No matter if you’re an employee in a small IT firm or managing director of an MNC, no matter if you are running a physical organization or having an e-commerce platform you must have heard the word “Metadata”.
You might use Metadata in your day-to-day activity, without knowing the meaning or importance of it or without knowing the fact that you actually are using it.
The simple term Metadata has broad meaning and importance but here in this article, I am going to put forward it in simpler terms.
What is Metadata?
Metadata is the “Dictionary of data”. As same as a dictionary, it has all the records of data, which are stored in a secured place. As Metadata is a dictionary of data, it makes working with data easy. Metadata manages stores, finds, and structures data.
With Metadata, you can easily find the important files which were missing for months and about which your boss was yelling at you for losing them. With Metadata, you can easily structure images, audio, videos, and spreadsheets that generally are unstructured.
With Metadata, you can always know who has modified your files, the date of modification of files, and where they are saved after modifications. So, now next time when you have to impress your boss by posting their work anniversary, you can easily find your and boss’s pictures in just seconds from the system with Metadata.
Types of Metadata
Here I have provided the main three types of Metadata along with their decryptions for your reference.
- Structural Metadata:This type elaborates how the data needs to be formatted, assembled and relates with other data.
- Descriptive Metadata: This type of metadata illustrates how the data should be identified by mentioning the Title, Data or Keywords of the data.
- Administrative Metadata: Well, this is the final and most important metadata type. This Administrative metadata gives you important instruction regarding what restriction you can place on the data access.
The importance of Metadata is not only constrained with impressing your boss but has much other significance. Below I have mentioned some points that state the importance of Metadata.
- Maintenance of Historical Records
Don’t you want to save a recognition speech your Foreign Director made for your exceptional work while sitting on the opposite side of the continent- which is a historical moment itself? Be it personal recognition speech or any historical records of your company, with the help of Metadata you will never lose it and always can find it when needed.
- Set of Long-term Data
Neither you nor I just save the data for the sake of saving it, but we save it so that in the long future it will benefit us. With Metadata we can get the benefit of data and can term it as long-term data. We can term data as long-term data because Metadata will never let us mislay it. In all kinds of businesses, the Long-term is extremely valuable.
- Avoiding Inconsistency
Nothing is as irritating as inconsistency. Inconsistent data is never reliable. When you have to update your marketing team with your latest design of the company logo for promotion, you obviously don’t want to make a mistake by sharing a patent logo that has a similar filename as the original logo. It’s human nature to make a mistake, but thanks to Metadata as it never makes a mistake. With Metadata, you will always have consistent data in your hand to avoid unreliable data.
- Documentation of Data
When you are having a mixture of millions of audio files, images, and video clips, then it is crucial to manage them all. Proper documentation of files will lead you to long-term data and security that data will not get misplaced. With Metadata, you can easily store files with date, name, author, and many more. Documentation of data with Metadata saves us all from panic situations and halts us from making the wrong decisions.
- An essential tool for SEO
SEO considers many factors, and one of them is Metadata. As I have earlier stated, Metadata is a dictionary of data, the relevant Metadata determines the keyword that internet users use daily. So it may not seem straight away, but Metadata is an essential tool for SEO. So now use Metadata for getting a higher SEO ranking.
Now that you have learned about the meaning and importance of Metadata, let me show you how it works with Digital Asset Management- DAM.
What is Digital Asset Management?
Before diving straight into the collaboration of DAM and Metadata, have a glance at the meaning of Digital Asset Management.
In layman’s terms, DAM is a platform where you can store, manage, create, save, change and distribute digital assets. The key difference between Metadata and DAM is that Metadata manages all kinds of data whilst DAM manages digital assets only. Digital assets include audio files, audio clips, important presentations, images, video clips, and other digital assets.
The collaboration of Metadata and DAM System can produce many extraordinary things, which are scarcely possible without them. I say so because I have reasons for saying it.
Below are the reasons that show how incredible their collaboration is.
- Smooth Searching
If I ask you to search a word file consisting of a meeting’s agenda, you will give me that file within seconds by entering the keyword “Meeting Agenda”. What if I ask you to search for a presentation at the same meeting? It will take you hours in finding the same. It is very much comfortable to find the files which include data in written form, but that is not the case with Digital Assets.
Digital assets need extra care than anything else. When the presentation of the meeting is stored in Metadata, you can easily find it and use it again.
- Avoid Repetitive Tasks
The repetitive task is a time-consuming, inefficient, and unproductive task. If you have not stored your images in Metadata, you might lose them in near future. Your creative Team-members spend hours working for that image; you can’t just simply afford to produce it again. The Creative Team will have to work on that image again so that the workflow doesn’t get affected.
By avoiding repetitive tasks with Metadata, you can gain productive tasks from employees and on the other hand, employees too will feel a sense of relaxation.
- Tracking and Transparency
With Metadata, you can always keep track of your ongoing project. You can know where your assets are in the current stage, and how long it will take for them to be where they should be. With Metadata, you will have a better idea about the estimated duration of project completion and update on each stage of the project.
Transparency is a key factor for employee- job- satisfaction. Employees feel more powered when they have the privilege of transparency of workflow. Metadata store everything in a secure place, yet concerned parties can have access to it. The concerned parties can see whenever they want about the asset’s production to the asset’s usage.
- Re-usage of assets
When you store digital assets in Metadata, you change that asset into a long-term asset. As stated earlier, long-term assets are very important for any organization. You can use Long-term assets again and again as per your requirement. The assets will never get lost, nor will get tampered with. Re-using important assets is smarter than creating/finding similar assets.
Re-usage of assets will save you from a lot of trouble and unnecessary efforts.
- Boost-up confidence
When you have consistent and reliable data through Metadata, you will lose up to half of your burden. Metadata will boost up your confidence, as in the back of your mind you know Metadata has your back. Whether it comes to competition or serving customers with satisfaction, Metadata will boost up your confidence.
- Metadata is the Asset itself
Metadata has much great significance, and in my opinion, it is an asset itself. Metadata is an asset because it takes care of all the other assets. Metadata makes flawless workflow, keeps you updated about your workflow, manages assets, and improves employee empowerment. All these factors testify that Metadata is an asset itself, and without it, the company will bear losses.
Concluding With:
Thus, to sum up, we can say that Metadata is a dictionary of data and assets itself. Metadata is very important for: Maintaining historical records, consistent performance, long-term data, documentation, and higher SEO ranking. Hidden benefits of Metadata are Better employee performance, better overall productivity, and a panic-free working environment.
The collaboration of Metadata and DAM System makes: Smooth searching, helps you in avoiding repetitive tasks, makes you able to re-use assets, and will boost up your confidence in taking an important decision. Moreover, the successful implementation of metadata will automate your business management process.
