Are you searching for the perfect DAM system but uncertain about which solution is best suited for your business? Choosing the best digital asset management (DAM) software is crucial to aligning your business goals and project needs. However, each DAM system is unique and may not have the features and capabilities to meet your team’s requirements. In this blog, we will provide you with an extensive comparison between two DAM platforms: OpenAsset and Daminion.
As industry leaders in the DAM field, our objective is to assist you in finding the optimal software for your team. By offering a comprehensive comparison, we aim to guide you toward selecting the most suitable digital asset management tool for your business.
OpenAsset
OpenAsset, the only digital asset management platform designed specifically for the built world, equips AEC firms with the necessary tools to create impressive RFP (Request for Proposal) responses efficiently. With its comprehensive set of DAM tools, OpenAsset empowers users to search, store, share, and deliver the most up-to-date images and associated data seamlessly and at an accelerated pace.
OpenAsset caters to businesses in the following sectors:
- Architecture
- Engineering
- Construction
- Real estate
Key features of OpenAsset include its project-based structure, AI-powered search capabilities, marketing collateral creation, asset categorization, asset-sharing functionalities, workflow management tools, and an employee module.
Daminion
Daminion is a new version of Picajet, the digital photo management software designed to help companies of all sizes create secure digital asset libraries for efficient data organization. This tool serves as a central access point to help companies effectively manage and organize their digital content, such as photos, videos, audio files, PDFs, and Microsoft Office documents, among others. While its primary focus is on Windows users, Daminion also offers dedicated applications for Mac users, allowing you to store and access your digital assets securely through a centralized hub with authorized access.
Daminion claims to cater to businesses in the following sectors:
- AEC
- Environmental
- Government
- Educational
- Marketing and Design
- Entertainment
Especially for those in the AEC field, it’s important to validate the tool’s functionality when it comes to document creation, RFP response creation, resume-building, and any other task you will often rely on the DAM to help complete. Key features of Daminion include using AI to efficiently organize growing media library search functionalities, tools for quick organizing, and more.
OpenAsset vs. Daminion: Capabilities
Your company’s creative process relies heavily on your DAM system. A robust DAM should effectively organize your assets, enhance efficiency, foster collaboration, and empower your team to concentrate on revenue-generating activities. Explore how OpenAsset and Daminion stack up in terms of essential DAM capabilities.
Storage
Cloud storage is a prevalent storage choice offered by most DAM platforms to assist with accessing, storing, managing, organizing, and sharing digital assets online. This back-end capability gives users the necessary features to enhance collaboration, streamline asset creation, organize digital assets effectively, and optimize the digital rights management process.
OpenAsset offers a cloud-based DAM solution while Daminion claims to offer both cloud and on-premise solutions, however for AEC specifically their solution mentions on-premise options only. So what’s the difference? With a cloud-based solution, users have complete control over their assets on any internet-ready device, and security is managed by a public cloud provider. This means the organizations that utilize the cloud for storage benefit from “billions in security research, innovation, and protection”, according to Oracle.
With an on-premise solution, files live on a local server under a firewall controlled by an IT team. This means more costs to manage the solution, which often gets passed on to you, the customer. However, on-premise solutions are preferred by some legacy organizations that need (or desire) to maintain files locally and don’t mind the constant maintenance of physical assets like hardware, servers, office space, etc. OpenAsset opts for cloud-based file storage due to its scalability, flexibility, and safety. In fact, according to Gartner estimates, public cloud service workloads suffer at least 60% fewer security incidents than those in on-premise data centers.
OpenAsset
OpenAsset provides users with a secure and reliable cloud-based repository to store their digital assets, ensuring easy accessibility from multiple business locations. It’s important to know that cloud-based DAMs charge a fee for data storage. At OpenAsset, the starting price point is 1.40 USD per GB per month for the first 100 GB, which provides an affordable tradeoff due to the heightened level of security protection and uptime availability compared to on-premise solutions.
This feature benefits any firm that uses project photos in its branded content and marketing collateral, particularly when combined with mobile and bulk upload functionality.
Although OpenAsset always welcomes on-premise teams, OpenAsset chooses to utilize a cloud-based repository because it offers a secure storage solution that leverages state-of-the-art data centers. Cloud providers implement a range of advanced digital safeguards and employ cutting-edge security measures, making cybersecurity a top priority. With such robust security measures, your data is protected against potential loss.
Moreover, in the event of software corruption, a cyberattack, or damage caused by a natural disaster, cloud-based backups prove invaluable for disaster recovery. By using cloud-based storage, you protect your critical data, enabling a smoother restoration process.
