Acquia DAM (Widen) vs. DemandScience

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

Demand Science did deliver the quantity of leads without issue. The data for a few was not accurate (bounced when following up). But they agreed to make good by providing substitute leads to meet the quota. Towards the end of my project, they lost a few folks, and so the end of my campaign got a little rough as they were taking over some assignments midway. But we ultimately completed the SOW. I will say that the leads did not perform well in our email cadence - none converted. However, this was a test of the concept for us. Content syndication had a lower cost per qualified lead than some other tactics, so we tested it. Your results may vary, based on your follow-up and your market.

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

• The initial pitch and contact from Mason used "show me you know me" well, which we felt was a good sign of company culture and approach to database marketing.
• Delivery of leads was ahead of schedule.
• They set expectations, and then delivered what they said they would.
• The leads matched our criteria as agreed.
• Regular check ins and catch ups, and patience when thing were taking a bit of time to get sorted here.

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

• We would like to see more proactive communication on what's working and what's not without requiring a meeting - regular reporting cadence to assess asset quality
• A dashboard view might be nice as well, again, so we can look at an asset and see how it's performing (or if it isn't) without having to wait on a rep to pull a report or schedule a walkthrough

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

Our executives decided to not renew because we were not seeing the ROI they were looking for. However, our executives did not make the best decisions on the data Demand Science provided.

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

The leads were pretty straight forward. However, their appointment setting did not integrate well into our system and many of the meetings didn't occur. I had to chase a lot of prospects and many times Demand Science didn't provide direct dials.

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

Our rep is always available and quickly responds to any question we have. I haven't worked with other partners who are as proactive and excited to help us as our DemandScience rep is. He reaches out with new ideas and suggestions frequently. They are happy to make any changes needed to the campaigns and make those changes quickly and efficiently. They work well with our execution agency, but are also happy to meet with us directly to provide insights and support.

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

They did extremely well. However, our executives did a poor job in defining our ICP so we didn't get the maximum benefit out of it.

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

I've not used another content syndication company, and I probably won't after the lack of results we've had. I have used direct email organizations, and they are stronger but also more expensive, so you have to weigh your priorities. I could see if you were selling a specific product or software and how this could be beneficial, but I'd steer away from it for services.

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

• We have been able to grow our lead numbers with high quality leads at a reasonable cost
• We have been able to generate just the leads we want to support our Business Development team
• We have been able to get our content in front of our specific TAL

Incentivized