The new era of DAM: From archive to action

In the latest Forrester Digital Asset Management Landscape report, released just weeks ago, one trend stood out clearly: DAM is no longer just about storage. It’s about becoming a “command center” for branding and marketing teams.

Papirfly’s Chief Marketing Officer, Stefan Gass, sat down with our Chief Product Officer, Martin Pospíšil, to discuss Forrester’s DAM Landscape insights. Watch below, or read a summary of the conversation in the rest of this article.

As Stefan opened the conversation, he remarked on Forrester’s take that DAM is seeing the current shift as “moving away from static libraries – systems of record – towards systems of action.”

That’s a crucial distinction. For years, DAM has been seen as a secure archive for media files – logos, photos, videos, and brand assets. Today, however, organizations expect more. They need systems that not only organize but also operationalize assets—enabling teams to automate workflows, maintain compliance, and deploy content across global markets at speed.

This evolution reflects a new reality: brands are now powered by data, driven by AI, and defined by experience consistency.

AI-powered DAM’s double‑edged transformation

When asked about AI’s impact, Martin Pospíšil, Chief Product Officer, summed it up perfectly:

“AI changes two things at once. First, it massively increases the volume of synthetic content. And second, as a consequence, it makes brand control much more important than ever.”

Artificial Intelligence has accelerated the creation of content on an unprecedented scale. Yet, with more content comes more complexity. How do teams ensure that what’s being produced—by people or by AI—stays true to the brand?

According to Martin, the answer lies in how DAM platforms operationalize AI:

• Automation that enhances governance, not bypasses it.
• Smart workflows that detect and correct issues, rather than just flagging them.
• Agentic processes that adapt in real time, keeping compliance, creativity, and consistency in balance.

Imagine uploading a new campaign visual that fails a brand compliance check. A future‑ready DAM won’t just raise a red flag—it will explain why, and in time, correct the issue itself.

That’s not replacing human oversight—it’s amplifying it.

The CMO’s take on Forrester’s DAM Landscape insights

As Stefan noted, “Being the brand police doesn’t scale.”

And that’s precisely why modern DAM matters more than ever.

In an era where anyone can create “reasonably good” content, organizations risk losing the single version of truth their brand depends on. A central DAM becomes the definitive source of trust and truth—housing approved brand assets, templates, and content ready for distribution.

Stefan illustrated this with real-world examples from Papirfly’s customers in automotive and franchise industries. Corporate teams define core brand assets, while local partners—dealers, franchisees, or regional marketers—adapt templates for local relevance. The result: speed, consistency, and control.

“They might not be designers or marketers,” Stefan explained, “but they can create sophisticated on-brand materials in a controlled, easy-to-use environment.”

This is where Templated Content Creation—a core capability of Papirfly’s suite—meets Digital Asset Management software head-on. Together, they empower teams across regions to create content on-brand and at scale, without compromising quality or compliance.

How to choose the right DAM in 2025 and beyond

When discussing how to evaluate DAM vendors, Martin emphasized four critical considerations:

• Strategic alignment – The DAM roadmap must evolve with your business goals.
• Proven AI use cases – Look beyond buzzwords for real, operational value.
• Tech ecosystem fit – Seamless integrations with your CMS and marketing stack are non-negotiable.
• User experience – The best DAM is one everyone can actually use—designers, marketers, and non-experts alike.

In short: a DAM should fit your world today and evolve with it tomorrow. Read more in our DAM system buyers’ guide.

From command to control

As Stefan concluded, this new chapter for Digital Asset Management marks a definitive pivot.

“We’re entering the age of the content command center,” he said. “A DAM is no longer just the library—it’s the hub where brand content is commanded, controlled, and distributed.”

The message is clear from Forrester’s DAM Landscape insights: AI and automation aren’t replacing brand governance—they’re reinforcing it. And in a world of endless content, a single source of trust is the new competitive advantage.

FAQs

Retail is changing at record speed. According to Forrester, online retail spending in the United States will grow twice as fast as total retail spending through 2029, accounting for 29% of all retail sales. For marketing teams, that surge translates into one thing—an explosion of content needs.

Every new product launch, seasonal promotion, or localized marketing campaign requires consistent, engaging content across multiple channels. Add the growing use of AI-generated assets, and managing this complexity becomes unmanageable without the right technology.

That’s why Digital Asset Management in retail is no longer optional. The latest Forrester Digital Asset Management Systems Landscape, Q3 2025 highlights retail as a key industry driving increased DAM investment. For marketers, a digital asset management solution has become the command center for content operations—a system to scale personalization, protect brand value, and ensure agility in an always-on marketplace.

