83% of businesses use Microsoft Office as part of their productivity suite. So, it only seems natural that SharePoint, another Microsoft product, is the default solution for these businesses to store and manage files.  

If you’re one of the 83%, you’re probably asking yourself: why would I need a digital asset management (DAM) solution if SharePoint already offers file storage and sharing functionalities? 

Here, we’ll provide you with everything you need to know about the SharePoint vs DAM debate. We’ll outline what each software offers and the different use cases they serve.  

What’s The Difference Between SharePoint & DAM?

SharePoint and DAM software both have a similar purpose. They enable collaboration, sharing and management of digital files.  

But, there are two key differences that set them apart: the type of assets they store and the teams they serve.  

SharePoint is a document focused platform. Its features and functionalities cater towards file storage, collaboration and sharing between internal teams, like HR or accounting departments. 

DAM software, on the other hand, is a system for storing, managing and sharing an array of file types and sizes, like videos, spreadsheets and audio files.  

DAM is ideal for large businesses like marketing agencies and retailers who deal with a high volume of digital assets. It allows users to quickly find, edit and share content securely with both internal and external teams. 

Let’s look a little closer at each. 

What Is Microsoft SharePoint?

SharePoint is a web-based platform designed to help businesses manage documents, reports and other important files. It comes as a part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite or as a standalone online service.  

The homepage of your SharePoint site (or SPS) acts as a centralised ‘Intranet’ for your business. It allows users to view, edit and collaborate on company files with ease, accelerating project coordination and time to market.  

SharePoint’s functionalities simplify collaboration and information sharing between internal teams, with features like messaging, project management, basic workflows and shared document storage. 

3 Key Benefits Of SharePoint

• Better project coordination: Acting as a company intranet, SharePoint enhances project communication and coordination, making it easy to keep track of tasks and deadlines. 
• Centralises storage: Forget files spread across multiple folders and drives. SharePoint creates one central location where teams rapidly locate, edit and share documents and information.  
• Microsoft Office connectivity: As part of the Micrsoft Office suite, SharePoint easily connects with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft products. 

Drawbacks Of SharePoint

• Basic search functions limit productivity: Without advanced search functionalities, employees waste up to 3.6 hours a day searching through unorganised folders to find a file.  
• Integrations are tricky: SharePoint offers a few out of the box functionalities. However, if you want more advanced integrations, you’ll probably need the help of a developer to customise your SharePoint site to the unique needs of your business.  
• Functionalities only serve select teams: As SharePoint caters to text-based documents, its features only serve non-creative departments like accounting, HR and admin teams. You’ll need a separate software to support advanced editing, resizing and reformatting requirements of the creative and marketing teams.  

Use Cases For SharePoint

• Teams who need to work together seamlessly on projects in real-time, no matter if they’re in separate rooms, states or countries. 
• Project managers and team leaders who constantly need to keep track of multiple projects and deadlines. 
• Teams who mainly work with text-based files like documents, spreadsheets and PDFs. 
• Teams who rarely work with third parties outside the business, like accounts, HR and admin departments.  

What Is DAM?

Digital asset management (or DAM) is a comprehensive solution for organising, storing and sharing digital assets like images, videos, documents and PDFs.  

Either on-site or cloud-based, DAM is more of a solution than a software, allowing users to easily store any type of digital asset while managing their rights and permissions. By creating a central, secure library for all company content, DAM increases the value of your assets, ensuring they’re always easily searchable, shareable and compliant.  

Unlike SharePoint, DAM software offers functionalities for all teams and their workflows. For example, the marketing and sales team have access to a rich asset library and the accounts team can access invoices and receipts, all from the one platform.  

With features to assist in asset creation, editing, reformatting, approval and sharing, a DAM solution  supports every stage of the digital asset lifecycle.  

5 Key Benefits of DAM

• Instant asset search: Forgot the name of a document? DAM allows you to search for a word, phase or subject matter within a file thanks to artificial intelligence, advanced metadata and custom tags. 
• Advanced asset security: Ensure sensitive and confidential information never gets into the wrong hands with features like passwords, expiry dates and user permissions. 
• Maintain brand consistency: Brand identity is everything. In fact, 71% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand they recognise. By eliminating the risk of outdated or unapproved assets, DAM allows you to deliver consistent, on-brand material to your customers. 
• Best In Breed Integration: Vendors like Collaboro build their DAM solution from scratch to ensure seamless integration with your existing programs and workflows. This means instant access to your entire asset library from within your existing tools like PowerPoint, InDesign and Photoshop.  
• Enhances collaboration: With DAM, you can forget collaborating with external parties via endless email chains or zip files. Sharing assets with external partners, freelancers or agencies is easy and secure with features like custom share links and user permissions.  

Use Cases For DAM

• Marketing, sales and product development teams who use their assets across various creative tools, social platforms, review and approval processes. 
• Businesses who collaborate and share digital files with both internal and external parties, like publishing agencies, Ecommerce and real estate agencies. 
• Teams who work with an array of file types like images, documents, video, audio and PDFs. 
• Photographers, videographers and creative teams looking for an easy way to share large media files like long format videos and high-resolution images.  
• Small, medium and enterprise size businesses with international/interstate offices or remote workers. 
• Teams with many people involved in asset production and usage that each require different workflows and access rights.

Do I Need DAM If I’m Already Using SharePoint?

Yes, but it depends on the use case.  

Whether it’s high-quality imagery for a campaign or educating your readers with an infographic, businesses in every industry benefit from visual content.  

While SharePoint’s ability to manage and collaborate on files is great for small, project-based teams, it lacks the capability to intelligently manage large volumes of creative assets.  

So, if your company uses (or plans to use) visual content to drive revenue, SharePoint is probably not the best all-encompassing solution. 

For larger teams that work with an array of file types and sizes, a versatile DAM solution like Collaboro is the more viable option. DAM software’s functionalities cater to all teams and all file types, instead of a select few, with features like video and image editing, large file upload and file formatting. 

Collaboro’s DAM also effortlessly integrates with your existing creative tools and VAM, MAM or DMS systems, collating all creative and text-based company files in a central location.  

Can DAM and SharePoint Work Together?

Absolutely.  

Integrating DAM and SharePoint allows you to enjoy the rich, creative assets of your DAM software and the project management capabilities of SharePoint in the one system.  

For example, teams can access your entire library of on-brand, up to date images from within their SharePoint dashboard, eliminating the need to download, edit and re-upload content. 

With DAM and SharePoint working in unison, teams collaborate better and get products and projects to market faster with less back and forth.  

It’s the best of both worlds.