Integrating cost and time metrics into media asset management workflows: Understanding the true cost of cloud storage for media archives

Abstract

Metadata plays an important role in media asset management (MAM), powering access control, searchability and workflow automation. The more we know about our assets, the more efficient and usable our digital asset management (DAM) and MAM systems become. As cloud and operating-expense services have become more ubiquitous, it has become essential to understand time and cost implications and how they correlate to media workflow. This paper discusses the value of tracking cloud storage and egress metrics as metadata within DAM and MAM systems. By correlating these metrics against existing metadata, administrators are able to build total cost of ownership models, budget more effectively and enable a ‘chargeback’ usage model. These metrics also help to manage end users’ expectations more effectively within the MAM and storage ecosystem.