When investing in new technology, selecting the right software is crucial in order to see an increase in Return on Investment (ROI). When it comes to Digital Asset Management (DAM) technology, you need to make sure the software will streamline workflows, enhance asset organization, and ensure efficient access to important digital resources.
However, with so many options available, it can become overwhelming to choose a DAM system that not only aligns with your industry’s specific needs but also empowers your team to manage and utilize digital assets effectively.
In this blog, we’ll cover two leading players in the DAM space: OpenAsset and Acquia DAM (formerly Widen). This blog aims to provide an insightful comparison, helping you understand which platform best suits your industry’s unique demands and workflows.
From covering industry-specific functionalities to robust capabilities, our goal is to guide you in making an informed decision in your DAM journey.
What Is OpenAsset?
OpenAsset is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform specifically tailored for firms in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. It is designed with features to help these businesses efficiently manage and utilize their digital assets, such as project photographs, drawings, marketing materials, and other media files.
What Is Acquia?
Acquia is a cloud-based technology company specializing in providing a suite of software solutions for digital experience management. It was founded by Dries Buytaert, the creator of Drupal. Because of this, Acquia is closely associated with Drupal, an open-source content management system (CMS). It provides enterprise-level support and services for Drupal users, making it a popular choice for businesses looking to leverage Drupal’s capabilities.
However, Acquia’s offerings extend beyond content management to include solutions for digital experience, personalization, and commerce. One of these solutions is their newly acquired DAM software.
The company’s acquisition of Widen, a digital asset management and product information management software provider, has expanded its range of services, particularly in managing digital assets and brand content. Acquia DAM (formerly Widen) was designed to simplify how companies organize, access, and deliver digital assets across customer experiences.
Acquia vs. OpenAsset: Top Industries
Choosing the right Digital Asset Management (DAM) system often depends on the specific needs, workflows, and compliance standards of your industry. Different industries have distinct requirements that shape the functionality of their ideal DAM solution.
For example, a DAM designed for the media industry may focus on features like rapid video streaming and integrations with video editing software. In contrast, a system geared towards the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector is likely to prioritize seamless integration with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and document creation tools, aligning with their unique operational demands.
Here’s how Acquia and OpenAsset compare when it comes to the top industries they serve:
Acquia
Acquia’s solutions are designed to cater to a wide range of industries. This is due to its large suite of tools for digital experience management, content management, and digital marketing. Their top industries benefit from Acquia’s CMS and digital experience capabilities.
Acquia claims to have “solutions for every industry.” However, it is particularly popular in sectors like:
- Government
- Higher education
- Media and publishing
- Healthcare
- Financial services
- Retail
OpenAsset
OpenAsset, conversely, is highly specialized in the following industries:
Its features are tailored to meet the specific needs of AEC firms, such as project-based asset organization, integration with AEC-specific software, and tools to manage and showcase project portfolios and resumes.
However, besides AEC, OpenAsset is also suitable for other professional services firms that manage numerous project-based assets, such as real estate and design firms. Firms of all sizes choose OpenAsset for its ability to streamline project-based asset management and enhance workflow efficiency in the AEC industry.
Acquia vs. OpenAsset: Capabilities
The effectiveness of your organization’s creative workflow is heavily influenced by the capabilities of your Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. A proficient DAM should organize your assets efficiently, enhance productivity, foster collaboration, and empower your team to concentrate on revenue-generating tasks.
Here is a comparison of OpenAsset’s and Acquia’s capabilities to see how they measure up regarding crucial DAM functionalities.
Cloud Infrastructure
As a cloud-based DAM solution, OpenAsset offers a secure and scalable platform, ensuring easy access to digital assets from anywhere. The security of this system is managed by a leading public cloud provider.
Organizations using cloud storage benefit from the significant investments and advancements in security made by these major providers. This cloud infrastructure is optimized for the high-resolution media files commonly used in the AEC industry.
Similarly, Acquia is also built on a cloud infrastructure. Acquia leverages the power of cloud computing to offer scalable and reliable hosting solutions, particularly for Drupal-based websites. This leads to high performance and availability for users worldwide.
