THE ABCs OF DAM

North Plains aims to make DAM implementation more digestible by separating it out. User communities are typically broken down into "creators" (designers/artists), "editors" (reviewers/approvers), and "content consumers" (printers, trade shops, etc.).

North Plains Systems' Eckler recommends first investing in an off-the-shelf DAM platform that solves initial workflow problems. "The next step is growing this platform out to other users; this is where customization comes in," he explains. North Plains Systems' TeleScope Enterprise offers customers a software development kit that does just that. The architecture supports Windows, Unix, and multiple database types. A typical TeleScope customer is a consumer product company who invests in the system, and then integrates printers, trade shops, and other business partners as "consumers." Installation costs range from $150,000 to several million dollars.