Microsoft Corp. has partnered with little known ADAM Software, a digital asset management (DAM) and product content management software provider, to provide the backbone for CloudDAM.
CloudDAM is a new global DAM platform being deployed by Microsoft and its subsidiaries worldwide.
CloudDAM is a cloud-based, scalable and extensible DAM platform that will enable the centralization of Microsoft’s digital marketing assets, and is expected to result in cost efficiencies of up to 30 per cent related to digital asset reuse and multiple technology platform consolidation, as well as security/legal compliance.
According to both companies, this partnership will also bring increased flexibility in digital asset formats enabling cross-channel distribution and improved go-to-market.
The plan is for CloudDAM to act as Microsoft’s authoring and publishing portal for assets accessible internally and externally, and enable management of both work in progress and finished assets across all languages and locales. DAM is also one of the core components of Microsoft’s Marketing Automation framework, enabling an end-to-end automated process across marketing planning and operations, customer experience and lifecycle automation.
To meet Microsoft’s requirements for CloudDAM, the ADAM Software platform will scale organically to onboard all the company’s brands over time. It will also incorporate workflow and collaboration, integrate with key Microsoft technologies such as SharePoint and run on the Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure to provide ‘DAM as a Service’ capabilities. Together with its channel partner Accenture and system integrator StyleLabs, ADAM Software was chosen by Microsoft because of the robustness and scalability of its DAM solution, and the openness of its API (application programming interface).
Erik Larson, managing director at Accenture, said the scale, complexity and integration requirements of the CloudDAM platform are immense, and the fact that ADAM Software has already proven its robustness in comparable environments was a key factor in its selection by the company.
ADAM CEO Pieter Casneuf said the agreement with Microsoft is the latest in a series involving Fortune 500 and other major international companies, examples of which include AstraZeneca, Delhaize, IKEA, Nickelodeon and Ubisoft.