Organization and Search
OpenAsset allows users to organize digital assets by projects. This is particularly useful for AEC firms where each project generates a significant amount of visual content and documents. By categorizing assets under specific projects, users can quickly locate the relevant materials.
The platform offers a robust tagging system where users can tag images and documents with project-specific details, such as project name, location, or other custom metadata. This allows OpenAsset to shine in enabling effortless and efficient file access and retrieval.
The detailed tagging greatly simplifies finding the right asset among thousands. The platform’s advanced search capabilities and comprehensive tagging system allow for quick pinpointing of specific images or exploration of new ones within the system. This makes the search process both efficient and user-friendly, especially when dealing with large volumes of assets.
On the other hand, Acquia DAM also offers a range of features to enhance content organization and search capabilities. Users can navigate assets easily using a category menu, and the platform allows for a customizable metadata schema to reflect unique business processes. Their faceted search uses metadata values and other criteria for advanced filtering.
Moreover, advanced search options, tags for organization, and sorting by relevance based on user search terms further streamline the process. These features combine to create an efficient, user-friendly experience in managing and finding digital assets.
Collaboration
OpenAsset provides the capability for users to distribute collections of assets to both internal and external partners. These collections can be shared via links, with the option to secure them with a password or set an expiration date for enhanced security.
Additionally, OpenAsset’s version control functionality enables teams to monitor different versions of an asset, guaranteeing access to the latest and approved iteration.
Acquia DAM allows users to use online proofing to review, annotate, and approve projects across teams and locations. This facilitates collaboration between teams.
Acquia also offers collaboration tools that facilitate content creation and management among teams. It’s particularly effective for web development and content management teams working on Drupal-based projects.
Moreover, with “Collections,” Acquia DAM allows you to pull together assets for your personal project or share them with a team to collaborate on a campaign or other project. Tags also offer a collaborative classification of assets in a loose structure.
Integrations
The integrations your company needs will be closely related to the industry in which you operate. Let’s begin by looking at OpenAsset’s integrations.
OpenAsset, with its focus on the AEC industry, offers specialized integrations with tools and software relevant to these sectors. This includes integrations with widely-used CRM and ERP systems, such as Deltek, which are popular among AEC firms.
In addition, aligning with the project-driven environment of the AEC industry, OpenAsset supports integration with construction project management and document creation platforms. These integrations facilitate a more seamless workflow in managing both digital assets and various aspects of project execution.
OpenAsset integrations include:
- Procore
- AEC 360
- Deltek Vision
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Affinity
- Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
- Okta
- Salesforce
- Unanet/ Cosential CRM
- Templafy
- InDesign
Not finding what you’re looking for? OpenAsset has a solution. Like many DAM systems, OpenAsset also provides API access, enabling organizations to develop custom integrations with other tools essential to their operations.
For example, if you want to connect your Drupal to OpenAsset, Zapier lets you send information between Drupal and OpenAsset automatically —no code required. So while Acquia provides enterprise support for Drupal users and was created by Drupal, you can still automate your workflows between Drupal and OpenAsset through our easy integration.
Now let’s take a look at Acquia. They also offer extensive integration options, especially with Drupal modules (as mentioned above) and third-party tools for e-commerce, marketing, and customer relationship management, making it a versatile choice for diverse industries.
Acquia’s integrations focus on design creation and marketing distribution tools tailored to creative teams and are not AEC-centric. Some Acquia integrations include:
- Drupal
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Google Drive
- Salesforce
- SharePoint
- WordPress
- Templafy
- Microsoft Office 365
Like OpenAsset, Acquia DAM also offers custom integrations through an API.
AI Capabilities
OpenAsset’s AI features significantly streamline image management and improve AEC workflows. AI-suggested keywords, image similarity search, batch editing, and AI Content Assist, among other tools, save considerable time and effort in organizing and handling images. These features:
- Reduce the time it takes to manually tag images
- Help you build and expand taxonomies
- Give you additional images to select from and use.
