Making magic out of content management

The humble MAM system has a new face and is back in the limelight. A new generation of content management systems has arrived and is cloud friendly, collaborative, works like an online search engine and treats all file types as first-class citizens.  

Media asset managers, who needs them? We all do, unfortunately. As the cliché goes, we all need to “work smarter”. What good is implementing integrated and streamlined workflows when everything grinds to a halt as soon as you launch the clunky, old MAM tools? The problem with most content management systems for media assets is that they don’t think in the same way that you do. They are still built to work like a database when what you want is a search engine.

It is also a cliché to say that each new solution on the market is “unique” or “innovative”. The good news is that there is a new generation of content management from the folks at SCISYS and it has been built from the ground up. The word they use to describe it is simply, “magic”.

Looking for a better way

Media organisations of every type are forever demanding the impossible because they face the dual tigers of restricted budgets and resource pressures combined with the need to square the circle by providing more content to more channels and build more audience share. Media channels need to equip their teams with collaborative tools that are fast, future-proof and solve their problems – not add to them.

Before the dawn of cross-media workflows and multi-channel outputs the typical media organisation was arranged in silos according to broadcast type. There were the people who did television and video, the one who worked in print and of course the experts in radio.

Each group had its own industry standards, file types and protocols – as well as dedicated media asset-management systems. The down-side to these monoliths was limited functionality when it comes to multimedia roles because each one was too focused.

The word they use to describe it is simply, “magic”.

Today, the reality of working across all media and file types – whether out in the field or in new collaborative ways – has left the croaky old MAM solutions in the dust struggling to keep up. These tools work really well with specific file types but treat a whole host of others as second-class citizens.

Not so any more.

Medox – the latest add-on for the full-system dira! end-playout solution – brings an end to the asset-management bottle necks by taking a search-engine approach to mixed-media assets. Its elastic, full-text search functions give users the power to work freely and intuitively both at their desks and via the cloud.

All (content) files are created equal

Medox truly is the next-generation in multimedia content management systems. Built by SCISYS, the creators of the dira! software suite, it comes packed with power yet occupies a low footprint in terms of on-premises IT resources. Medox can even be operated as a hybrid system located offsite through the cloud and is available to all across mobile and tablet devices.

It not only handles all file types with the native focus that they deserve, the solution also allows users to meet workflow demands without ever having to switch application or interface. There is no need for side-by-side modules. In the real world, all files are created equal.

Because Medox does not care if a media asset exists as an audio, video, document, image or xml file, users can quickly get up and running to navigate, select and still use the same solution to actually compile their stories in. And, for that matter, why not do the scheduling?

In the real world, all files are created equal. 

Whether using custom, individual folders or creating project-based collections with pick-and-mix content arrange in one place ready for collaboration, the real magic of this new tool comes from being an all-in-one platform that thinks and works in line with its users.

‘Googling’ for files

There is hardly anyone who has not heard of SEO when it comes to pushing anything online – they perhaps should not be in the job. The power behind search engines’ success has always been a reliance on accurate meta-data, tagging and keyword descriptors. The clever part that has made Google the world’s most valuable company is the way its algorithms interpret these data and how it magically offers it up in context-relevant ways.

This, too, is the key to the power of Medox. Its intelligent algorithms bring intuitive full-text search functionality across not just folders and documents but across image, audio and video. Content management is now as easy as ‘Googling’ for files and adding them to a ‘shopping cart’.

On the back end, the workflow engine allows all file types to be transcoded and have rich metadata applied – ready to find the right content quickly and making it ready instant inclusion in multimedia stories. Editors and administrators can set and create user ‘personas’ to avoid multiple entries and make it faster to find what you are looking for.

On the front end, not only does Medox find and identify content quickly using combined elastic full-text search but it saves valuable time by providing audio, picture and video previews without switching interface. Furthermore, files can be quickly edited, integrated in stories or simply given new metadata directly in the interface.

See you in Amsterdam!

The ground-breaking dira! Medox solution will take pride of place at the SCISYS stand at this year’s IBC in Amsterdam and has already drawn much interest from the industry – from traditional broadcasters and media organisations to non-traditional public institutions and archivists alike. It is no wonder that people are signing up.

Oh how things have changed in the realm of media asset management. What’s not to like? It is simply magic. The humble MAM solution – finally – has a new face and is back in the limelight once more.