Growth is important to almost every business owner or manager. Whether you’re moving to a bigger site or taking on new staff, it’s a sign that your business is succeeding – which will likely lead to more revenue and increased profits.
But how can you make sure that growth isn’t a disruption in itself? That’s where scalability comes in. Read on as we take a closer look…
In terms of a dictionary definition, scalability refers to the capacity to be changed in size or scale. To put that in context, it’s like tweaking a recipe to cook for eight people rather than four. Not a problem, you’d simply double each of the ingredients and possibly adjust the cooking times.
However, when it comes to business, scalability can be a bit trickier. Specifically looking at business, being scalable means being able to grow and increase production (or productivity) without being hampered by your own structure or available resources.
With that in mind, the scaling of a business can require changes to the number of staff, the size of the premises, the equipment, machinery or facilities, and even the digital resources available.
It’s well known that DAM helps users improve consistency across the board. Brand guides can be created, updated, shared and accessed by every employee. Communication becomes seamless with work easily exchanged and accessed by different teams and departments. And the latest versions of logos, documents and advertising images are always on hand.
This clear advantage to DAM users becomes a disadvantage for those without the software. The more consistent other companies’ work and brand images become, the more your business could stand out for small errors. Unfortunately, the result is simply for customers to jump ship, especially when your competitors are doing a better job.
Scalability matters because it’s a huge pre-requisite for growth. Businesses work tirelessly to attract attention, generate new leads and convert new customers all in the name of growth. That’s no use if your business struggles with scalability.
As an example, a graphic design agency might receive an enquiry about a large project for a potential client. To deliver the project, they would need to take on new members of the team. That in itself requires physical equipment like desks and computers, as well as the capacity to on-board their new staff quickly enough to actually help with the task at hand.
The result? They turn the project down because they realise they’re not actually ready for growth.
On the flipside, scalability can also minimise the impact of downturns in business. If you suffer from a lack of enquiries or orders, you can soon find yourself with more resources than you actually require. In many cases, you’ll be committed to the same level of outgoings but without the high revenue to offset them. Becoming more scalable means being prepared to scale down if needed.
No business can become scalable overnight. Instead, it’s about making decisions with scalability in mind. Do you need a fixed office, or can your team work remotely? Do you have access to extra resources – both physical and digital – if called upon? Are there plans in place to make recruitment and on-boarding a practical option at short notice?
Digital asset management (DAM) is a great example of this, as it makes day-to-day operations effortlessly scalable. Staff on-boarding can be made much quicker with the latest guidelines and instructions stored in a central repository. You’ll also have a clear system in place when it comes to retrieving, editing, sharing and collaborating on files, which is much easier for new members of the team to use.
With the right provider, DAM software can also be scalable by nature. A cloud-based system offers practically unlimited storage space so you can scale up or down based on your changing requirements – and only ever pay for what you need.
DAM software is a powerful tool if you want to make your business more scalable. At iBase, we provide a feature-rich DAM system for organisations from a vast array of sectors. From sophisticated metadata to smart search tools, we can make life a lot easier for your team and better equip you for growth going forward.
To find out more, simply contact our team.
