host posted on January 26, 2012 13:57
By Joseph Walker, Contributing Writer
For those of you interested in a cloud-based digital asset management service, take a look at WebDAM. WebDAM is a cloud-based SaaS solution that offers a comprehensive set of management tools, including general organization, storage, metadata tagging, search, sharing, and distribution.
WebDAM packs a powerful set of features, but my chief reason for recommending it is the release of its new API.
The more time I spend in the cloud, the more I’ve come to realize that an API rollout is a major milestone in the lifecycle of a cloud computing company. It almost always means the company is on strong enough financial (and personnel) footing to support continued growth—or even major expansion.
Several major corporations currently use WebDAM’s API. As far as I can tell, it offers developers a tremendous amount of flexibility. Silicon Valley gurus have already concocted a way to enable WebDAM to automatically push new images (or other assets) into all of the CMS instances of a company’s multiple websites. In other words, a WebDAM user could upload a new set of images and have them automatically propagate to all (or just some) of the company’s various web properties.
Box.net is one of the companies with which WebDAM has collaborated for their API deployment. Box developers have created a rather nifty feature that allows users with both Box and WebDAM accounts to seamlessly send files back and forth between their accounts with just a single click of a button. That kind of interoperability is paramount if cloud computing companies hope to speed the adoption of cloud services. Almost every SMB owner I’ve spoken with wants cloud services that can talk to one another.
Like Box, most of WebDAM’s clients are large ones. Think enterprises, major nonprofits, hospitals, etc. But the beauty of cloud computing is that companies only pay for what they use, meaning WebDAM could also be a good fit for the kind of medium size businesses many MSPs support.
If any of you have experience with WebDAM, let us know what you think—and consider posting your thoughts in the product reviews section.