How can technology work for both MLR and DAM?
When deciding on the optimal technology stack it is important to ensure alignment between the business and IT on the requirements of the technology vendor.
Having a clear list of criteria, scoring mechanisms and knowing what is a "must have" and what is a "nice to have" will help make informed and future-proof selections. There are pros and cons worth considering when going through the decision process.
Managing true end-to-end marketing digital asset processes, from planning through collaborative design, approvals, storing and distribution to insights collection, is not what MLR technology was originally designed to do. As such, if you use your MLR for DAM, you may want to check key functions like Adobe Creative Cloud integration, advanced image format transformation, video manipulation and dynamic publishing into channels, to name a few. In this case, the user interface may also feel more like a legal or document management application rather than a creative or marketing tool, although very dependent upon organizational needs.
If you are looking for robust MLR workflows in your DAM, be sure they are adjusted to life sciences and meet your organization's GxP standards. Then in partnership with your IT and business teams, these workflows should be UAT tested and validated before going live.
That said, there are specific features of a DAM that can facilitate compliance.
These include:
- User and group management, allowing certain people to see all or only specific assets (e.g. content classified as medical cannot be viewed by commercial teams)
- Automated asset expiration, which may or may not trigger a future reuse
- Usage rights management
- The locking or expiring of assets
- Integration with other enterprise systems that might trigger the withdrawal of an asset (e.g. MRM, CRM or CMS)
- Ability to create content modules leading to streamlining of the MLR process
On the flip side, there are specific features of an MLR tool that can facilitate digital asset management.
These include:
- Storing images of different resolutions
- Ability to store source files alongside PDF renders
- Integrations with PIM (product information management) systems, to enable the findability of system records based on product data
- Programmable workflows sometimes include creative workflows
- Handling a robust, regulated metadata schema to ensure assets are adequately tagged and searchable
- Auto-linking relevant documents such as claims, references, components