- Enable you to leverage Generative AI for project descriptions and employee bios
On the other hand, Acquia offers AI-crafted digital experiences. Auto-tagging, AI assistant chatbot, AI-generated alt-text and product descriptions, and more in Acquia DAM significantly optimize marketing strategies.
Acquia leverages AI for personalization and automated content management tasks, enhancing user experience and content relevance. They also offer industry-specific AI starter packs available for travel, apparel, and food.
Here’s how Acquia’s DAM AI feature benefits users:
- Auto-tagging applies keywords that make files instantly searchable.
- Creates AI-generated copy and design ideas
- Ensures all images have alt text to make them accessible and search-optimized
- Turns existing product data into on-brand, search-optimized product descriptions
Acquia: Best DAM for Creative Teams
Acquia DAM stands out as the ideal digital asset management solution for creative teams. Its robust features and integration capabilities with various creative tools and marketing platforms make it highly suitable for teams focused on content creation, digital marketing, and brand management. Their integration capabilities make it ideal for creative teams and marketing departments in diverse industries.
The platform’s emphasis on collaboration, ease of use, and efficient management of creative assets positions Acquia as a top choice for creative professionals seeking to optimize their workflows and enhance their digital asset management strategies.
Additionally, businesses that utilize Drupal for their content management and seek a DAM solution that integrates seamlessly with this platform will find Acquia DAM especially beneficial. However, other DAMs, like OpenAsset, can also integrate with Drupal for your content management needs.
OpenAsset: Best DAM for AEC Firms
While Acquia is known for its association with Drupal and offers a broader suite of services with its recent expansion to include Widen’s capabilities, OpenAsset stands out as a specialized solution for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry.
OpenAsset’s features and capabilities are particularly beneficial for AEC firms, setting it apart from other DAM platforms, like Acquia, that offer a broader range of features not necessarily tailored to the AEC industry. This focus on industry-specific needs is an attractive aspect to firms in the AEC space.
OpenAsset emphasizes ease of use, project-based organization, and integration with other industry-specific software to streamline workflows in AEC firms. Its AEC-specific functionality makes it a preferred choice for firms in this sector, distinguishing it from more generalist DAM solutions like Acquia.
Moreover, OpenAsset’s features streamline the process of building tailored resumes, particularly for bid proposals— an invaluable feature to AEC professionals. The platform’s Employee Module drives efficiency within your organization by automating the creation of resume documents and allowing you to automatically synchronize employee data between OpenAsset and your CRM or ERP system.
This efficiency is one of the reasons OpenAsset, serving over 800 companies in the built-world sector, stands out as a preferred DAM solution for AEC professionals. In contrast, platforms like Acquia don’t specifically target the unique needs of AEC firms.
Choosing the Right DAM: OpenAsset vs. Acquia
Choosing the right DAM for your company depends on the needs of your industry and firm. It’s important to select a solution that aligns with your specific needs and supports your long-term business objectives.
For those in the AEC industry with a focus on managing visual assets, OpenAsset could be the ideal choice. OpenAsset’s tailored functionality can be a significant advantage for AEC firms, while Acquia’s broad range of features may appeal to a diverse set of industries requiring a more generalized digital experience platform. Don’t just take our word from it, here’s feedback from a recent customer review:
“The ease of searching media files stored in OpenAsset is unbelievably helpful to me and my team. The ability to tag photos by keywords we utilitze often in our marketing materials makes finding images to use in our proposals and presentations 5x faster than searching for them through our outdated local severs. The drag and drop function makes it so quick to upload into our Indesign and Powerpoint files. The album feature makes it so easy to select mutliple photos across different categories and download them in one big batch. The customer support is superior and classes/webinars that OpenAsset offers are great.”
If you’re evaluating DAM solutions, it’s worthwhile to consult our comprehensive DAM software buyer’s guide on comparing digital asset management software. This guide is designed to aid you in making a well-informed choice by identifying the essential features your organization needs in a DAM.
Additionally, for a broader perspective, we offer detailed comparisons of other platforms like Bynder, Brandfolder, Canto, and Frontify, helping you explore all available options.
Ready to see OpenAsset in action? Book a demo with our experts today.