Key Features:
- Cloud-based repository
- Bulk upload
- Supports all file formats
- Duplicate file notification
- Upload approval
- Organization-wide access available
Daminion
Daminion is available in both local (on-premise) and cloud versions.
The local (on-premise version) was designed to ensure safe and collaborative access to digital asset libraries from multiple computers across local networks. It stores data behind your corporate firewall, and with this version, you have full ownership and control over your file storage space.
According to Daminion’s features listed on their website, their cloud storage includes 100 GB of storage in all plans and can be expanded as your library grows, for a fee. Their Cloud version provides a way to access your data from anywhere, with an implementation process that can be completed without IT involvement.
Daminion local key features:
- Enjoy fast loading of sizable documents
- Securely store intellectual property
- Avoid vendor lock-in for your data
Daminion Cloud key features:
- A scalable plug-and-play solution for teams
- Effortlessly share and distribute your media assets
Search
Keywords are search terms, typically single words or phrases, that people use to search a database for specific information relevant to a particular topic. In the context of a DAM system, relevant keywords allow users to efficiently navigate and retrieve the specific assets they need from the database.
OpenAsset
OpenAsset distinguishes itself through its exceptional search functionality, powered by AI. Our advanced search not only aids users in locating the correct files but also assists in discovering other relevant assets that may have been overlooked. By harnessing the power of AI, OpenAsset significantly enhances the search experience, resulting in more efficient asset discovery.
OpenAsset simplifies the process of creating selections and photo albums based on search criteria, streamlining the organization and categorization of assets for users. An added advantage is its direct integration with applications such as InDesign and PowerPoint, enabling users to seamlessly utilize selected images without the need to download them separately.
To ensure long-term organization and easy retrieval of assets, OpenAsset uses a standardized keyword taxonomy and a project-based structure. This ensures that assets are easily searchable throughout their entire lifecycle.
Useful key features:
- Search by file keywords and metadata
- Search by project keywords and metadata
- Access control
- Permission groups
- File preview
- AI suggested keywords
Daminion
Daminion manages search through tagging. After a search, you can narrow the results further by another tag, and continue until you find what you’re looking for.
Advanced search allows you to combine the search terms by AND/OR/NOT commands for complex searches. For example, you can type “find furniture designs that contain tables OR chairs WITH wood OR steel material but NOT glass” to make your search easier. They also offer other commands, like “contains”, “starts”, “less than”, and more. Daminion also automatically detects three dominant colors of each image and lets you narrow your searches by image color.
Additionally, you can save searches for future usage and use them as dynamic collections. If a new asset meets the saved search criteria it will appear in the collection automatically.
Useful key features:
- Search by keywords and other tags
- Advanced search
- Search by dominant colors
- Find similar images and duplicates
- Multiple views
- AI tagging
Access
Permissions are a valuable tool that serves multiple purposes within a DAM system. They provide a seamless user experience by granting access to the necessary features for specific roles and foster collaboration by allowing user input while maintaining quality control.
OpenAsset
OpenAsset simplifies safely sharing images and digital assets, providing a straightforward process to exclusively share them with accurate individuals or teams as needed. With OpenAsset, users have control over the distribution of assets through features such as download monitoring and external access control. Access rights can be set for individual image sizes, allowing precise control over who can view and download specific versions of the images. These features offer peace of mind to organizations of all sizes, ensuring that assets are shared securely and only with authorized parties.
Useful Features:
- Secure file sharing
- Access control
- Category permissions
- Upload approvals
Daminion
Daminion’s version control feature enables seamless collaboration among multiple designers working on the same designs. This feature helps prevent document mishaps and allows you to recover previous versions when needed, ensuring that the best design is always available.
The “Shared Collections” feature allows you to easily share digital assets with your clients and colleagues. You can share selected files by links without granting access to your entire catalog or registering new user accounts.
Daminion also offers granular access permissions to protect your library on multiple levels, including functionality, tags, files, folders, catalogs, and servers. With “Roles Configurator”, you can modify access permissions for default user roles or create new roles with customized permission sets, granting you enhanced control over catalog access. Furthermore, Daminion allows for configuring login-free guest access with read-only access.
Useful key features:
- Version Control
- Access to external clients or employers
- Login-free access
- Track asset usage
- Catalog permissions
- Upload approvals
Integrations
Top-tier DAM systems offer seamless integration capabilities with MarTech stacks, content management systems (CMS), and more. Through integrations, a DAM facilitates the smooth distribution of assets across various applications. This integration functionality simplifies the creation of efficient workflows, decreases the chance of errors, and allows your team to concentrate on essential tasks and business growth. By integrating with various tools and platforms, a robust DAM system enhances productivity and optimizes work processes.
