How relevant are interoperable DAM/CMS in Media?

Courtesy: www.synaptop.com

I came across an interesting article about the interoperability of DAM products on cmswire today. Be it DAM or CMS, the concept of interoperability is relatively new but highly beneficial across industries. Interoperability is the ability of these systems to interact with other third party/in-house DAM/CMS or other enterprise products (such as SAP, Oracle etc.) to share assets. This process can help save on costs of purchasing connectors, developing plug-ins and/or migrating content. This efficiency is typically obtained through the adoption of standards such as Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS), Open Data protocol (oData) etc. These protocols act as an overlying layer/API to allow access across systems to linked assets, metadata etc. For metadata another popular standard is used- Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OA-IPMH)

Interoperability can be a boon for most Media Conglomerates. Publishers owning multiple newspaper properties (national, regional and/or global) or Studios/Broadcasters having various Televisions, Radio and Studio assets can use this concept in multiple ways to optimize efficiency across the digital/content asset enterprise.

Take for example a Broadcaster having many channels as well as online properties. More often than not, different DAM systems are used to manage digital assets for each channel depending on their needs (Production or Archive DAM) and allocated IT budgets. A lot of investment has already gone into the Infrastructure; instead of looking to centralize the DAM with yet another enterprise DAM product as most businesses usually do; building in interoperability between the existing systems will prove more beneficial. Content such as news, advertisements, episodes, movies etc. can be shared across the channels. In addition a unique identifier can be assigned to each asset that will act as a primary key across the enterprise and can be the indicator for linking assets for this initiative.

In the case of Publishers, news, article, advertisements, editorial content, CRM and subscription data can be shared across newspaper and magazine properties within the enterprise. Linking subscription and CRM content across newspapers can help give a holistic view of the Conglomerate’s customer base and any user feedback can be used across the enterprise in the Editorial without much investment.

Across Media, creation of asset registries and linking them using Interoperability would help restrict copyright violations by the sharing licensing information across teams and units. Linking of metadata through the assets can also lead to a consistent metadata model falling in place; something most businesses are trying to implement across their enterprise. Benefits of Interoperability are many however the concept is yet to reach a level of maturity and stability that is required for it to be implemented. As of now CMIS is supported by IBM, Microsoft, SAP, BEA/Oracle, EMC, Open Text, Alfresco and Fatwire among others.

A mechanism worth adopting; it would be interesting to see how Media companies go about it.

Retail Revolutionary buys Famed News Daily

Courtesy: www.mercatornet.com

As I leafed through the newspaper today morning, this news piece had me wide and awake. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has bought one of the most prestigious and famed US newspapers- The Washington Post.

Spates of acquisitions have been making the news lately. Be it The New York Times selling The Boston Globe or IBT Media (A digital news company) buying Newsweek. Off the lot, the Washington Post news caught my fancy the most. The fact that only the newspapers arm has been sold off while the real estate and education business (Kaplan) have been retained speaks volumes of how dwindling circulation numbers and lack of revenue growth left The Post Company with no choice but to sell.

The sale was probably long coming, however that Bezos would make the purchase would have stunned many. It has been explicitly reported that Amazon would have no role to play in this acquisition however if one takes a pause and gives it a thought, a handshake between the two might not turn out to be a bad idea at all. Bezos’ comments in his note to the WP employees on the need to experiment and look for newer revenue making opportunities just complements the thought.

A few touch points here and there; cross selling and up selling of products etc. can help in multiple ways-

1. Given WP Amazon’s technology advantage. WP is not known to have state of the art technology infrastructure, the Amazon mantra could be very useful here. Greg Sandoval voices similar opinions at The Verge


2. Advertising Amazon on WP and vice versa can help increase foot fall/page visits esp. for WP


3. Enriching the content on WP using advertising to link Amazon products to relevant content


4. Developing new subscription models by bundling Amazon offers and discounts with WP print and online subscriptions.


5. Linking product reviews by Users across Amazon and WP, providing an in-depth product feedback and analysis


6. Localization- providing shipping/subscription discounts depending on high volumes of purchase in a particular area etc.


7. Bringing in WP’s distribution to help Amazon strengthen their. A view voiced by Ian Burrell on the Independent as well.

These are just a few examples of how both brands could be leveraged well to benefit one another. Such a strategy demonstrating synergies between media and retail could well change the way both industries work today.

On the one hand we have an extremely traditional newspaper; on the other a platform that revolutionized the retailing world and to a large extent was the driving force for the eBook industry; given what Bezos has done to Amazon, it would be interesting to sit back and watch what he would do to move WP ahead in what I call the fight for survival by newspapers across the globe.

All we need to do right now is sit back and watch this space for more.