Why Digital Asset Management in retail is now essential

Retail marketers operate in one of the most content-heavy environments. Product catalogs are expanding, customer experiences are multiplying, and digital marketing campaigns need to adapt to local languages, cultures, and regulations.

Forrester’s research shows retailers are among the fastest adopters of digital asset management DAM because of this rising complexity. A modern asset management platform doesn’t just store digital files—it enables:

• Faster time-to-market for products or services through structured, reusable marketing materials.
• Seamless omnichannel delivery, ensuring every campaign looks and feels consistent across websites, apps, and social media platforms.
• Operational efficiency, reducing duplicate work and costly delays by giving teams the right asset at the right time with version control and access control baked in.

In short, DAM provides the foundation for retail growth, turning a content bottleneck into a content advantage.

How DAM transforms retail from asset storage to brand experience

Forrester emphasizes that DAM has evolved from a passive content library into an active enabler of brand experience, supporting marketing efforts. This shift is especially relevant for retail, where brand trust and product accuracy directly influence sales.

For retail marketers, the benefits of modern DAM include:

• Consistent experiences across regions — Local teams can adapt marketing content for their target audience without losing alignment with global brand guidelines.
• Brand protection at scale — Design templates, approval workflows, and embedded rights management safeguard against off-brand or non-compliant assets.
• Customer confidence — Updated product visuals and accurate data in digital content ensure buyers see exactly what they’ll receive.

Retailers also gain stronger collaboration across marketing teams, merchandising, and ecommerce operations. This accelerates campaign execution and ensures every channel—from in-store displays to digital content online—tells the same story.

The future of Digital Asset Management in retail with AI and personalization

The next wave of Digital Asset Management in retail is powered by AI. Forrester highlights how vendors are racing to integrate agentic AI—intelligent systems that can autonomously plan, create, and deliver content.

For retailers, this opens new opportunities:

• Hyper-personalized shopping journeys — DAM-powered AI can automatically deliver product recommendations with compliant, on-brand visuals.
• Seasonal campaign automation — Repetitive updates, like resizing ads or translating digital files of product images for social media platforms, can be automated at scale.
• Creative democratization — Non-designers can adapt content while AI ensures every version remains compliant with brand guidelines and legal requirements.

But these benefits come with responsibility. Retail marketers must assess whether their Digital Asset Management solution is ready for AI—considering governance models, data structures, and change management to ensure automation enhances brand trust rather than erodes it.

Retail is at the forefront of digital transformation, and DAM is the system making it possible. As Forrester’s 2025 report makes clear, brands that embrace modern Digital Asset Management in retail will be best positioned to meet customer expectations, scale personalization, and safeguard their brand value.

The message for retail marketers is simple: DAM is no longer a back-office tool—it’s the engine powering your ability to compete.

FAQs

Managing digital assets across multiple platforms, teams, and regions is already complex. As demand for on-brand content increases, DAM scalability is key as branding and marketing operations can’t afford to rely on systems that weren’t built to grow with them.

That’s why choosing the right Digital Asset Management software matters – not just for today’s campaigns, but for your brand’s future.

Why DAM scalability is essential for modern brands

The global market for DAM software is expected to nearly quadruple by 2032. That’s because brands are producing more content, on more platforms, for more audiences than ever before.

Without a future-ready Digital Asset Management system, marketing teams will quickly hit operational limits. If your DAM can’t keep pace, your brand pays the price – through delays, duplicated efforts, or content going off-brand. That’s why scalability should be a non-negotiable.

In this article, we’ll walk through six essential questions to assess whether your DAM can scale with your needs.

6 questions to evaluate whether a DAM is future‑proof

1. Can it grow with your asset library

No question, your asset volume will increase in the future. Campaigns, formats, and channels will all evolve. It’s essential that your DAM software can handle not just today’s requirements, but also everything to come.

Ask about asset storage limits, upgrade options, and how easily capacity can be scaled. A future-proof DAM gives you room to grow without forcing a migration later.

2. Will it support the evolution of your company and brand?

New markets. New sub-brands. New regional teams. All can impact and reshape the nature of your brand. Your Digital Asset Management system must be able to flex to accommodate any eventuality. That means being able to support:

• Multiple brand identities
• Mult-language support
• Region- or campaign-specific asset portals

3. Is it intuitive for new users?

DAM software is only as powerful as the people using it. If your Digital Asset Management system is difficult to navigate, adoption will suffer – and so will your brand consistency.

