How Cloud Storage Optimizes Media Asset Management

How Cloud Storage Optimizes Media Asset Management

The use of digital assets is, for many companies, an essential part of day-to-day business. Media asset management is a powerful solution for companies that need better control over their important media files.

Digital assets, such as files and documents, videos, music, and other media files, must be stored in easily accessible locations that can handle multiple users at once. This centralization is especially important for digital strategies with media content as their core focus. 

Cloud storage solutions for media assets are ideal for businesses that need continuous access to cloud-based storage and sharing capabilities. 

The media content creation process requires collaboration across multiple channels, meaning professionals need access to powerful business-centered platforms for better media asset management solutions.

What Is Media Asset Management?

Simply, media asset management relates to managing video and multimedia files, including audio. While the term is used to describe a sector of data and file management, it also relates to a particular associated management workflow. This workflow includes: 

• Storing and organizing data
• Adding visibility to data 
• Collaborating across teams 
• Increasing universal access to data

Media asset management offers accessible data for operations within the media and entertainment industry. With media asset management, businesses can define, construct, and deliver media strategies without having to rely on manual data tracking or storage for their most important assets. 

This independence offers important benefits to companies that need to deliver faster turnaround times or process large volumes of data without breaking the bank.

What Are Media Asset Management Systems?

Lifecycle management is essential for media assets. Companies that work with large amounts of data need processes in place for tracking, assessing, and reporting on how information is used, shared, and stored across their networks. 

This need makes it important to invest in strategies that make the creation and use of media assets easier for users of all skill levels. Media asset management systems provide a centralized platform for users doing post-production, video, and audio work to manage their data. 

With media asset management platforms, businesses can store and monitor important video and audio data within a centralized location. This centralization ensures they have better control over data flows, making it easier to secure important media files against potential loss, theft, or destruction.

Examples of Media Assets

Businesses working in media, entertainment, and video surveillance rely on digital media assets for their day-to-day operations. Media assets most often refer to digital video files but can also be associated with audio files. These media assets are digitally stored and accessed by businesses to meet their content needs.

With the proper support, businesses can create and manage media assets without having to rely on traditional channels for creating or refining their ideas. Some examples of media assets include:

• Videos
• Music
• Photos and images
• Computer graphics and brand logos
• Documents (PDFs, text files, spreadsheets, etc.)

Media assets allow users to tell a story, communicate a message, or share important information. This work is essential for defining a brand or raising awareness about a specific product. 

Digital Asset Management vs. Media Asset Management: What’s the Difference?

The general idea of digital assets is that they can be easily stored and managed by companies for their specific use cases. 

For companies working in broadcasting and entertainment, there is a need for specialized equipment and software that makes it easier to reliably share and distribute movies, television, music, and other media files across distribution channels with little overhead. 

Digital asset management is an effective tool for organizations that need reliable infrastructure for dealing with vital data and information. 

However, Media asset management offers users specialized workflow tools for securely sharing and editing large media files. Media asset management software is designed for users who need specialized functionality for their media production environments.

Digital Asset Management vs. Media Asset Management: Similarities 

When looking at digital asset management versus media asset management, there are many similarities. The central purpose of both digital asset management and media asset management is to provide better control over digital content, giving users access to content creation pipelines that allow them to track and manage use. 

This oversight means defining ownerships, privileges, and access rights while tracking real-time use metrics.

Digital asset management and media asset management systems provide users with state-of-the-art data management capabilities that make it easier than ever to create and distribute content across multiple channels. Media asset management is a form of digital asset management that focuses more squarely on media assets used for art and entertainment.

Digital Asset Management vs. Media Asset Management: Differences 

Although there are many similarities when comparing digital asset management and media asset management, which are often used interchangeably, the two platforms are distinct in important ways. Because media asset management is largely focused on digital entertainment, users have access to specialized toolchains that offer practical solutions for their unique deployments. 

For users working with media assets, digital asset management would probably lack some important functionality for content creation, packaging, and presentation. Because they’re working with multimedia, businesses in media require specialized components that are built from the ground up for audio- and video-oriented deployments.

