Dams in the traditional sense are not known for being all that Green. In exchange for controlling water levels and producing energy, they exact a heavy toll on the environment. People are displaced, waterways are altered, and the landscape is forever changed.

So what do 'our' DAM's have to do with the environment? Turns out, more than you think. Think about all of the printed materials large companies still rely on to market and sell their products. Whether it's product brochures, sales slicks, or marketing brochures, most companies still rely on a Printing 1.0 model -- design your materials, email the files to the printer, print thousands of copies using analog off-set printing techniques, and then archive all of those materials somewhere. More often than not, these materials grow outdated faster than a carton of milk left out on a hot summer day. It's hard to find a figure, but I imagine that it's safe to say that huge tracts of forests are probably wasted every year on corporate materials that never even see the light of day. 

But there is a better way. It's what we call "Printing 2.0". In this model, smart companies with complex printing needs integrate their DAM system directly with a digital printer. Beyond the environmental benefits this affords (no economic incentive to print more copies than you need), there are of course a variety of efficiencies to be realized. For one, with such an integrated DAM/digital printing set up, companies can maintain better control over all of their materials as they're all being served from a unified online archive (which means fewer mistakes and again, fewer trees wasted!). Likewise, marketing managers now have greater control over the printing process. Finally, for digital printers, an integrated DAM system provides them with a direct link to the customer and a way to add value to the print production process. It's one more example of how new technologies can not only radically improve complex business processes but also do some good for the environment at the same time.  

According to a January CMS Watch report, mid-market DAM players are disappearing at an alarming rate. For companies looking for an asset management solution, this translates into fewer choices. Or does it? 

Clearstory , Interwoven , and North Plains are just a few of the "large" DAM vendors currently competing at the top end of the market. These are robust systems. And often, quite complex. At the low end of the spectrum are the bare bones providers, which typically require a great deal of customization and additional work for the client. For companies that want the best of both worlds, there is a middle way. Just look up into the Cloud. 

Software-as-a-Service has been loitering on the sidelines for the better part of a decade. But over the past few years this market has quickly matured and become legitimate for even the largest enterprise organizations. For every major business category -- whether it's CRM, Business Intelligence, or financial services, there is now a healthy ecosystem of SaaS-based providers. And DAM is no different. In fact, the business case for "DAM-as-a-service" is perhaps even stronger. And this is precisely where the mid-market will be filled as both ends of the spectrum converge. There are three converging forces that I see driving the DAM market to the middle of the cloud:

1. Distributed Workforce: As Thomas Friedman declared, 'the world is flat'! This means that a company's most valuable resources are no longer housed under one common roof. Increasingly, the modern enterprise relies on a workforce that is scattered across the globe -- whether it's remote employees, vendors, or contractors. These resources require the same access to digital assets to effectively do their job.

2. Commoditization of Bandwidth - Over the past decade, the cost of delivering high-speed bandwidth has decreased by a factor of 10. The notion of "ubiquitous computing" is fast becoming a reality and with it, the ability to quickly access and retrieve large files in the cloud has enabled new efficiencies.

3. Cost of Managing IT - Organizations are looking for ways to drive the costs out of IT and have found that it makes a great deal of sense to leverage SaaS-based services for non-critical data and applications.

Of course, the most compelling reason right now for adopting SaaS is cost. Even the largest companies are hard pressed to justify a high six-figure investment in a DAM system -- especially when all of the associated costs of managing such a system are accounted for. The mid-market might be a little shallow right now but I expect this gap in the market will be filled relatively quickly as demand for hosted DAMs heats up. What do you think?