Choosing Open Source DAM Software for Your Needs

Open source digital asset management (DAM) systems are a popular choice because they have a public source code that anyone can view, and modify in their own instance. Development teams can easily initiate new features and create a customized DAM experience that meets their security needs, which will benefit the organization far beyond IT.

Digital Asset Management: Open source software vs. proprietary DAM

The key difference between an open source DAM software and a proprietary DAM solution is that open source software has publicly available source code; a proprietary solution does not.

Proprietary platforms are sold ‘as-is’ — no personalization, no flexibility and they can’t be modified or extended (beyond any customizable features offered by the vendor).

Open source DAM solutions provide users with complete access to the source code to add new features and functionalities. When compared to prepackaged proprietary DAM solutions, free access to the source code:

• Makes it easier to extend the platform to integrate it with an organization’s existing technologies

• Gives creative teams increased control over how users store and manage digital assets

• Allows the management systems to be more agile

• Makes security reviews much easier because source code is visible

• Encourages scalability

There are many reasons to adopt an open source DAM solution, from customization options to cutting costs, and even the inclusion in active support communities. The top six reasons to adopt an open source DAM software include:

1. Increased agility with customization

As mentioned above, the public source code enables developers to customize and secure the DAM experience with features that are relevant to their environment. This means if the out-of-the-box platform doesn’t have a feature they want, they can build it themselves. They can change the entire content and product life cycle, depending on their objective or the team structure. Just as importantly, visible source code allows developers to ensure applications meet even the most stringent security standards.

2. Greater scalability

Open-source DAM platforms provide increased scalability when compared to out-of-the-box DAM solutions. For example, when users add new assets to an open source platform, they can add new features to enable users to discover and protect those files.

Get details in this guide: How and why Hyland’s Nuxeo Platform benchmarked 11 billion documents

3. Cost-effectiveness

One of the most significant advantages of an open source DAM platform is that the licensing can be more cost-effective. For example, when an open source vendor is focused on support or hosting, it often means there aren’t expensive per-user licensing models. While there may be costs for storing a high volume of assets, it is still a cost-effective alternative to the high license and storage costs of proprietary DAM tools.

4. Take advantage of open source marketplaces

With open source DAM solutions that provide a marketplace (Hyland’s Nuxeo Marketplace, for example), users can deploy packages to extend functionality and integration points, or even contribute their own packages to deploy across multiple instances.

5. Open source DAMs are also ready out-of-the-box

Most open source DAM platforms have a comprehensive feature-set available immediately that is usable without writing new code. Default features enable users to make immediate impacts when adopting a new DAM solution.

Read more about digital asset management workflows and DAM taxonomy.

6. Enjoy robust community support

Many open source DAM tools have an active user community that makes collaborating quite simple. Easy accessibility to the community and all its knowledge means faster platform modifications and pathways to innovation.

For example, Hyland Community (the interactive customer community for all of Hyland’s products) supports and highlights ways to enhance product use cases that may otherwise seem out of reach.

Though there are many reasons to choose an open source DAM, there are some disadvantages to consider, including:

You need an experienced IT team

If you want to make use of the coding and customization options offered by an open source DAM platform, you need an experienced team of IT professionals with moderate development, deployment and coding experience.

For some organizations, this requires investing in employees who have those skills. For others, it may mean either working with the vendor or partners to manage your environment for an additional cost.

You need to verify security

While your IT team has control over coding an open source DAM, they also need to take responsibility for keeping your assets encrypted and secure. Failing to protect your assets could leave you vulnerable to a data breach and other financial, legal and reputational damage.

Upgrade responsibilities remain with you

While open-source tools are great for getting you away from license fees and subscription costs, there are other potential costs. Costs like having an IT staff that can manage upgrade processes, or as is common with open source, the cost of paying for vendor support, can add to the bottom line. However, oftentimes these costs are still less than the proprietary licensing route.

Increased liabilities and warranties

Most proprietary software comes with a license agreement, warranty and indemnity protection, as the vendor takes responsibility for securing the platform and its internal code. Open source platforms don’t come with these protections because users modify the source code.

Open source tools aren’t necessarily better than proprietary tools; they just have their own set of advantages.

If you want a consistent, prepackaged and effective DAM, a proprietary tool may have the well-designed, prebuilt features you want.

However, suppose you want a flexible, scalable and agile DAM system that can evolve with market changes. In that case, an open source tool like Hyland’s Nuxeo Platform for DAM will be a better fit as it can implement features that complement your existing processes.

You may also like:

• Product designing and prototyping: How DAM helps with a faster time-to-market

• Case study: Global beauty brand manages assets across enterprise

• Omdia Universe report for DAM | Hyland a Leader

• What can you do with Hyland's Nuxeo Platform?