On-Premises Media Asset Management vs. Cloud

Organizations that use on-premises media asset management solutions must deal with their own IT infrastructure, leading to more technical overhead and the potential for wasted resources. Cloud-based media asset management solutions simplify digital content delivery with the flexibility of scalable storage and on-demand support services.

Creating, storing, and managing onsite assets requires up-to-date infrastructure and ongoing user support. On-premises media asset management means investing time, staff, and resources in the development and execution of complex IT tasks. 

The shortcomings of on-premises media asset management can be largely alleviated by leveraging cloud infrastructure tools and capabilities. 

Benefits of Cloud Media Asset Management for Post Production

When editing audio and visual files, the availability of media assets can make a huge difference for individual workflows. Daily production routines generally require manipulating various media elements and transferring assets between different post-production pipelines. 

Cutting and dubbing raw footage, adding music and sound effects, and examining finished materials require access to the latest technologies and services.

Capturing and archiving data, managing access, and planning for potential demand are simplified by cloud media asset management. Businesses that need better asset management tools for post production can use the cloud for cheaper platforms that are easier to manage and available to more users.

Cost-Effective, Scalable Storage

When organizations have high data capacity needs for their media assets, onsite storage systems can become expensive, requiring constant attention and investment. These costs can make it difficult to discover potential opportunities for growth, leaving businesses unable to invest in the future.

Media asset management with cloud-based storage solutions gives companies a safe environment for building long-term growth solutions. 

Decision makers who want to reduce costs and simplify operations use cloud-based mass-storage systems to reduce barriers resulting from siloed or poorly managed data. Media asset management offers users the flexibility to take control of their data storage needs.

Improved Asset Organization

Media asset management is essential for organizing vital data. When businesses lack reliable options for tracking assets and users, managing and distributing media becomes much more difficult. Mitigating risks, coordinating data transfers, and ensuring compliance are essential aspects of media asset management. 

For businesses that want the best performance out of their digital assets, media asset management solutions provide improved monitoring and control of media for simplified workflows and powerful optimization strategies that help ease the post-production process. 

Media asset management software offers valuable tools for users who want to get the most out of their digital media.

Increased Accessibility 

When managing digital assets, decision makers must have full control over who does and doesn’t have access to certain media and materials. 

Video and audio files, metadata, and other forms of creative digital assets have more value to users when they are easy to get to. This truth means that users in post production can benefit from media asset management solutions that are built with accessibility in mind.

There are numerous features offered by media asset management systems that give more users the ability to access important capabilities. 

With media asset management, users have instantaneous access to fast communication, digital media sharing, and security. This access makes it easier for businesses that rely on media assets to distribute important information and materials across multiple channels.

Improved Collaboration

Working with digital media often means various teams and creative interests providing their creative input and professional knowledge to work toward a common end goal. 

When businesses deploy cloud-based media asset management strategies for their post-production process, they enable their employees with a centralized system for supportive collaboration. 

The post-production process requires ongoing communication and sharing of media across the digital ecosystem. 

This requirement means businesses must rely on their distribution channels for accelerating capabilities across a wide range of user devices. With media asset management, collaborators working within the post-production process can build effective media campaigns.

Lyve Cloud for Media Asset Management

Customizing file permissions and media access manually can leave businesses unable to properly secure their digital assets. 

Cloud-based media asset management strategies give decision-makers better control over who has access to important audio and video files. This control provides better tracking and organization for improved cost structures and increased compliance. 

Businesses that want the best media asset management solution turn to the Seagate Lyve Cloud object storage platform for better control over their digital ecosystem. 

Users have access to predictably priced on-demand storage capabilities that support the distribution of IT resources across the enterprise. The Lyve Cloud object storage platform offers automated cloud infrastructure for businesses that want the most out of their media assets.

Businesses working with media assets can use Lyve Cloud to simplify their data strategies and build practical cloud-based management solutions. Lyve Cloud is a scale-out repository that can be used for multicloud distributions and big data analytics. 

In addition, Lyve Cloud supports elevated media asset management for post production with proven reliability and best-in-class data protection capabilities. 

Don’t compromise on your media asset management strategy. 

To learn more, visit us at
www.seagate.com/services/cloud/storage.