ROI Matters in the Digital Asset Management (DAM) World: How Real Estate Professionals Measure and Utilize ROI in Contribution to Company Success

Digital Asset Management (DAM) encompasses business and other diversified services such as real estate, book production and publishing, museum, and e-commerce. In general, companies are always eager to find the most optimum management tools to contribute to both short and long term objectives. DAM helps increase productivity, efficiency, and lead to sufficient time and cost saving on asset searching, sharing, and distribution. However, DAM is a costly corporate investment, and the return on investment (ROI) of DAM must be justified. In order to get an indepth insight into ROI measurement, interviews with real estate companies and DAM vendors were conducted. Data was observed and analyzed from recordings and note taking during the interview and all participants remained anonymous. From the analyzed data, real estate brokerages have primary and substitute ROI measure approaches–cost savings and behaviour changes. For example, asset search time, asset recreation, and asset utilization in cost savings measurement; qualitative survey, in-person follow up conversations, and user usage in behaviour changes. In addition, the ROI of DAM can be used throughout the entire process, such as having ROI as a supporting document to prove the need for DAM to decision-makers; sharing ROI with all employees to ensure ultimate departmental goals are aligned; and reviewing and comparing ROI constantly to determine whether the desired outcome is achieved.