Look for built-in features that promote usability, including:

• Drag-and-drop uploading to your digital library
• Smart search and auto-tagging
• Version control
• Role-based permissions
• Workflow automation

An effective brand portal also supports the long-term usability of your DAM, giving team members clear context for each asset, so they can use them correctly and consistently every time.

4. Can it integrate with your existing stack?

Most marketing teams are already juggling a dozen or so tools. Your Digital Asset Management software shouldn’t add complexity – it should reduce it. That’s why it’s so important to choose a DAM that easily integrates with your key platforms. 

For example:

• CMS
• PIM
• Templating tools
• Creative software

The more your DAM connects to your existing brand ecosystem, the quicker and easier it is for teams to activate content.

5. Is it powered by AI?

AI isn’t a buzzword. It’s now a baseline. DAM systems that leverage AI deliver smarter tagging, faster search, and multilingual metadata, reducing manual work and improving asset findability. Emerging machine learning is set to go even further, recommending optimal assets for specific campaigns.

If you want to stay ahead, now and in the future, a DAM with a clear AI roadmap is critical.

6. Does the vendor have a product roadmap?

A Digital Asset Management system is an investment in your future. You deserve to know how it will evolve. Ask your vendor:

• What new features are planned?
• How do you gather customer feedback?
• How often are updates released?

A transparent, customer-focused roadmap shows that your DAM provider is in it for the long haul – just like you.

Choose a DAM built for tomorrow

As the battle to manage content across numerous channels grows more intense, having a DAM that you can depend on is a key differentiator. And in an always-on, content-heavy world, only scalable, intuitive, and connected systems will stand the test of time. So ask the tough questions now – and, if your current solution isn’t up to the task, consider one that is.

Papirfly’s Digital Asset Management and Templated Content Creation suite is designed to scale with your business, keeping your teams aligned, your assets on-brand, and your content strategy future-ready.

FAQs

The pace and pressure of marketing today can be relentless. More content, more channels, more complexity – and less time to manage it all. That’s where Digital Asset Management software comes in.

DAM software streamlines how marketers organize, access, and activate brand assets – cutting down on manual tasks, reducing risk, and helping teams deliver faster, smarter, and more consistently. Whether you’re managing global campaigns or supporting local markets, modern Digital Asset Management for marketing teams gives everyone the clarity, control, and capacity to operate at scale.

If you want to simplify managing digital assets, and free up time to be more strategic, creative, and experimental, DAM is the answer.

How Digital Asset Management for marketing supports your teams

A Digital Asset Management system is more than just a place to store files. It’s a centralized platform designed to organize, govern, and distribute brand content – everything from imagery and video to templates, logos, guidelines, and campaign materials.

But more importantly, DAM is a marketing operations engine. It removes bottlenecks, empowers teams, and ensures every asset used is on-brand and fit for purpose. 

Here are five ways you can use DAM to transform your marketing operations:

1. Put an end to asset chaos

Marketing teams deal with thousands of assets – across teams, tools, and territories. Without a central system, things get messy fast. Files live on desktops, in emails, or buried in folders with names like ‘IMG_375.jpg’. It’s inefficient, risky, and unsustainable. 

DAM is how you bring order to digital asset chaos. Assets are stored in a structured library with visual previews, smart filters, and searchable metadata. Everyone knows where to find what they need, and which version is current and approved.

2. Strengthen brand consistency

Consistency is critical for building band trust. DAM is critical for building consistency. Having one centralized brand portal ensures that everyone uses the same approved, up-to-date materials – from local marketers to global partners.

 Guidelines, campaign kits, and creative assets can all be accessed from here, reducing errors and duplications. Teams can also use the DAM to repurpose assets for new regions, channels, or formats without compromising brand integrity.

3. Simplify collaboration and asset delivery

Marketing rarely happens in isolation. Teams rely on creatives, agencies, and internal stakeholders to produce, review, and activate content. A central DAM brand hub makes this collaboration seamless.

External partners can upload assets directly into the system. Internal teams can access what they need – within the permissions you control. Approval workflows ensure nothing goes live without sign-off.

4. Automate routine tasks

Time spent reformatting files, managing version control, or digging through email threads is time lost. Digital Asset Management for marketing teams saves you the expense by automating manual tasks your people experience every day. Some DAM software uses AI to optimize visuals across all channels or perform intelligent cropping. Result: marketers are freed from mundane, repetitive activities and can focus their efforts on high-impact work.

5. Connect your marketing ecosystem

Digital Asset Management software integrates easily with other software in your marketing stack, whether it’s CMS, CRM, PIM, or campaign management tools – and this is when DAM is at its most powerful. It means that web editors can publish directly from your central brand portal, email marketers can personalize with confidence, and ecommerce teams can instantly deploy assets at scale.

