Acquia DAM (Widen) vs. Bynder

Widen is a great digital asset manager internally. I loved the framework that the platform has. However, we created a main portal to share with our external partners so we could control what was private and what was public. The portal framework was not as user-friendly and we tried too much to make it like a website when it was meant to be a DAM. The main reason we switched providers is that we wanted to have the option to have a consistent framework internally and externally that was more user-friendly with better search capabilities.

Incentivized

We have numerous renderings for some of our properties that are constantly being updated. It was hard to keep track of the most current rendering since it lived in multiple locations with various employees. Creating a central location where we can regularly update the renderings without having to add a new file and re-upload solved the issue of questioning whether the rendering you were looking at was correct.

Incentivized

• They offer valuable guidance and educational resources to Administrators
• Their I.T. support is knowledgeable and responsive. And friendly!
• They build community among Acquia DAM (Widen) Admins
• They aren't as salesy and pushy as many of the other DAM Vendors that we considered. I don't feel like they are constantly trying to upsell me or take advantage. I hope this continues to be the case with the acquisition by Acquia.
• They're just plain nice people to work with.

Incentivized

• Extracting content is where Bynder shines. My previous EverNote account reminded me of the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark -- warehouse full of stuff where clearly everything was lost once it was put in there. Bynder makes it easy to find and extract information especially because of the thumbnail views aided by the categorization tools. Since you can use these in combination everything is basically a complex Boolean search without needing to know how to write a complex Boolean Search.
• Easy I/O. Getting information into and out of Bynder is really easy -- follows the "don't make me think" rule. visual cues and clear buttons, etc. In fact, since I use multiple systems, I find it easiest to actually do file transfer TO MYSELF via Bynder rather than download or email files between my PC and Mac for example. That's how easy it is.
• Categories, tagging, last-used, most-frequent, hide/show -- there's a lot of flexibility in organizing your content. Technically, this kind of thing exists in every tool I've ever used... but it's the implementation that matters. UI design is vital to making this a valuable tool as opposed to a dreary step of "file retrieval".

Incentivized

• Improvements in the cropping and editing features within Acquia DAM are essential to ease the workload for our graphic designers. The current functionality falls short in providing the necessary tools and precision required for efficient asset manipulation, not helping with that time management at all.
• Enhancing the onboarding experience, we propose creating more video tutorials for Acquia DAM. These visual guides, covering topics from account setup to collaboration features, offer dynamic, step-by-step learning.
• To improve the onboarding experience, we recommend expanding introductory tools and templates in Acquia DAM. Introducing more user-friendly features and providing a variety of templates will empower new users to navigate the platform with ease, fostering quicker proficiency and enhancing overall usability.

Incentivized

• Link Sharing: One thing I wish Bynder had was quick link sharing for images or collections of images to share outside of Bynder. Currently you have to create a collection and send it via email to the person you want to view it. Otherwise you can make it public and share a link but then that collection technically can be viewed or downloaded by anyone. Since I'm used to the functionality of Dropbox, this is one thing that I feel is lacking.
• Public Media Center: Along the lines of the last comment about link sharing; one thing that would be helpful is a public media center. If we were able to tag what photos we would want to include there, along with downloadable logos, guidelines, PR, etc. There are workarounds but the functionality doesn't quite exist.
• Automatic Translations: We opted to keep all of our metadata and tagging in English, as most of our International partners do speak some English; however, it would have been nice to have an option to automatically translate any metadata/tagging for certain languages. We did have the option of automatically translating the main menu buttons but that wasn't much help. If we wanted metadata/tagging in other languages we'd have to input it manually for thousands of assets.

Incentivized

Acquia DAM (Widen) is changing its pricing model and at this point, we are unsure whether it is a good thing for us or not. While we consider this a robust tool, we will take our time to evaluate the competitors.

Incentivized

We used to have to respond to any email questions from our library users about how to find assets. With Acquia DAM (Widen), the system is similar to online shopping, workable with keywords for those who like to search that way, or with filters for those who like to browse.

Incentivized

It is incredibly user-friendly and easy to navigate. Once you poke around, you intuitively learn how to use the platform. Our company provided training sessions for all employees during our official roll-out, and everyone seemed to have a good grasp on how to navigate this platform. We have yet to hear about an employee having difficulty using Bynder, which is a big win

Incentivized

Never had an issue where I was unable to access Widen.

Incentivized

There have been a couple of rare instance where after I uploaded an asset, I was unable to rename it, or after uploading it it took a while before it actually appeared and can be viewed in the DAM.

Incentivized

It's very seldom that I have to reach out for support, but when I have, there are quick solutions and follow-ups to make sure the system is working how it should be. My customer support team is also great at reaching out on a regular basis to keep me up to speed on emerging features I may be able to leverage to improve my experience.

Incentivized

When we were getting ready to switch vendors, WebDAM wasn't very responsive to my questions or my needs. They also sent me all the files on an external drive that was formatted for Mac and didn't even think to verify whether I had a PC (which I did) so the external drive was useless and I had to wait another week to get the updated external drive that was formatted for a PC that I could then use.

Incentivized

The training was very thorough. The recordings for all our traning sessions were provided to us so that we could go back and review. Our trainer was always available for follow up questions. Our trainer shared a spreadsheet with us as a checklist for all things that needed to be done to ensure proper import and setup of our assets and DAM.

Incentivized

It was a lot of work! But worth the effort to get our assets cleaned up and organized. Enough time and personnel need to be allotted for any implementation, but we had some advantage in having our assets in a previous DAM with attached metadata in XML, and our users were prepared with knowledge of our existing DAM at that time. Though old habits present their own issues, a company that is starting from scratch with no DAM has to think farther ahead about how it will organize and collect assets. Far more pre-planning with stakeholders would be needed for a company starting an implementation from scratch.

Incentivized

We decided to stick with Acquia DAM (Widen) in the short term but will be reviewing the options this or next year to better integrate with Social, Web, and Creative team needs. We use Sitecore for all our web services, so it needs to be compatible with that, Social also needs to integrate but is not fixed on a single system, but Canva would be a good fit. The creative team always prefers local storage to link to rather than the cloud due to speeds.

Incentivized

WebDAM and Bynder merged, so we didn't have to choose between them. We found these two had the best templating functions, which was a must have for our clients. Their permissions and user group management also seem to be the most robust. We found their support, including site, documents and staff to be the most responsive

Incentivized

Can not give an accurate rating.

Incentivized

• The Acquia DAM (Widen) helped our company transition more quickly to remote work, giving users access to files much faster than the company servers could.
• The Acquia DAM (Widen) has given non-web devs the ability to quickly build clean web pages that share out marketing resources and information.

Incentivized

• More polished and compelling national marketing pieces due to greater and better use of photos.
• More polished and compelling regional marketing pieces due to regional staff members ability to access assets directly and select from full bank.
• Greater efficiency when designing pieces (easy to share assets with external designers).
• Increased use of marketing assets across regions due to sharability.

Incentivized