• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 11, 2022

Content may be king, but creating it is frustrating for many firms. In fact, 57% of teams waste three hours a week just locating assets, according to The State of Digital Content, 2023 Edition, a study from Canto, conducted by Ascend2. 

Altogether, they squander around 144 hours per year trying to find assets — 3.5 full work weeks. 

Only 21% of those surveyed describe their content workflows as “very efficient.” And 24% say their creative approval workflows are extensively organized and managed. 

Several processes need workflow improvement, including:

• Creating content — 52%
• Planning content — 49%
• Managing content — 47% 
• Publishing content — 38% 
• None of the above — 8%

Large teams -- those with more than 20 people -- say these are their top three challenges:

• Finding assets efficiently — 37% 
• Maintaining/updating content — 35% 
• Implementing the right technology — 33% 

• Allocating budget — 38% 
• Hiring adequate staff/resources — 36%
• Planning content and strategy — 35% 

Small teams, those with five or fewer people, cite:

• Maintaining/updating content — 46% 
• Producing enough content — 37% 
• Allocating budget — 33% 

Despite these issues, companies have set these strategic priorities for content and creative teams in the coming year:

• Improve the customer experience — 55%
• Increase ROI — 48%
• Streamline workflows — 34% 
• Improve collaboration — 33%
• Grow/optimize team resources — 32% 
• Scale content production — 25% 
• Optimize technology stack — 20%
• Better align with adjacent teams — 17%

The process is even more aggravating for remote workers: Only 24% are very satisfied with their ability share and manage content. But 34% feel that sharing capabilities would most improve the technology they use for storing and managing digital content. 

How do companies manage and store content? They use: 

• Cloud file storage — 63%
• Individual hard drives/desktops — 46%
• Local servers — 35% 
• Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution— 24% 
• No formal mechanism — 8% 

But only 26% are able to extensively derive insights from their systems to inform strategic decisions. But 60% say they are somewhat able to do so. Only 7% answer not at all, and 7% are unsure. 

What would most improve the process? The respondents would like to see these capabilities in their technology:

• Organization — 43% 
• Search capabilities — 37%
• Sharing capabilities — 35% 
• Tagging/metadata — 28% 
• Downloading — 27%
• Access control — 27%
• Version control/history — 24% 

B2B are more likely to use DAM — 22% do, compared to 9% of B2C. 

The most useful features of their DAM systems are: 

• Search capabilities—50% 
• Sharing capabilities—43%
• Organization—42%
• Tagging/metadata—34%
• Access control — 34%
• Version control/history — 33%
• Downloading — 32% 

Ascend2 surveyed 643 full-time content and creative contributors in September 2022. Of these, 24% were in B2B, 26% B2C and 50% B2B and B2C equally. Of the teams polled, 16% had more than 20 people, 21% from 11-20, 19% from 6-10 and 44% five or fewer. 

Canto is a provider of DAM systems.