DAM software is key to successful marketing

Digital Asset Management is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s an essential part of the brand ecosystem, enabling organizations to deliver agile, on-brand, and high-performing marketing.

If your current asset management setup isn’t keeping pace, it’s time to explore what a modern DAM can unlock.

FAQs

Forrester’s Digital Asset Management Systems Landscape, Q3 2025 has arrived. The report confirms what many enterprise marketers and brand leaders have long suspected: Digital Asset Management is no longer just about storage and governance—it’s about acceleration, personalization, and measurable impact.

In this post, we unpack the key findings from the report and how they relate to Papirfly’s roadmap, product strengths, and vision for DAM in the enterprise.

Core DAM capabilities: what is required by common use cases

Forrester splits the DAM landscape into “core” and “extended” use cases. Core capabilities are no longer differentiators—they’re expectations. Among the most critical:

• Asset rights and compliance: Papirfly ensures brand governance with granular user permissions, automated asset expiry, and GDPR-compliant consent management. Our face recognition feature for consent flagging puts us in strong alignment with where enterprise compliance is heading.
• Asset reuse at scale: Efficient reuse is more than just downloading assets. Our global brand portals, which can be tailored to specific roles and use cases, empower local markets to locate and repurpose assets quickly, maintaining consistency while significantly cutting production costs.
• Time-to-market acceleration: Templated Content Creation enables non‑designers to localize content in minutes, eliminating bottlenecks and scaling output globally.
• Centralized brand control: As a single source of truth, Papirfly’s DAM ensures consistent, secure access to approved assets across markets and teams.

While other vendors may highlight advanced AI transformations, Papirfly focuses on enabling everyday use cases with immediate ROI—like localization, governance, and speed.

Extended use cases: where DAM software must go next

Forrester’s report also highlights extended use cases that signal where DAM is evolving:

• Advanced compliance: With AI-powered facial recognition, Papirfly flags non-compliant assets and automates consent tracking—a critical feature for regulated industries and global campaigns.
• Searchability and personalization: Papirfly’s robust categorization, metadata tagging, and facial recognition support advanced search capabilities to help users find and localize content faster across regions and departments.
• AI-assisted localization: Tools like AI translation and upcoming image derivatives help enterprises adapt content for global audiences without reinventing the creative wheel.
• Content intelligence (WIP): While we currently offer analytics on asset usage within the ecosystem, full lifecycle tracking remains a future goal—a priority for roadmap development.
• 3D asset support: Despite industry hype, Forrester notes limited real-world demand. Papirfly’s position is to integrate with external tools when needed, rather than building redundant features.

How brands should evaluate DAM solutions in 2025

One of the biggest takeaways from the report is that enterprises must shift how they assess DAM solutions. It’s no longer about checking off feature lists—it’s about impact:

• Can your teams find, adapt, and publish content without delays?
• Does your DAM protect your brand while empowering every market?
• Is AI solving a real problem—or just creating new ones?

At Papirfly, we believe future-ready DAM is about user-first innovation, not feature-first marketing. This means focusing on adoption, extensibility, and automation that supports real workflows. That is why some of the world’s biggest brands are our customers, and choose us time and time again.

Choose a Digital Asset Management system that continues to evolve

Forrester’s 2025 DAM report doesn’t just outline where the category is today—it maps where it’s going. And for brand leaders, it’s a clear signal to prioritize tools that scale content creation, ensure compliance, and enable smarter operations.

FAQs

Every photo, video and archived document is part of your company’s brand narrative. Yet too often these assets are hidden in old drives or out‑of‑the‑way servers – unavailable when you need them most. Ensuring corporate heritage remains both safe and accessible presents digital asset managers with a complex balancing act.

This guide explores how a purpose-built Digital Asset Management system can help preserve your heritage, reinforce brand culture, and accelerate creative workflows. From brand portal technology to GDPR compliance and templated content creation, we’ll dive into the key capabilities that make heritage asset a living resource, not a forgotten archive.

Why corporate heritage matters

Corporate heritage is the history of your business. From founding documents to milestone campaign reels, from product prototypes to workplace snapshots, these are the artifacts that chronicle your brand’s journey from the beginning to the present day.

Heritage assets serve three strategic purposes:

Strengthening brand authenticity: Archival photos support genuine storytelling that can help build emotional connections with audiences and distinguish you in crowded markets.

Fostering cultural continuity: Heritage assets can be useful for welcoming new hires and engaging existing employees by demonstrating shared values and showing “who we are”.

