does the platform support specific formats of images, videos and audio files?

• What’s the process of importing your existing assets to the tool?

• How easy is it to distribute assets once they’re ready?

The answers to these questions will help you determine whether a CAM platform fits your needs.

For instance, with globaledit Sync, you can upload files as they’re created. This ensures that other team members can review assets and share their feedback in real time instead of waiting until the asset is ready .

Let’s say you’re shooting an ad. The cinematographer’s assistant can upload raw files to the workspace during the shoot. Editors and sound engineers can check these files and determine whether any particular shot needs to be retaken, eliminating the cost and time associated with patch shoots.

Similarly, globaledit lets you use public links to distribute assets directly to clients and other departments, such as marketing and sales. That, in turn, eliminates the need to upload files to a third-party platform like Google Drive or WeTransfer for sharing.

Versioning and Customization

The right CAM platform should provide you with a comprehensive view of an asset’s versions. Check the following while evaluating any CAM solution:

• Does it retain previous versions of an asset?

• How easy is it to distinguish between different versions?

With globaledit’s Versioning feature, users can mark the final version and retain a record of all previous versions in a single thumbnail. This eliminates the need to scroll endlessly through multiple folders to track the history of changes made to an asset.

You can even compare different versions by placing them side by side, in a slider or overlaid. This minimizes the risk of overriding another team member’s work and losing usable versions.

Searchability

If you want to improve your creative workflow’s efficiency, you must ensure that it’s easy to find the right assets at the right time. A CAM platform should serve as more than a dashboard that assimilates all your assets.

Instead, it should simplify and speed up the process of finding those assets. Check whether you can use metadata, such as location, creation date and author, to find different assets. And find out whether metadata added to assets on the CAM software is searchable on third-party tools.

globaledit makes it easier and faster to find the right assets with the following features:

• Expandable search terms

• Intelligent asset recommendations

• Tool-friendly metadata format

That means you no longer have to open multiple folders on different computers and cloud storage apps to find one file. Instead, you can type in specific keywords related to an asset and locate it. You’ll even get auto-generated suggestions to expand your search query. Plus, you can use tags to logically group assets into collections, further improving searchability.

Collaboration Tools

One of the key reasons why creative teams should use CAM software is to ensure hassle-free collaboration. But not all CAM solutions support the same level of collaboration. While most cloud-based platforms offer easy access to assets, you need additional features to build a seamless workflow.

Ask the following questions when comparing different CAM solutions: globaledit offers a vast array of tools to facilitate uninterrupted collaboration. Think of it as a virtual workspace where team members can brainstorm ideas, give feedback and execute a project.

• Does it let users directly annotate assets?

• What’s the process of communicating feedback and requesting changes?

• How easy is it to approve or reject assets once they’re ready?

The Markup Editor lets users annotate assets, marking specific areas on visuals that need to be changed. You can add comments and tag relevant team members to explain the required changes.

The best part? All these details are updated in real time and visible to everyone involved. That means team members can track feedback and quickly get started with edits. No need to send emails to the entire team every time you need minor tweaks to an asset.

It’s just as straightforward to get assets approved — both internally and externally. Whenever an asset is ready, users can add it to Approval Galleries. Any stakeholder, be it a project manager or client, can review each asset and select “Approve” or “Kill” and add comments to explain why. The asset status and comments update in real time, giving your team complete visibility.

Automation Capabilities

From content management systems and customer relationship management platforms to image editing software, you will likely use various tools in your creative workflow. If the selected CAM doesn’t support integration with these tools, you’ll have to transfer assets manually between them.

Worse still, you might have to change an asset’s format or size before transferring it. This can bog down your process and workflow.

The good thing is that the best CAM solutions are compatible with prominent tools that you might have in your creative tech stack. And that helps automate your workflow.

For instance, globaledit integrates with commonly used tools, including Adobe Photoshop, WordPress, HubSpot, and Mailchimp. Whether you’re implementing an email marketing campaign or designing a landing page, these integrations come in handy.

The Photoshop integration lets you edit images directly on your globaledit dashboard. The markups on an image are available as individual layers, making it even easier to retouch. Similarly, with the Mailchimp integration, you can embed images and videos directly into your emails.

globaledit even integrates with project management tools like Airtable, making it easier to track and update project status automatically. You can even automate the process of assigning tasks as a project is created and updated.

Integration with Dropbox and Google Drive ensures that assets are automatically available in cloud storage whenever they’re added to the CAM dashboard. Assets update automatically every time you make any changes.

Finally, globaledit offers access to API keys for custom integrations, making it possible to integrate the platform with proprietary tools.

Security

Make sure the CAM platform you select deploys robust security measures to protect your assets.

Start by carefully reading the software provider’s privacy policy to find out whether it’s compliant with privacy laws, such as COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

Next, check whether it uses standard practices, such as data encryption and SSL (secure socket layer), to safeguard your assets from cyberattacks.

globaledit takes things up a notch by letting you control access to individual assets. You can create different roles for team members and set specific assignments for each role. And you can grant and revoke access to assets or folders based on a user’s role.

Even while sharing assets using public links, you can set expiration dates and passwords to prevent unauthorized access. It’s also easy to add watermarks to assets and control their opacity, position, and size. You can even set specific permissions to hide or show watermarks to users in particular roles. This flexibility can be instrumental in preventing copyright infringement.