First there was DAM, then MAM, and now BPaaS enters the picture. All of the acronyms floating around in the marketing vocabulary arsenal are enough to make a first year marketer sick! As long as systems and processes are in place, however, marketers and marketing service providers will never stop creating these neat little acronyms. But just what do these shortened words mean?
DAM stands for Digital Asset Management. Many companies have huge catalogues of marketing pieces that have been created especially for them over time. These materials, often called marketing collateral, are pervasive in today’s world. With digital images, movie clips, logos, designs, and photographs being produced constantly, it is very necessary for a large corporation to have a system in place that manages these materials. DAM is a way to standardize storage and provides ease of access to marketing materials digitally.
MAM stands for Marketing Asset Management. MAM takes DAM just a little bit farther. By adding broader production capabilities and fulfillment services, MAM streamlines the marketing materials supply-and-distribution chain. By combining powerful online document customization tools with the ability to produce custom materials in quantities as small as a single item, MAM makes relevant marketing possible all while reducing both loss of time and materials.
BPaaS stands for Business Process as a Service. With the emergence of cloud technology comes this neat acronym. MAM and DAM are both forms of cloud technology, allowing for standardization of marketing materials and allowing for flexibility. MAM is fast becoming an essential BPaaS, passing up DAM as the MO of major players. Confused? Marketing Asset Management is a business process that, because it saves both time and money, really is a value added service provided to customers. Cognizant, a leading business process consulting firm, believes that DAM and MAM absolutely define BPaaS. Jon Christian writes in “Revitalizing Marketing’s Digital Content Chain,” that with streamlined workflows, standardization, and ease of access, these systems provide businesses with solutions that will save them valuable time and effort.
Now with the understanding of the definitions of these three acronyms, one can see that it is really a case of WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get).
