Widen Collective

Comments: We use Widen as a digital asset manager that houses our corporate photography, videos, branding materials, and other documentation. Everyone in the company can log in through Single Sign-On and begin using the tool to find and access the content they need to get their jobs done quickly and independently.

Pros: The search functionality is powerful. Metadata parameters are as broad or as narrow as I'd like them to be when I'm uploading my content, but I know that I'll always be able to track things down with the search bar.
I love that, as an administrator, I can assign different "roles" or "groups" to both users and assets to ensure that the right content can be found by the right people, and restrictions or limitations can be put in place when required. The front page is pretty customizable, though that part isn't as intuitive as it could be. (A free-form HTML editor option would be nice, for the geeks among us who want to really extract the full potential of a customized front page). Fully integrated Single Sign-On makes it easy for anyone in the organization to log in and get going with virtually no effort on my part as an administrator. The analytics reports let me know how much use we're getting out of the tool, what people are searching for, and creates opportunities for optimization. It also gives us a clear indication of what type of content require to get their jobs done, so we can better cater to their needs.

Cons: Again, the lack of a truly free-form HTML editor option for the homepage layout is a bit limiting - We've managed to find clever ways around that to ensure people can still easily navigate around and find what they need, but the ability to customize that homepage would be great. It would be nice as an administrator to be able to quickly and easily change my view mode to be able to see what content is available for different role types. Currently, I find myself having to log into a number of dummy accounts with different access levels to verify what content is/isn't displayed, which can interrupt my workflow.

Comments: My team has to manage over 15 different categories of assets. Most of those categories are individual brands within our company. Some are segments of the brands. All of that to say that we have sliced up our asset offering in many ways to best serve our customers. By being able to segment those brands, we are able to get the right asset served up quickly in a variety of formats to fit most every need. In addition to that, we can make it so only certain assets can be served to certain customers. All through the use of Widen's "role" and "asset group" functions. We have well over 1000 end-users that we can easily manage.

Pros: I've used quite a few DAM solutions in the past and Widen is by far the best one I have worked with. The thing that I like the best is the ability to manage the metadata just as easy as it is to manage the assets themselves. On top of that, the ability to assign permissions to access and administer assets by role has proven to be very valuable. We have assets that are only applicable to certain customers, so I can easily manage that through the admin tool. The time that we spent managing assets went from a full-time person's job before implementing Widen to only an hour or so a week once it is up and running. My team has to manage over 15 different categories of assets. Most of those categories are individual brands within our company. Some are segments of the brands. All of that to say that we have sliced up our asset offering in many ways to best serve our customers. By being able to segment those brands, we are able to get the right asset served up quickly in a variety of formats to fit most every need. In addition to that, we can make it so only certain assets can be served to certain customers. All through the use of Widen's "role" and "asset group" functions. We have well over 1000 end-users that we can easily manage.

Cons: The only thing I have an issue with is my inability to customize the home page. From what I can tell, you have to be pretty savvy at HTML to do it right. But, I can say that there are some basic things that you can customize that will make your page on brand by adding logos and customizing the colors of fonts, buttons, etc.

Comments: We are able to archive and distribute thousands of marketing assets to a global audience very efficiently and with a sufficient amount of protection and guidance about proper usage. Portals have allowed teams to communicate out about curated groups of assets and instructions with a single url which has helped their ability to promote the most valuable and up to date marketing assets.

Pros: Assets are served up quickly around the world and it is a very stable platform. When technical issues do arise, they are very communicative about their progress of solving the issue. I like the dedicated customer rep as well as access to new features and feedback through their Trello boards. I also like the ability to extract metadata from image IPTC metadata and map it to our custom fields.

Cons: I like the ability to create portals in order to highlight and add info to curated groups of assets, but there are some weaknesses in portal functionality and portal creation capabilities. It would be ideal to be able to create custom dashboards/homepage without extensive use of html. The current wysiwyg is extremely limited in design/layout capability. We'd like a better way for our users to be able to search for portals.

Comments: Our challenge was that duplicate files were everywhere. Our employees had no idea what assets were current or expired - so image and logo requests were constantly directed to the Creative Department cutting into valuable time for designing. By purchasing a DAM system, we were able to centralize our assets, and provide users, controlled access to the most current files which, in turn, maximized productivity and efficiencies. In addition – our global offices are now connected with the most up-to-date materials they need, in any time zone, which has improved the current process. You will find that the customer service is amazing. Widen's team will help guide you through all of your challenges to ensure you build a successful DAM. In addition, once your system is built – Widen continues to build a relationship with you - providing full support even after the on-boarding process is complete. They are dependable, accountable and extremely customer focused.

Pros: The DAM interface is quick and easy to use, the reporting capabilities are robust, and the security allows a lot of flexibility. In addition - we love the Portals - which allows us to provide assets to our non users.

Cons: Knowing that a DAM is customized to your company’s needs, I'm not going to lie – implementing a DAM system can be grueling and a lot of work. But that’s the beauty of a DAM – as your company grows, your DAM can also grow and be customized to reflect changes and future needs.

Comments: We've been using WIDEN's DAM for about three years now to organize and distribute marketing deliverables to other internal departments like sales, development, etc. It makes it so easy to have a single, definitive location to find marketing-related assets. People don't have to wonder where to look to see if they have the latest version of an asset. And we don't have to worry about people accessing things they shouldn't. It also cuts down a lot on the requests we get day to day, because folks know where to go to find things themselves. And the support team at WIDEN is awesome and super friendly and helpful whenever we do have to reach out to them (which isn't that often because their product is great!).

Pros: It makes keeping things organized (which is a complicated job) super easy.

Cons: It works really, really well, but as with any asset management tool, there is ongoing maintenance and auditing that has to take place. That can get tedious at times, but we realize that it has to be done to keep things current, delete outdated/redundant assets, or just to check things that might have been uploaded with incorrect metadata, for instance.