Can AI really generate value out of my content in my ECM/DAM system?

By Derick Deleo

Everyone is talking about AI; your C-level executives, your board of directors, your software vendors (yes, all of them), your IT team, and your colleagues. We now use AI almost daily whenever we search for something. Try typing “who is maretha solutions llc” in your browser search and see what you get; the result came from AI. But what can AI do with your content in your ECM and/or DAM system? And do you need to buy your software vendor's AI add-on?

There are many things that AI can do with your content – and I really do mean MANY things. But the right question to ask yourself is “What information and value can I get from my captured and stored content to help drive efficiency, improve business or organizational insights, make content more digestible to my content consumers, reduce risk or fraud?” – and I bet now you are thinking of even more questions; you are welcome by the way. And generally the answer is that AI can find all forms of information to do all of the above. So now the challenge is, how do you determine where to start?

You need to think in terms of delivering the most value for your organization in the shortest time. Basically find that quick win that will convince others that AI can help drive positive results. For example, imagine that you are an automobile claims adjustor and all claims content is captured and stored in your ECM system. How do you determine if a claim is fraudulent? Your organization may use a fraud investigation team who painstakingly searches for and reviews similar claims, looking for possible reuse of an accident image, or frequent submissions where estimates come from a repair shop that may seem over inflated, or many other red flags. This process can be very time consuming and in the insurance industry time is money and wasted time means you risk upsetting your customer. AI can be used to do the research for you, and do so very quickly. It may even flag a claim as highly suspect for fraud, at which point you can have an investigator quickly perform interviews to determine if fraud really does exist and prosecute.

No matter what industry you are in, I am certain there are many ways that AI can generate value from your managed content and assets (i.e. - images, videos, 3D designs). If you work in a studio that creates valuable character assets, like Winnie the Pooh (one of my favorite characters as a young child) you wouldn’t want your graphic assets to be pirated and used for nefarious purposes. AI could be prompted to search for unauthorized uses of your character and take appropriate action. Or perhaps you just want to quickly determine which talent (celebrity) could be used in accordance with their contract terms in your organization's advertising without having to review the entire contract yourself. Again, AI can review all of your talent contracts and suggest which one best fits your current needs. Or you can use AI to enrich the metadata and/or tags as content is captured to make it more searchable and therefore, consumable and reusable. The possibilities are many and varied, but if you focus on what will drive real value for your organization, you will be best positioned to succeed in your efforts.

Once you have determined how AI can help you, next you need to determine how you will move forward. As I mentioned earlier, software vendors of all types, ECM, DAM, ERP, CRM, and more have all begun delivering AI add-ons. This can be a quick and relatively easy way to get up and running and realizing value from your content, but do your research. Look into current customer usage, ask for references, ask for a free Proof of Concept (POC) to vet its ability to deliver the results you are looking for and look closely at the total cost of ownership. And most importantly, ask if your content will be stored outside of your system for use by the vendor’s AI offering. You may or may not be comfortable with your content leaving your system(s). If in the end you are comfortable and confident in the vendor’s solution then go for it, you may be able to score a quick win. If you are not comfortable with or confident in the vendor, then you still have options.

Thanks to MANY AI vendors from AWS, Google, IBM to Anthropic, Open AI, StackAI, Vertesia and more, you have many options. You also need to determine if you can go it alone or if you would like a services provider, such as Maretha Solutions, to assist in analyzing the options and/or building and deploying a solution(s) to provide your desired results. If you have a strong, skilled technical team with a deep understanding of AI, perhaps you can go it alone and simply use the AI services you deem most suitable for your organization. But if your team is not ready to go it alone, you do not need to, you can get help from a services provider.

There is a lot to think about before jumping into the deep end of AI. But if you focus on the needs of your organization, how best to drive positive results, and how to get there as quickly as possible, you can be successful.

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