Mitigating compliance risk. Accurate historical records of product designs, financial disclosures, and consented imagery can be critical, especially in heavily regulated industries.

Common challenges associated with digital archives

Legacy assets are notoriously difficult to control, with industry benchmarks suggesting that teams lose an average of four hours a week just hunting for the materials they need. 

Common digital asset management issues include:

• Siloed storage: With film archives in vaults, scanned photos on local drives, and digital videos in forgotten folders, nobody is sure where to look for the assets they need.
• Inconsistent metadata: Missing dates, unclear usage rights, and ad hoc tagging hide assets from search.
• Legal uncertainty: Lack of automated consent tracking means rights may expire unnoticed, risking GDPR violations or license breaches.

How modern DAM software bridges the corporate heritage gap

A mature Digital Asset Management system ensures heritage assets are compliant and accessible by bringing scattered archives together in one secure platform. But that’s not all it does. Here are some of the additional benefits offered by the best Digital Asset Management software:

• Integrated brand portals. Centralize guidelines, logos, tone-of-voice documents and heritage galleries in a dedicated brand portal. Frontline staff and agencies can access the right assets and instructions without guesswork, ensuring every video, social post, or print ad aligns with your corporate style.
• GDPR compliance manager. Automate consent capture, time-based permissions and instant asset revocation. Whether you’re using customer testimonials, employee headshots or licensed music, the system flags pending approvals and removes expired content – protecting you from fines and reputational damage.
• Templated content creation. Empower non-designers with smart templates that merge heritage imagery and brand elements. Need to promote your centennial anniversary? Teams can generate on-brand posters, social carousels, and event banners in minutes, freeing designers for high-value projects.
• Robust metadata and AI enrichment. Combine a consistent taxonomy with AI metadata tagging, facial recognition, and OCR, and even obscure heritage items become discoverable.
• Granular access controls. Separate restricted archives from public heritage galleries by defining role-based permissions.

This approach reduces duplication, ensures compliance, and accelerates time to market.

Best practices for heritage‑focused DAM implementations

1. Start with a pilot. Choose a manageable archive, such as your first decade of product launches. Ingest, tag, and publish a curated exhibit. Measure search time reductions and stakeholder feedback to validate your approach.
2. Define a metadata governance plan. Get archivists, marketers, and legal teams to agree on taxonomy and tagging conventions. Document standards in a central guide and enforce them via DAM templates and AI helpers.
3. Automate compliance workflows. Configure GDPR-manager rules for consent capture and asset expiration. Use time-based permissions to ensure outdated materials don’t ever slip through by accident.
4. Curate thematic heritage exhibits. Build collections to tell powerful brand stories that engage employees, investors, and customers alike.
5. Integrate across the ecosystem. Connect your DAM with CMS, CRM, and intranet platforms, so heritage assets can be automatically incorporated into newsletters, training portals, and web pages.
6. Measure and iterate. Track KPIs such as asset utilization rate, search efficiency, stakeholder adoption, and compliance incident counts. You can use the data to continue refining taxonomies, permissions, and brand portal designs

Turning your corporate heritage into a living resource

Corporate heritage can be so much more than a static archive. It can provide the basis for powerful brand-building, authentic storytelling, and cultural cohesion – as long as you have the tools to get disparate legacy assets under control.

By adopting a Digital Asset Management solution with integrated brand portals, GDPR compliance management and templated content creation, you turn hidden treasures into living assets that fuel creativity and brand trust.

Ready to future-proof your heritage and make managing digital assets easier than ever? Download our DAM buyer’s guide to discover the must-have features for preserving your brand legacy.

FAQs

Retail marketers today face a fragmented, chaotic content landscape. This blog explores the challenges of delivering consistent, on-brand messaging across 12+ retail channels—from e-commerce and franchise networks to programmatic and in-store campaigns. Learn how Digital Asset Management (DAM) with channel-specific portals offers a scalable solution, and take our 21-question audit to identify gaps in your current operations.

Why retail marketing is more complex than ever

If you’re a retail marketer, your day is a constant balancing act. You’re expected to deliver consistent, compelling brand experiences across more touchpoints than ever before—and do it faster, cheaper, and more often.

Once upon a time, marketing was relatively linear. Create the campaign. Send it to store. Repeat. Today? You’re managing content for your own e-commerce platform, distributor sites, physical displays, franchise networks, social channels, email campaigns, and more.

Each route to market demands tailored content, unique formats, regional adaptation, and compliance checks. Global teams juggle multiple file versions and stakeholders. Local teams often recreate assets from scratch because they can’t find the right ones.

