ASSIGNMENT

Assignment

Assignment

Introduction

The monumental growth and expansion in the Information and Communication Technologies is imposing an exponential impact in every aspect of the economy (Tsai 2008, pp. 169-188). This ranges from altering the fundamental manner in which commodities are manufactured, distributed and consumed. There is an imperative shift from tangible assets, goods and services to intangible and digital nature of the revolution.

It is interesting to note that the process of digitizing and the evolution of digital assets have long been exercised and implemented in academic institutions and museums as compared to corporations and profit seeking enterprises which recently accepted the case for digital content (Scrogan 2011, p. 20; Yang-Mi et al., 2007, pp. 4-16; Tien-Yu 2006, pp.38 - 50).

On the corporate side, the world has experienced the emergence of a Creative Content sector, which produces digital nature of the goods and also provides the environment in which the application of digital content is made possible.

But before proceeding with the discipline of managing digital assets, it is imperative to understand the nature of digital assets.

Digital Asset

Digital assets including documents, emails, animations, digital photographs, MP3s and other formats of music, videos and online movies, and any other content stored on a computer (Paschal P., & Rogers, J. 2011, pp.8 - 19). Technically, a digital asset is an asset that exists only as a numeric encoding expressed in binary form. Images, music, video and computer software distributions are all examples of digital assets

Forms of Digital Asset

Multiple formats and types of digital asset are available in the new millennium. Intellectual properties, such as music, plays, manuscripts of books and some types of videos are some of the most common forms of digital assets. The characterization of a digital asset is the attribute that the asset can be digitally created and stored and can be delivered by electronic means. Digital assets might also include a large amount of digital information, which initially did not originate through the digital creation; however has been transformed from tangible nature to acquire a digital format.

Digital Asset Management

Digital Asset Management is defined as a set of activities which revolve around the cataloguing, annotating, storage, ingesting, and retrieval of digital assets. It is simply a technology that assists humans in managing the unmanageable amount of personal and professional data and information. To further elaborate, digital asset management facilitates the backing and storage, organisation, retrieval, searching, verification and avoiding duplication of a digital asset. Additionally Digital asset management systems comprises of hardware and/or software systems that to facilitate the management of digital assets.

In the 21st century, organizations are characterized by an environment where digital content is prevalent throughout the organization; distributing and providing access to internal and external users and thus significantly increasing the value of the organization.

Benefits of Digital Asset Management

Digital asset management enable enterprises to restrict expenditures, maximize the value of digital assets, and effectively manage digital rights.

A central repository, efficient usage of resources and avoiding duplication are some of the key factors in contributing towards the cost savings accruing from ...