OpenAsset
OpenAsset offers specialized integrations designed for marketing and AEC professionals. These integrations cover a range of tools, including project-based ERP and CRM systems, construction project management platforms, and document creation tools. This capability leads to seamless connectivity between OpenAsset and your preferred AEC software tools and platforms. By leveraging these integrations, users enhance workflow efficiency, streamline processes, and foster seamless collaboration within their respective industries.
Top useful integrations:
- Procore
- AEC 360
- Deltek Vision
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Affinity
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Excel
- Unanet/ Cosential CRM
- Templafy
- InDesign
Daminion
Daminion offers integrations with various external systems, many through an API or indirect integration. These integrations offer a range of options, such as integrations with email or map systems.
For users looking to create an integration, Daminion API provides a simple way to integrate with existing local and cloud solutions, such as corporate content management systems (CMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and eCommerce systems.
While Daminion offers a preview for over 100 media formats, it doesn’t have rich editing capabilities. However, it can be configured to use the applications installed on your local PC, such as InDesign or Photoshop, for viewing or editing purposes.
Useful built-in integrations:
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Photoshop
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Illustrator
- Windows Microsoft
- Dropbox
- Google Drive
- OneDrive
- Gmail
- Outlook
- Bing Maps
Organization
Efficiently locating files within a DAM that houses thousands of digital assets relies heavily on the process of metadata tagging. Top DAM systems have high-quality metadata and tagging features, empowering users to organize files in a manner that aligns with their business needs. This eliminates the need to spend valuable time and resources searching through drives for files with inconsistent naming. By leveraging comprehensive metadata and tagging options, users can seamlessly locate files within their DAM, optimizing productivity and minimizing effort when retrieving files.
OpenAsset
One of the standout features of OpenAsset is its project-based organization. This feature simplifies the process of linking assets to their respective projects, providing proposal, marketing, and creative teams with a practical digital asset library. With this organized structure, teams can effectively use the assets to create proposals, content, and marketing collateral.
Useful Features:
- Customizable taxonomy
- Taxonomy hierarchy
- Batch editing
- File access and ranking system
- Custom metadata storage
- File metadata extraction
- User permissions
Daminion
Organizing with tags in Daminion provides an alternative to a folder-based media organization. Unlike folders, where a digital asset can only exist in one location without duplicating files, Daminion allows multiple tags to be assigned to a digital asset without occupying additional disk space.
Tag synonyms in Daminion simplify the tagging structure. Custom synonyms can be created, ensuring that users see the same results regardless of the specific terms they use. For example, synonyms like ‘Camera,’ ‘Digital Camera,’ ‘Digicam,’ and ‘DSLR’ can be grouped together.
Useful key features:
- Organize by tags
- Taxonomy or controlled vocabulary
- Hierarchical tags
- Related Assets (Linked files)
- Custom tags
- GEO tagging
Daminion: Best DAM for Creative/Photography Teams
Daminion is a DAM software designed for multi-user environments, specifically aimed at supporting creative teams such as those in Photography, Design, and Marketing. Although the software is not designed with AEC firms in mind, it does offer features that are a better fit for creative teams—particularly photography as Daminion itself was adapted from PicaJet, a photo organizing software.
Whether managing photos or collaborating on advertising campaigns, Daminion can assist these users in storing, organizing, and collaborating on brand and marketing materials.
OpenAsset: Best DAM for AEC Firms
Daminion and OpenAsset are both great choices with similar features and functionality. However, their file storage, document creation capabilities, and built-in integrations differ. Daminion does not offer integrations with some of the most used tools across AEC firms, such as Unanet and Deltek. However, OpenAsset provides expert guidance and multiple AEC-specific integrations that Daminion ignores.
Additionally, with OpenAsset, you can include role-specific content when building resumes. When creating employee resumes for bid proposals, one of the most time-consuming tasks is editing documents to have project experience that aligns with the proposal. However, with the Advanced Selector feature, you can significantly save time. By selecting a checkbox, you can effortlessly include relevant project experience in a resume document.
OpenAsset works with over 800 built-world companies, standing out as the ideal DAM solution tailored specifically for AEC professionals while Daminion isn’t focused on the needs of AEC firms.
Next Steps
If you’re in the process of comparing DAM solutions, you should check out our DAM software buyer’s guide on how to compare digital asset management software. It will help you make an informed decision when determining your organizational must-haves for a DAM. We’ve also created helpful comparisons for Bynder, Brandfolder, and Canto to help you weigh your options.
To take the next step in your DAM software search or if you’re ready to experience what a top DAM can do for your firm, schedule a demo today.