How disorganized content slows down retail growth

Without the right systems in place, content operations become a source of delay and frustration. 

Retail marketers face:

• Delays in approvals and launches due to unclear workflows. 
• Redundant work, as teams duplicate efforts across markets and formats. 
• Off-brand activations stemming from outdated or non-compliant assets. 
• A lack of transparency into which content is used where—and how it performs.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 67% of marketers say campaign speed is directly tied to revenue performance (CMI, 2025). Yet without asset visibility and governance, campaign execution slows to a crawl.

A new foundation: Digital Asset Management with portals

The answer isn’t more people or more meetings. It’s better infrastructure. A modern Digital Asset Management (DAM) system acts as the foundation for consistent, scalable, and localized retail marketing.

DAM with channel-specific portals lets you:

• Serve the right assets to the right partners at the right time
• Maintain brand control across every execution
• Empower local teams to adapt and publish content independently
• Connect your content with tools like PIM and CMS
• Track usage, performance, and asset reuse

This approach reduces duplication, ensures compliance, and accelerates time to market.

Ready to assess your content operations?

To help you take the first step, we’ve created a Retail Content Operations Audit. In just 21 questions, you can:

• Uncover inefficiencies and bottlenecks
• Evaluate your tech stack and workflow readiness
• Prioritize where to streamline or scale content operations

The checklist includes 21 yes-or-no questions designed to reveal the friction points slowing your campaigns. It’s the fastest way to map where your content machine is working—and where it needs tuning.

FAQs

TL;DR

Most enterprise DAM platforms don’t fail because they lack features. They fail because teams don’t adopt them.

In this blog, we explore how UX — not functionality — is the silent driver behind DAM success. Learn how to identify adoption gaps, evaluate enterprise-ready solutions, and unlock ROI through a front-end-first approach.

Why your DAM isn’t delivering: if the front door is locked, no one enters the library.

Enterprise teams don’t fail at file management. They fail at adoption.

You’ve invested in powerful digital asset management systems with every taxonomy, metadata tag, and workflow precisely configured. But if global teams can’t navigate the system confidently — or don’t see value in it — the investment stalls.

This isn’t a technical failure. It’s a UX failure — and a silent threat to your investment in enterprise digital asset management.

Poor user experience undermines adoption at scale

The biggest risk in enterprise DAM? Low adoption.

You see the symptoms in every region:

• Marketing teams still request logos manually
• Out-of-date content in market
• Low engagement or login frequency
• Sales reuse outdated decks
• Local teams create content off-platform (using shadow tools)

The gap isn’t functionality. It’s experience.

Your DAM should feel like an extension of your brand — not a storage locker with search.

UX is a multiplier in enterprise digital asset management

Your DAM doesn’t need more features. It needs a frictionless front-end that accelerates usage, content creation, and campaign delivery.

“Boosting the UX development budget by 10% can lead to an 83% increase in conversions.”

— UXCam, 2025 UX Statistics Report

In enterprise environments, that means:

• Faster campaign launches across teams and regions
• Higher brand consistency with less oversight
• Reduced creative bottlenecks from central teams
• Increased DAM engagement and internal advocacy

For teams managing complexity across markets, this is the ROI multiplier most DAMs overlook.

Think of your DAM like a hotel

It’s a simple analogy we use in enterprise DAM evaluations:

• The Lobby (Frontend): How users are welcomed and find their way. The interface.
• The Guest Rooms (Usability): How well assets are organized, previewed, and used.
• The Boiler Room (Backend): The systems powering it all — taxonomies, storage, compliance.

Too many DAMs invest in the boiler room and ignore the lobby. And when the front door is confusing, no one checks in.

How to evaluate enterprise DAM systems in 2025

To help you benchmark DAM platforms based on real-world usage and business value, we’ve created a practical tool:

The Front-End First DAM Scorecard.

Built around six enterprise-critical categories, it aligns every evaluation criterion to real-world enterprise requirements, including:

• Can the platform adapt to global permissioning and compliance?
• Is templated content creation integrated within your DAM ecosystem?
• Does the platform support localized brand execution?
• Is user experience personalized by region, brand, or role?

Download the enterprise-ready evaluation tool

Enterprise digital asset management isn’t just about where assets live.
It’s about how they’re activated, shared, and brought to life by your teams.

When your DAM reflects your brand, empowers your people, and adapts to your structure — adoption follows.

That’s why UX isn’t cosmetic. It’s critical infrastructure.

FAQs

Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems are no longer just storage tools — they’re brand enablers. In 2025, the top DAM platforms help you manage content, maintain brand consistency, and unlock scalable workflows. Below, we explore the five leading solutions—and why many of the world’s top brands prefer to choose Papirfly.

Why the right DAM makes a difference

Looking for the right DAM? The leading platforms in 2025 combine robust asset management with brand governance, ease of use, AI tools, and cross-functional collaboration. 

When content is scattered, brand consistency suffers. That’s why modern DAM platforms aren’t just about file storage — they’re built to organize, control, and activate your brand across every channel.

Whether you’re scaling into new regions, launching campaigns, or managing a rebrand, the right DAM can reduce time-to-market and align every team behind your brand strategy.

Key elements to consider when choosing a DAM

1. Usability and user experience
   Clarity drives adoption.  If your teams can’t easily find and use the system, they won’t.
2. Search and asset organization
   Findability fuels speed. Without strong organization and search capabilities, a DAM becomes another digital junk drawer.
3. Integration and scalability
   Your DAM should fit into your ecosystem — not fight it. Modern teams rely on a connected tech stack.
4. Features and customization
   One size rarely fits all. A powerful DAM should balance strong standard features with the flexibility to adapt to your needs. 
5. Support, training, and total cost
   Hidden costs and poor support are deal-breakers. To future-proof your investment, look beyond the platform.

Top 5 DAM solutions comparison

1. Papirfly

Papirfly leads the pack with a DAM experience designed to do more than manage assets—it brings your brand to life. With fully customizable portals, brand control at every level, and AI-enhanced workflows, Papirfly is trusted by global enterprises to organize, govern, and showcase digital content at scale.

• Visual-first DAM experience: Custom brand portals make it easy for users to find, understand, and apply assets correctly.
• Organize with intelligence: Tag assets dynamically, group by campaign or region, control access, and set expiry dates for ultimate precision.
• Campaign and sub-brand control: Configure unique portals by region, product line, or business unit.
• AI-powered efficiency: Smart search, automated tagging, and usage analytics.
• Governance embedded: Versioning, approval workflows, and strict permission settings.
• Trusted by the world’s best: PepsiCo, BMW, and Mondelez are just some of the global brands that love using Papirfly.

What users would prefer to be different about Papirfly:

• The pricing isn’t clearly stated in tiers due to how uniquely bespoke the solution is

Find reviews on G2 and Capterra.

Considering Papirfly?

With Papirfly’s DAM as the beating heart of your content engine, see how easy it is to create and manage content, showcase your organized on-brand assets, empower everyone to create and share content, and scale content creation to reach every customer.

2. Bynder

Bynder remains a popular choice for organizations looking to streamline creative processes. It offers a clean interface, strong integrations, and built-in workflow tools for approval and asset control.

What users love about Bynder:

• Intuitive asset management for marketing teams
• Built-in creative workflow automation
• Solid integration ecosystem

What users would prefer to be different about Bynder:

• There is a steep learning curve to using the tool
• There are potentially too many functionalities as a back-end DAM
• Not enough focus on front end users and showcasing assets for teams

Considering Bynder?

See how Papirfly compares to Bynder and discover why leading brands value Papirfly’s advanced brand control, flexible templating, and custom portals built for enterprise scalability.

3. Aprimo

Aprimo is favored by enterprises looking to centralize marketing planning, compliance, and content performance. It offers deep functionality for campaign tracking and content governance.

What users love about Aprimo:

• AI-powered content tagging and smart search
• Strong compliance and rights management
• Integrations with tools like Adobe and Salesforce

What users would prefer to be different about Aprimo:

• The UI and user experience could be improved, with too many clicks needed to accomplish simple tasks
• Requests for greater customization in workflows and asset types are common

Considering Aprimo?

Explore Papirfly vs. Aprimo to see why many enterprises prefer a brand-first DAM experience with customizable delivery and more intuitive UX.

4. Canto

Canto continues to serve small to midsize organizations with a user-friendly interface and quick setup. It’s ideal for teams with basic DAM needs who want to onboard quickly.

What users love about Canto:

• Simple asset organization and search
• Secure file sharing
• Rapid deployment with minimal training

What users would prefer to be different about Canto:

• New users often find Canto challenging to learn, with some teams preferring to delegate asset organization to a few individuals rather than onboarding everyone
• Many users describe the interface as outdated and less visually appealing compared to competitors
• Users often struggle to locate what they need, which slows down daily operations

Considering Canto?

While great for fast-moving teams, Canto may fall short for enterprises with multi-brand needs, campaign-based asset grouping, or advanced approval workflows.

5. Frontify

Frontify merges brand governance and DAM into a unified platform. With live guidelines, style templates, and a central hub for assets, it’s well-suited to design-forward teams.

What users love about Frontify:

• Embedded brand guidelines and design systems
• Collaboration tools for internal and external stakeholders
• Automated asset updates and versioning

What users would prefer to be different about Frontify:

• DAM capabilities feel like an “add-on” rather than the product’s core, lacking power-user features like robust search filtering and granular asset organization tools
• User and permission management is thought to be too complex
• Content creation templates are imported from other tools, not included in-platform

Considering Frontify?

Compare Frontify to Papirfly to learn how Papirfly delivers deeper flexibility, richer portal customization, and better DAM and content scalability for multi-brand and multi-market teams.

What defines a great DAM in 2025 and beyond

• More than storage: Brand portals and experience layers are becoming essential.
• AI-enhanced workflows: Smart tagging, version tracking, and predictive search reduce content friction.
• Portals champion folders: Leading solutions offer brand contextualization and guided asset use.
• Flexible growth paths: Modular, scalable architecture supports brand evolution.
• Content creation: Using design templates alongside the DAM – ideally built in for a complete user experience

Ready to upgrade your DAM?

If you’re navigating brand inconsistency, content chaos, or approval bottlenecks, a next-generation DAM like Papirfly can help you turn disarray into agility. Organize and showcase your brand, create content on-demand, and scale global governance. All from one solution.

FAQs

Today’s customers expect seamless, consistent brand experiences across every channel. In fact, 95% of them use more than one platform to make a purchase. That means your marketing content must perform everywhere – email, print, social media, mobile apps, websites, and beyond.

But the more channels you serve, the more complex your asset libraries become. From localized print to global campaigns, many organizations find themselves drowning in creative files – most of which are scattered, duplicated, or outdated.

Without structure, managing digital assets becomes an almost impossible challenge, slowing campaigns, creating inconsistencies, and damaging brand trust.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. But you can take control.

The true impact of digital asset chaos

Digital asset chaos is more than just an inconvenience – it’s a drain on your resources and a threat to your brand equity. For example:

Marketing budgets take a hit

Teams waste valuable time searching for the right assets or – worse – recreate them from scratch, eating up your budget and slowing speed to market.

Brand consistency breaks down

Brand equity depends on familiarity. But without a system for managing digital assets centrally, outdated files keep resurfacing, undermining your visual identity and leaving your audience confused.

Workflows stall and teams lose momentum

When design files are disorganized, even a simple task like sharing content on social media can become a long and involved process. The confusion causes team members to second-guess themselves. Cue endless back-and-forth with marketing leaders, wasting time and energy that would be much better spent elsewhere.

4 tips for keeping digital assets organization

Here’s how to create a more effective brand ecosystem and get all your digital assets under control.

1. Audit your existing libraries

Start by taking stock. Map every folder, drive, and repository your teams use. Identify what exists, where it lives, and whether it’s up to date.

Yes, it’s time-consuming – but also essential. Without clarity on what you already have, you can’t create a sustainable structure for the future.

2. Create clear taxonomy guidelines

Once you know what you’re working with, standardize how it’s organized. Establish naming conventions, tagging rules, and folder structures that everyone understands – and make sure everyone sticks to them. Without clear rules, the same file might be saved under five different labels, making it harder for people to search for and find the assets they need.

3. Implement a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution

Once you have audited your content and established a uniform naming structure, your next step is to physically organize your digital files – something Digital Asset Management software can really help you with.

So what is Digital Asset Management (DAM)? Put simply, DAM solutions are digital, centralized locations where all your collateral can be stored and shared with teams worldwide. With powerful search functionality, version control, and role-based permissions, they minimize duplication, streamline workflows, and ensure only the right content is used.

For a deeper dive, explore our guide: Digital Asset Management in 2025 – the only guide you need.

4. Layer in brand portals for context

Even the best-managed libraries fall short if users don’t understand how to use what they find.

Brand portals bridge that gap. These user-friendly hubs combine your DAM with brand education, housing brand guidelines, examples, usage rules, and localized content all in one place.

Set up a dedicated brand portal for each region, department, or campaign, so users only see what’s relevant to them – no confusion, no missteps.

A new era for managing digital assets

In today’s multichannel world, content drives everything – from product awareness and employer branding to customer loyalty.

But when assets are scattered, delivery slows, campaigns suffer, and your brand takes a massive hit.

With a clear taxonomy, the right structure, and powerful tools like Papirfly’s Digital Asset Management system and brand portals, you can bring order to digital chaos. Result: faster execution, greater compliance, and consistent brand experiences at scale.